Gospel: Mark 16:15-18
Then he told them, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned. Signs like these will accompany those who have believed: in my name they will cast out demons and speak new languages; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous, they will be unharmed; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

Reflections
“Proclaim the Good News to all.”
Certain Christian fundamen­talists seize literally on this gos­pel text, speaking in tongues, handling snakes, and effecting cures through the laying on of hands. Apart from the latter, these “signs” of faith seem not to have played a role in the com­munity that followed Jesus, or in the early church. In contrast, the Acts of the Apostles focuses on a very different form of mi­raculous sign: the conversion of Saul, a zealous persecutor of the church, who as Paul will become one of its most effective mis­sionaries. Saul had participated in the death of Stephen, the first martyr in the church. He was on a mission to Damascus to seek out Christians for punishment when he was thrown from his horse and confronted by the voice of the Lord: “I am Jesus whom you persecute. ”When he went on to proclaim the gospel, the Christians were astonished—and no doubt sus­picious. But there was no doub­ting his faith and conviction. In the words of the famous hymn: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, and now am found, was blind and now I see.” There are signs even more marvelous—and more produc­tive ­­than picking up snakes or drinking poison.

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