Two verses in the Gospel of St. Mark have always interested me. First there is his rendition of Christ's meeting with the rich young man. Specifically, Chapter 10 , verse 21 has intrigued me. It says, Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to (the) poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." It always seemed to strike as similar to St. John's phrase "the disciple whom Jesus loved". It is, as far as I know, unamimously believed that St. John was making reference to himself. I think that it is possibel that St. Mark is employing the same device. Perhaps, he is the rich young man. It does appear that it is implied in the Acts of the Apostles that John Mark's mother was rich; as the Apostles used to meet in her house. It is likely then that the "Upper Room" was in St. Mark's house. Sacred Tradition indicates that St. Mark's Gospel was compiled from St. Peter's recollections in Rome. One may ask, why did he not just say it was himself. My answer would be humility. Also, he may have wanted to underscore that his encounter with the Son of The Living God is available to all. Moreover, the transformative nature of this encounter may have been alluded to in the other verse that mentioned.
In Chapter 14, verses 51-52, St. Mark's Gospel says, "Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked." I believe that this is St. Mark too. It would have been the perfect Mea Culpa for the earlier incident of the Rich Young Man, if that was St. Mark, as well. Additionally, it implies his guilt for not following Christ to His death. It just makes so much sense to me. The Rich man comes with everything and the other man runs away naked. He has lost all, except Christ. This is the nature of the relationship with Christ for all. It is the supreme paradox. We must lose all to gain everything! You must die to self and decorations of the world in order to have life. It is precisely for this reason that all who mean The Son of The Living God must discover same truth that St. Mark discover.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
I can't stop laughing at this commercial!
I am not sure why, but every time I see this commercial, I begin laughing aloud. It needed to be posted on my blog. Cheers!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
A New Season
It is finally here! The Pittsburgh Penguins begin their attempt to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions tonight at the Igloo. I would love to be there. On that note, if any wants to give me 6 tickets to the game, please add a comment and I will contact you. The crazy thing is that I think they can repeat. It does not appear to me that other Eastern Conference teams that were close in talent got substancally better. So, given no catastrophic injuries, I except the Penguins to go deep into the playoffs. If things turn-out as I think they will, Sid, Geno, and the others may meet Roberto and the Canucks for the Cup.
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