St Mark the Evangelist is the author of the shortest gospel in the New Testament – 16 chapters. In these chapters, he wrote about Jesus’ ministries, His Passion, triumphant Resurrection and ascension to heaven where He took His place at the right hand of God.

St Mark presented Jesus to the world as the “Son of Man” and emphasised the humiliation and rejection suffered by Jesus until He proved that He was the Son of God.

St Mark is identified as the young man who followed Jesus and had nothing on but a linen cloth. He was in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested. The Gospel speaks about a young man whom the soldiers caught but he left the cloth in their hands and ran away naked (Mark 14: 51, 52). He was interested in Jesus and this caused him to hurry without any clothes on to see what was taking place.

Symbol of St Mark

St Mark’s symbol is a winged lion. The lion is derived from Mark’s description of John the Baptist as a “voice crying in the wilderness” (Mark 1:3) which artists compare to a roaring lion. The wings come from the application of Ezekiel’s vision of four-winged creatures to the four evangelists. As we read these lines, there is a message for all of us. Mark fulfilled his life in what every Christian is called to do.

As Catholics, we are all called to know Christ, to follow Him and to proclaim to everyone the Good News which is the source of salvation. St Mark used his writings: others may use music, drama, poetry or art. As catechists and school teachers let us all spread the Good News both by word and deed.

The feast day of St Mark is April 25 – Ruby Nelson, Archdiocesan Catechetical Office

Source: ABC of Saints by Sister Mary Aloysius Ashby SJC.