The Good News – Mark 16:15-20 Reflection
I must keep reminding myself that there is a short list of what Jesus requests from us. Believe, be baptized, then go into all the world to proclaim the Good News. If we use Jesus’s name in faith and love, there will be signs of our continuing belief. It is nice to know the signs, but they are not the goal. St. Theresa of Avila, a mystical contemplative, lovingly wrote, “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours.” The world desperately needs to feel Jesus’s embrace. Jesus will work with us within our journey as we become a humble drop in an ocean of loving, hopeful drops. Letting Jesus’s light shine without impeding its destination into the hearts of others through us without emphasis on ourselves is the true, often invisible sign.
The Ascension by James Tissot. (full-resolution image of painting).
More details are available on the Brooklyn Museum website.
Additional Eastertide Reflections
Additional Ordinary Time Reflections
Mark 16:15-20 – Scripture*
15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. 16 The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 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.”
The Ascension of Jesus
19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this Gospel and reading this Lectio Divina on Mark 16:15-20 Reflection – The Good News.
Would you like to contribute related thoughts to these Lectio reflections on the Gospel readings? Since Lectio is not the only contemplative prayer style, others might appreciate these types of expressions in this ministry. Do you see God’s grandeur everywhere and unconditionally enjoy sharing the love of Christ that you have inside? Are you willing to be anonymous in what you would share? If so, email me.
Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities get to know your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite worldly distractions.
Attributions
*This site has permission to use the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Bible Mark 16 passage.
This site follows the guidelines for image web use at the websites of the Brooklyn Museum and the Jewish Museum.
Page and discussion group on these Lectio Divina daily Gospel Readings.
Discussion group on St. John of the Cross.