Feast of Saint Mark, Evangelist

“Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.” -Mark 16:15-20

At Jesus’ command, they went out and spread the Good News throughout the world, and God’s message of salvation was spread from one person to the next. But Christ did not say those who believed some of His words would be saved; He said those who were baptized and believed all of the Gospel, all of Him, had salvation.

Jesus did not say we should pick what parts of His Word we would follow. He did not say, leave this in, take that out, or choose which of my words to believe and others to ignore as if I never spoke them.

Christ asks us to absorb all of the Word with our mind, body, and soul. We cannot pick and choose what parts we will believe and what parts we won’t. Our salvation depends on accepting all of the Word: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Jesus reminds us, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’ -Matthew 4:4

He is risen! He is risen indeed. Hallelujah!

Saint Mark the Evangelist, pray for us.

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Jesus, I trust in you!