St Mark's Gospel : A New Life

This is a cross-post from our sister-blog, The Life of Christ Our Lord, explaining that the Gospel according to St Mark is being presented in instalments, with illustrations by J-J Tissot and notes taken from Madame Cecilia's Scripture Manual (see below).

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The Light of the World. Holman Hunt. c1850.
St Paul's Cathedral, London.

"Let therefore our chief endeavour be to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ"

1. He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness,[1] saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ, which teach us to imitate His life and manners, if we would be truly enlightened, and delivered from all blindness of heart. Let therefore our chief endeavour be to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ.

2. The teaching of Christ exceeds all the doctrines of holy men; and he that hath the Spirit will find therein the hidden manna. But it happens that many, who often hear the Gospel of Christ, are yet but little affected, because they have not the Spirit of Christ. But whosoever would fully and feelingly understand the words of Christ, must endeavour to conform his life wholly to the life of Christ.

 

1. Qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris dicit Dominus. Hæc sunt verba Christi, quibus admonemur quatenus vitam eius et mores imitemur, si volumus veraciter illuminari, et ab omni cæcitate cordis liberari. Summum igitur studium nostrum, sit in vita Jesu meditari.

2. Doctrina Ejus omnes doctrinas Sanctorum præcellit, et qui spiritum haberet absconditum ibi manna inveniret. Sed contingit quod multi ex frequenti auditu Evangelii parvum desiderium sentiunt, quia spiritum Christi non habent. Qui autem vult plene et sapide verba Christi intelligere, oportet ut totam vitam suam illi studeat conformare.

[Book I, the Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis]

 [1]   I am the light of the world: he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Ego sum lux mundi : qui sequitur me, non ambulat in tenebris, sed habebit lumen vitae. John viii. 12.

It has become my custom to recite these words as a preamble to evening prayer, lighting a candle  at the very instant the word illuminari is uttered. At this point, I sometimes recall Christ's words in the Sermon on the Mount:

But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee.

Tu autem cum oraveris, intra in cubiculum tuum, et clauso ostio, ora Patrem tuum in abscondito : et Pater tuus, qui videt in abscondito, reddet tibi. [Matth. vi 6]

 

Meditating on the Life of Jesus Christ

St Mark the Evangelist. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

I have explored the Life of Christ in a previous series of posts, the last of which concluded in October 2020. The previous posts were based on the work in words and pictures of  l'Abbé Constant Fouard and J-J Tissot

The final line of my adopted motto (see end of post) is Ad Jesum per Mariam, and it seems that our Blessed Mother is inviting me to approach her Son Jesus through a new study, but from the perspective of my patron saint, Peter the Apostle. There is widespread agreement amongst commentators that St Mark's gospel has a particularly close connection to St Peter.[2] This, together with the providential occurrence of the the feast of St Mark today, persuaded me to explore the life of Christ as set out by St Mark, relying on a work by Madame Cecilia published in 1904 entitled The Gospel according to St Mark. I am familiar with her work because in the 1980's I acquired several hard copies in her series of scripture manuals. I gave them away but I have found a number of versions online (see Archive.org.)

[2] Papias (Eusebius, Church History III.39) asserts not later than A.D. 130, on the authority of an "elder", that Mark had been the interpreter (hermeneutes) of Peter, and wrote down accurately, though not in order, the teaching of Peter.

Detail from the Venetian flag, showing the Lion of St Mark and the words:
"Peace be to thee Mark, my Evangelist." Tradition has it that St. Mark's
remains were transferred from Alexandria (where he suffered martyrdom)
to Venice where they are reserved in the
Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark. 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.