Saint Mark
Most likely the first of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark is brief and pointed. Saint Mark has one goal, to present Jesus as God’s crucified messiah, and he fulfills that goal concisely. Saint Mark’s Gospel seems to have been one of the sources used by Saints Matthew and Luke for their works.
Clare, COVID-19, and the Communion of Saints
“He died alone!” “We were not with her!” These lamentations are heard daily as people recount the most bitter experience of losing a loved one to COVID-19. This cry from the heart expresses the deep suffering the crisis creates. But dare we ask the question: Did they really die alone?
Do we not say when we pray the Apostle’s Creed that we believe “in the communion of saints?” What does that expression mean? Is it just a bit of ancient poetry preserved in the amber of our prayed formulas over the centuries?
A Time for Grace
When I first started going on contemplative retreats, I remember how difficult it was to give myself grace in my journey inward. I was uncovering so much within myself I had never seen before, which sent me spiraling beyond introspection into something of obsession.
