The 23rd Day: He takes up the Cross...

Dear Parish Faithful,

GREAT LENT - The Twenty Third Day

We read from the Gospel of St. Mark during Great Lent. The Cross is at the very heart of this Gospel, as the Son of Man "must" suffer many things. After His death He will be raised from the dead as Christ reveals to His disciples during His ministry. Here, in the words of the biblical scholar Donald Senior, is an excellent summary of how St. Mark profoundly presents the meaning of the Cross in his particular Gospel:

"The cross is not an arbitrary final act in the Jesus drama. It takes on meaning from the commitment of Jesus' life and vision. Mark's Gospel demonstrates how the character of Jesus' ministry provoked the opposition and misunderstanding that built into a hostile death-dealing force. The Jesus of Mark's Gospel is no mere victim, passively accepting an unjust death. He "takes up the cross," not by morbidly choosing death, but by choosing a way of life that would ultimately clash with those who could not see Jesus' way as God's way."

- The Passion of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, p. 15

Fr. Steven