FEAST OF SAINT MARK, EVANGELIST FIRST READING: 1 Peter 5:5-14 PSALM: Psalm 89: 2-3, 6-7, 16-17 GOSPEL: Mark 16:15-20 THEME: PREACH THE GOSPEL!

Mark, whose feast we celebrate today, was an evangelist. This means his mission was to spread the Gospel at all cost.  He was a man who took the great commission seriously. Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature  (Mk. 16:15). He is believed to have worked closely with Simon Peter and authored, The Gospel according to Mark.

In our Gospel text for today, he writes: Jesus said to the disciples, these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover" (Mk 16:17-18). Mark was not writing theories. In his partnership in the spread of the Gospel, he had seen these signs happening in the early Christian community.

For the early Christians, proclaiming the Gospel was their daily bread. It was at the heart of being Christian. Everywhere they went they preached Christ. They virtually carried the Gospel to wherever human beings could be found.

The time has come, in our generation too, for every Christian to carry the Gospel message to every place where human beings can be found. The Gospel must be heard in the shopping malls, the parliament, the stadia, the banks, the beaches, the prisons, the hospitals, the homes of people etc. The Lord is looking for committed Christians who will go out and preach the Gospel of love to a world filled with so much hatred. It is urgent. We cannot postpone it. We must preach the Gospel now. Jesus promises to confirm His Word with accompanying signs (cf. Mk 16:20). The Lord's urgent text message to each one of us is Go, preach the Gospel. Onward we go, no room for fear; no room for shame!

PRAYER: My heart is ready oh Jesus, my heart is ready. Just show me the place and give me the grace and I will run at a passionate pace to preach the Gospel of grace. Amen

Francis Amponsah, OP

MONDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK OF EASTERTIDE FIRST READING: Acts 4:23-31 PSALM: Psalm 2:1-9 GOSPEL: John 3:1-8 THEME:THE MISSION

Pope Francis writes, I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security (Evangelii Gaudium No. 49).

In matters of evangelization, let us be honest with ourselves, many Christian communities in the Body of Christ have a long way to go. For fear of soiling our elegant shoes in the mud of mission fields, many of us have coiled ourselves up in our comfort zones. We groan that the number of Christians in some of our churches are reducing and yet we are unprepared to go out into 'the rain and the scorching sun' to search for the lost sheep. For some of us, supporting our favourite soccer teams mean more to us than supporting the cause of evangelization. In some places, the subject of explicit evangelization hardly appears on the agenda of church pastoral council meetings, and even if it does, it is put on item 12, just before item 13 (item 13 most times becomes the segment of eating and drinking).

Faced with a hostile environment in Jerusalem, characterised by threats and the prospect of persecution,  the early Christian community lifted up their voice in prayer. As they prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31). It started with prayer and ended in evangelization.

Churches that pray less care less about evangelization. Look around you and you would observe that Christian communities that are committed to evangelization are praying communities.

The Body of Christ needs a shake up. We need a revival that would wake us up from our slumber. Now is the time for those who love the Church to rise up in prayer. Let us pray for another wave of divine shaking akin to that which is recounted in the text of the First Reading. Then we shall go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit proclaiming the Gospel with boldness wherever we find ourselves. May the spirit which inspired saints like St. Dominic aid us to move out to evangelize.
   
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, shake up your Church. Shake it hard and cause us to arise. Fill us anew with the power of your Holy Spirit and send us forth to proclaim the Gospel boldly. Cause us to launch forth into new territories and to take your word to places where we once recoiled. Let your Spirit blow where it wills. For the sake of your name and for the love your Church we pray. Amen.
 
Nana Amponsah Francis,OP

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY FIRST READING: Acts 2:42-47 PSALM: Psalm 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24 SECOND READING: 1 Peter 1:3-9 GOSPEL: John 20:19-31 THEME: THE WOUNDS OF MERCY

Rose Hartwick Thorpe wrote a narrative poem entitled, Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight. This poem is set in the 1600s during the English civil war and narrates the sad story of a young and beautiful woman called Bessie whose lover Basil had been captured by the Puritans, thrown into prison and sentenced to be shot that night once the curfew bell rings.

The woman begged the sexton (the one who rings the bell) to delay the ringing of the bell but the old man was unwilling. So Bessie heroically climbed to the top of the bell tower and clasped herself around the bell. Hanging between heaven and earth, she manually prevented the bell from ringing. In the process she got bruised and wounded.
  
When Oliver Cromwell, the English military and political leader, finally  arrived on the scene, this woman fell at his feet, told her story and showed her hands, all bruised and torn. Seeing the depth of love and courage exhibited by this woman, Cromwell was so touched that he immediately issued a pardon for Basil, her loved one.

In our Gospel text, Jesus offered a very symbolic gesture to a group of fearful disciples who had locked themselves up in a room. After speaking words of peace to them, he showed them his hands and his side (Jn. 20:20).

Jesus had the power to resurrect without any scar on his body and yet he chose to have on him the holes made by the nails in his hands and the imprint on his side caused by the lance. The gesture of showing these marks to his disciples was not an empty one but an efficacious reminder of the import of what had been accomplished on the cross.

On the cross, Jesus offered his body and blood, soul and divinity to his eternal Father in atonement for the sins of the whole world; and for the sake of his sorrowful passion, the Father looks with mercy upon each one of us  Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Pet. 1:3).

Two points can be drawn from the above discourse:

1. Christ's wounds of mercy bring pardon to the sinner. Anytime you doubt the mercy of God, remember the marks of the cross on the resurrected Christ and doubt no longer but believe  No sin is too heavy for the ocean of God's mercy to handle.

2. The experience of God's mercy must overflow into showing mercy to others. This is descriptive of the early Christian community. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need (Acts 2:44-45)

May the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday not be a mere ritual but a concrete experience of the virtue called MERCY.

PRAYER: Eternal Father, your name is Mercy and your love is enduring. May your mercy flush out every sin and weakness in me and make me an instrument of your healing to all those I will encounter today. For the sake of the sorrowful passion of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and on the whole world. Amen.

Nana Amponsah Francis, OP