Today's Gospel

Your Greatest Mission

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we are exploring the genius of Jesus, His life and teachings in the gospel, the genius of Catholicism. Today's reading is from Mark 16:15-20. And Jesus said to them, "Go out into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole of creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe. In my name, they will cast out demons. They will speak in new tongues. They will pick up serpents. And if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. They will lay their hands on the sick and they will recover. 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, and they went forth and preached everywhere. For the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen.

So this is the end of Mark's Gospel. And of course, this is the Great Commission. This is Jesus sending the disciples out into the world. And when you think about the miracle of the fact that you and I are sitting right here today as Christians, as Catholics, it's really an astounding thing.

We don't have a full appreciation of it in large part because of how easy it is to communicate today and how easy it is to travel today. But when you think about these 12 guys going literally to the ends of the known world at that time and sharing the gospel at risk of their own life in many, many cases. And in many, many cases, it costs them their life. And you think about all the people and all the struggle and all the suffering that they have gone through so that you and I can sit here today and read the daily gospel. It is astounding. It's momentous. It's overwhelming. It's awe-inspiring.

And so that's what strikes me today, is that our spiritual ancestors have struggled and suffered and worked tirelessly so you and I can sit here today and experience the church, experience the gospel. I say it again, they struggled and suffered and worked tirelessly, but we can sit here today and experience the gospel, experience the church. At the beginning of Rediscover Catholicism, I had this phrase, this one line or two. And it said something to the effect of the church is not something that we inherit, but more something that is on loan to us from future generations.

Of course, it is something that we inherit, and people have suffered and struggled and worked tirelessly that we could inherit the faith. But to think about it as, okay, it's on loan to us from future generations because if we don't struggle, if we don't suffer, if we don't work tirelessly, there will be people in the future who don't get to know God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who never get to encounter Jesus in the gospel. We have a responsibility. How are you living out your responsibility? How are you living out the Great Commission to go to the ends of the world, to the ends of your world, and to share the gospel with people?

Have an amazing day. Remember, be bold, be Catholic.