Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
It was the feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist last April 25. It was a full day for our family because it was the last day of our summer outing in Cebu (we are SO blessed that we are able to have such outings every year, together with other employees of Bro./Kuya Bo Sanchez — thank God he’s BOss! 😉 ).
Screen shot from Bro. Bo Sanchez’s Facebook page — Thank you again, Kuya Bo, for your awesome generosity! God’s love truly shines through you! :)
To be honest, I had totally forgotten about the plans I had made for honoring Saint Mark on his feast day — I had actually brought along a few Bible storybooks to read with the kids, and planned to show them photos of our previous mission areas in Timor, which included places that had beautiful beaches, like the one shown below:
One of the views from , where we had our outing — thank You, Lord!
…but we ended up taking one final swim together (which lasted much longer than we’d originally intended), before packing up our things and going to the airport, and it just totally slipped my mind! (Yep, keeping it real here, folks! 😉 We live liturgically as best as we can, but are inconsistent on many, many, many occasions!)
Our only family photo during the trip! 🙂 Oh my, our babies are growing big too quickly!
(Don’t get me started about missing the opportunity to celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday either! *sighs* I’m trying to make up for it this week, though, by including A New Coat for Anna (which you can use as a springboard for discussions about making sacrifices, shepherds and sheep, and a whole lot more!) and other children’s books about sacrificial love and vocations in our list of read-alouds.)
Anyway, back to the point of this post… I thought I’d share with you the reflection I wrote for April 25, which appeared in Didache and on KerygmaFamily.com. I hope you’ll be blessed by it somehow! 🙂
To the Ends of the Earth
“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” – Mark 16:15
One of my favorite songs is “To the Ends of the Earth” by Hillsong United. It was actually my theme song when I was still a full-time missionary for my Catholic community.
Part of it goes like this: “Jesus, I believe in You/And I would go to the ends of the earth/To the ends of the earth /For You alone are the Son of God/And all the world will see/That You are God.”
Today’s Gospel reminds us that Jesus wants us to proclaim His Word to the whole world — to the ends of the earth. Even if I no longer hold the official title of being a full-time missionary, I believe that I’m still proclaiming the Gospel through my writing. In fact, I believe we are all called to be missionaries in our own special way.
Are you a parent? You’re proclaiming the Gospel by caring for and loving your kids. Are you an “ordinary” office worker? You’re proclaiming the Gospel by being excellent at your job.
Whoever you are and whatever you do, seek every opportunity to share God’s love with others — even to the ends of the earth. Tina Santiago-Rodriguez ()
Reflection: “The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today.” St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, please use me to proclaim Your love to others.
St. Mark, evangelist, pray for us.
Source:
Image credits: World map by khunaspix via FreeDigitalPhotos.net
