Gospel Author and Evangelist

St. Mark

Much of what we know about St. Mark, the author of the Second Gospel, comes largely from the New Testament and early Christian traditions. Mark the Evangelist is believed to be the 'John Mark' referred to in the Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early Church found in the Canon of the New Testament.

He was the son of Mary of Jerusalem (Acts 12:12) whose home became a meeting place for the apostles. He is also the cousin of St. Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), a Levite and a Cypriot.

Mark joined St. Paul and St. Barnabas on their first missionary journey to Antioch in 44 A.D. When the group reached Cyprus, Christian tradition holds that Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem, possibly because he was missing his home (Acts 13:13). This incident may have caused Paul to question whether Mark could be a reliable missionary. This created a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas and led Paul to refuse Mark's accompaniment on their second journey to the churches of Cilicia and the rest of Asia Minor.

However, it can be assumed the troubles between Paul and Mark did not last long, because when Paul was first imprisoned, Mark, who was at the time in Rome with plans of visiting Asia Minor, visited him as one of his trusted companions (Col 4:10).

Mark's hopes to visit Asia Minor were most likely carried out, because during Paul's second captivity and just before his martyrdom, Paul wrote to Timothy at Ephesus advising him to "take Mark and bring him with you [to Rome], for he is profitable to me for the ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). If Mark returned to Rome at this time, he was probably there when Paul was martyred.

According to Christian tradition, Mark also held a close relationship with St. Peter, who referred to Mark has 'his son' in his letter addressed to a number of churches in Asia Minor (1 Peter 5:13). Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus and Papias all indicate that Mark was an interpreter for Peter.

Although Papias states Mark had not personally heard the Lord speak firsthand and, like Luke, Mark was not one of the twelve apostles, some believe Mark was likely speaking of himself when he wrote the description of Jesus' arrest in Gethsemani. "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" (Mark 14:51-52).

St. Mark lived for years in Alexandria, where he died as a martyr while being dragged through the streets.

Mark's Gospel was probably written between 60 and 70 A.D., and was based upon the teachings of St. Peter. It is believed Mark provided both Luke and Matthew with basic sources for their Gospel's.

He was probably the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, although he is not mentioned in connection to the city by either Clement of Alexandria nor by Origen.

In 828, relics of St. Mark were stolen from Alexandria and taken to Venice, Italy. There they are enshrined in a beautiful cathedral dedicated to the saint.

St. Mark's symbol is a winged lion. This is believed to be derived from his description of St. John the Baptist, as "a voice of one crying out in the desert" (Mark 1:3). The wings come from Ezekiel's vision of four winged creatures as the evangelists.

He is often depicted as writing or holding his Gospel. He is sometimes shown as a bishop on a throne or as a man helping Venetian sailors.

St. Mark is the patron saint of Venice. His feast day is celebrated on April 25.

Oh Tuesday

No posting this morning, busy day, mother-in-law hospitalized, getting used to some new formatting here.

Be back tonight, pray for me today as I will for you!

While the world is obsessed with a royal wedding, meanwhile they buried the little boy brutually murdered by the "crown"

Funeral Procession for 23-month old Alfie Evans : up to a Thousand Mourners Lining Streets for "Our Hero"

The streets of Liverpool were lined with mourners to say farewell to Alfie Evans. There was  applause for 23-month-old who died of brain disease as funeral cars passed. About a thousand wellwishers lined the street outside Everton’s stadium to say farewell to Alfie Evans. Alfie died at age 23 months after a legal battle over his hospital care. Members of the public and “Alfie’s Army” were en route to a private burial in Liverpool. Last month, doctors at Alder Hey children’s hospital stopped providing life-support treatment to Alfie. This was against his parents wishes, Tom Evans and Kate James, lost two fights in the high court, court of appeal, supreme court and European court of human rights. Evans and James had hoped to take Alfie, who had a degenerative brain disease, to a hospital in Rome. On Monday, an invitation-only funeral service was held in Liverpool before people gathered to pay their respects. As the cortege passed, people placed flowers on the lead two hearses, which carried floral tributes to Alfie spelling out the words Warrior, Our Hero, Son, Nephew, Grandson and Blue. His coffin sported images of toy soldiers.

This Catholic mom gets it and writes a powerful letter to British Cardinal

Cardinal Vincent Nichols

Claire Chretien Follow Claire

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NewsBioethics, Faith, Family, Freedom Thursday May 3, 2018 

Mom writes scathing letter to top UK cardinal for not supporting Alfie Evans and his parents

