Friday – St. Agnes

Gospel – Mark3:13-19

Go Climb A Mountain

Hills of Galilee, Magdala 

 

A little context!  Jesus has already ‘called’ His disciples to follow Him.  Today, however, we hear in the Gospel what amounts to a Commissioning Ceremony.  Jesus summons His soon-to-be-Apostles and gives them their mission – to preach and to cast out demons.  What is most significant is where this takes place.

Mountains, for the Jews, were always places to encounter the Divine, to meet God.  Moses and the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, Noah and the Ark on Mount Ararat, the Temple on Mount Zion.  They were holy places where one felt closer to God.  So it should be no surprise that the Apostles are solemnly commissioned on a mountain, probably Mount of the Beatitudes which would have been close by.  And Jesus selected 12, re-establishing the 12 Tribes of Israel. 

We know from other stories in the Gospels that Jesus spends a good deal of time on mountains – to get away, to retreat from the world, to pray and to re-charge His spiritual batteries.  Perhaps that should be our goal today – to climb that mountain, virtual or otherwise, to step aside from the weight of the world and to pause and reflect on our own spiritual mission/commission.

We don’t know much about the life of St. Agnes or the details of her martyrdom, We do know she lived around 291-304AD during the persecutions of Diocletian and that she was martyred around the age of 13.  She had many suitors, all of them she refused to marry.  She suffered greatly for her devotion to the Faith and her vow to consecrate her life to Jesus. 

The Apostles were given their mission on the mountaintop.  We know from the Gospels that they embraced that mission throughout their life, even suffering persecution and death.  St. Agnes had plenty of opportunities to renounce her Faith, to turn away from the mission!  In fact, she did the exact opposite.  She proclaimed loud and clear that she was the bride of Christ and her life was dedicated to Him.  In her words and her actions, she professed her Faith!

As Christians, we have all been ‘commissioned’!  Opportunities to express and profess our Faith happen on a daily basis, although not necessarily with the threat of martyrdom.  Would people know that we are Christian?  By our words?  By our actions?  If being a Christian was a crime, as in the time of the Roman persecutions, would there be any evidence to convict us??  Would we speak up or would we tell no one?

 

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