Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist

 Lectionary: 555

I write you this briefly through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, exhorting you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Remain firm in it. The chosen one at Babylon sends you greeting, as does Mark, my son.

Greet one another with a loving kiss. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

"The Lord gave me brothers!" Saint Francis wrote toward the end of his life. No matter how large the Franciscan Order becomes, with its Rule, constitutions, and bylaws, it should always be a group of fellows who know and care about one another. Francis, of course, wrote in the spirit of Saint Paul. As the Apostle wrote the letters that would shape the Church and be read until the end of time, he always sent personal greetings to his friends, whom he called by name, Saint Mark among them. 

Here is something I think about: We use the word law to describe how people and organizations should operate; and the same word law to describe principles in the mechanical world. But the law of gravity is not really like the Constitution of the United States. 

But we often think they might be. When a judge decides criminal cases, they should apply principles of the law to perpetrators and their crimes. In many cases, some people suppose the appropriate laws will automatically apply. But, because the perpetrators are human beings, as are judges, jurors, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys, witnesses and victims, the laws sometimes don't seem right. They may be too strict or too lenient; they might apply to this particular case, or not. We often say, "There ought to be a law" which would apply in this circumstance, but we might not be able to decide what that law should be. So how are these human laws like the law of gravity? 

There was a time, not very long ago, when no one knew the sun rose and set because the land and all its peoples were turning under it. They didn't know earthquakes are caused by continental drift, or that the seasons depend upon the orbit of an off kilter planet around the Sun. 

There were no machines. The first mechanical clocks were invented in Europe in the fourteen century. The clock is the ur-machine that set the pattern for all subsequent machinery and radically altered our understanding of life on this planet. The earth with its seasons, weather, rivers, glaciers, and tides became a massive machine, like a clock, automatic, predictable, and impersonal. 

So why in the thirteen century did the sun rise and set, the seasons change, and the earth quake? Without the alternate paradigm of machinery, there was only a personal God to cause these things. If crops flourished, God blessed us; if they failed, God was punishing us. There was no machine, there were only persons. 

And, I suppose, when judges decided cases, they didn't feel compelled by impersonal laws; the entire world was personal, and everything in it. 

The Church too is just people, like Mark, Paul, Veronica, Jesus, Mother Theresa, and Pope Francis. It's governed by people and we hope they're influenced directly by the Holy Spirit who is more like a person than like the wind or flowing water or raging fire -- although the Holy Spirit is often likened to these impersonal things. (If they are indeed impersonal!) 

Today we celebrate the Evangelist of the oldest gospel, and not his book, remembering Mark as one of the brothers. We are inspired and guided by brothers and sisters, and pray that they are inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit. The Church may look like an institution; it may be compared to a rock or a boat. But we're really just people gathered, blessed, disciplined, chastened, and guided by the Mercy of God.