Claire Chretien Follow Claire

alder hey children's hospital, alfie evans, vincent nichols

ENGLAND, May 3, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – “Cardinal Nichols, this is the culture of death, and you are supporting it,” a mother of three wrote in an open letter to the highest-ranking UK prelate about his response to the Alfie Evans case and the parental rights and bioethics issues that accompanied it.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols made headlines at the end of April for saying Alder Hey Children’s Hospital acted in Alfie Evans’ best interests. The toddler, despite the wishes of the parents, was removed from his ventilator and died five days later.
Nichols said the courts, not Alfie’s parents, were right to be able to decide on the toddler’s care or lack thereof: “It’s very hard to act in a child’s best interest when this isn’t always as the parents would wish – and this is why a court must decide what’s best not for the parents, but for the child.”
“This is truly one of the most disturbing things I have ever heard a Cardinal say,” vestment maker and Catholic blogger Clare Short (not to be confused with the former MP of the same name) wrote in her open letter. “How is it possible that a Catholic Cardinal can side with those who have stripped the parents of all their authority, so they can legally end their child’s life?”
“As a mother of 3 children, I can now see you have no desire to defend my rights as a parent, which are being further and further eroded away by the state,” Short continued. “It is becoming more and more apparent that you were quite happy to sacrifice Alfie Evans and his parents on the altar of political correctness rather than stand up to an increasingly totalitarian state.”
“It is time to decide where your heart really lies,” she wrote.
Short noted:

You told the Polish Bishops last week that “When we discuss the Church’s doctrine here (UK), we must often construct a dialogue on arguments about society’s common good.”  Now for someone who said a few moments before, that “Unfortunately, there were also some who used the (Alfie) situation for political aims.” [T[his seems like a very political thing to say. It sounds like to me that you are trying to fit into the politically correct narrative of UK politics. Is this the case? If it is then we really are all in trouble.
Your comments seem to suggest that you felt that Alfie Evans’ death was in his best interests and the interest of society. The “experts” no doubt informed you that it was. But what do you regard as being “society’s’ common good”?
...The British medical system and courts determined that Alfie had to die because of the working assumption that death is preferable to life for disabled people. This utilitarian concept is why you felt that it was in Alfie’s best interests that he should die. I say this because you criticised those trying to save Alfie stating that they “didn’t serve the good of this child”.
It is becoming increasingly clear that you do not oppose this utilitarian ethical ideology.

Short said that vague statements from the UK Catholic bishops in 2013 about the Liverpool Care Pathway not being “inherently unethical” but just “badly implemented” show the embrace of the culture of death. The Liverpool Care Pathway was an “end-of-life protocol” that many denounced as a form of passive euthanasia.
READ: English Cardinal supports hospital’s decision to end Alfie Evans’ life
Short also detailed some of the mistreatment Alfie and his parents received from Alder Hey, the unjust removal of the Italian priest who was spiritually supporting the Evans family at the hospital, and the UK hierarchy’s failed, pro-government approach to the case.
“If you decide to continue compromising the faith in order to fit in with the modern values of secularism and utilitarianism, you will remain popular with your powerful friends but you will cause further harm to the Church and to society,” she wrote. “With respect, I must remind you that your ambition, popularity and your career come second to your vocation as servant of Christ and the Church...Forgive me for saying so, but if you are unable or unwilling to lead us in this fight, then you need to pass the baton to someone who will, because we are at crisis point.”
“We are all praying for you,” she concluded.
Editor's note: The open letter can be read in full here. 

These martyrs were killed in England for simply being Catholic; UK has a storied history of innocents(Alfie Evans, Charlie Gard)

Forty Martyrs of England & Wales

Facts

Feastday: May 4

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A famed group of Catholic martyrs who were put to death for the faith and who received canonization on October 25 , 1970, by Pope Paul VI. The saints belonging to this group are covered in individual entries, but the members are: Alban Roe (January 21), Alexander Bryant (December 1), Ambrose Barlow (September 11), Anne Line (February 27), Augustine Webster (May 4), Cuthbert Mayne (November 29), David Lewis (August 27), Edmund Arrowsmith (August 28), Edmund Campion (December 1), Edmund Gennings (December 10), Henry Morse (February 1), Henry Walpole (April 7), John Almond (December 5), John Boste (July24), John Houghton (May 4), John Jones (July 12), John Kemble (August 22), John Lloyd (July 22), John Payne (April 2), John Plessington (July 19), John Rigby (June 19), John Roberts (December 9), John Stone (May 12), John Southworth (June 27), John Wall (August 22), Luke Kirby (May 30), Margaret Clitherow (October 21), Margaret Ward (August 30), Nicholas Owen (March 2), Philip Evans (July 22), Philip Howard (October 19), Polydore Plasden (December 10), Ralph Sherwin (December 1), Richard Gwyn (October 17), Richard Reynolds (May 4), Robert Lawrence (May 4), Robert Southwell (February 21), Swithun Wells (December 10), and Thomas Garnet (June 26).

British Cardinal says what??? concerning Alfie Evans an the whole tragic event; what??? Good grief

British cardinal defends hospital in Alfie Evans case, says outsiders didn’t have ‘all the facts’

BY: Crux

Cardinal Vincent Nichols said some of those supporting Alfie Evans’s family were not serving Alfie’s best interests, and others were even using the boy’s illness “for political purposes.”
Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, was speaking to KAI, a Polish Catholic news service.
Evans, who suffered from an undiagnosed brain ailment which left him in a semi-vegetative state, died on Saturday morning, just days before his second birthday.
His parents – Thomas Evans and Kate James – fought a legal battle to move him from Liverpool’s Alder Hey Hospital to the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital in Rome.
The Liverpool hospital said it was in Alfie’s “best interest” that his ventilator be removed, and said further treatment was futile, and a move would cause the child undue distress.
The parents’ battle garnered international support, including from Pope Francis, who met with Alfie’s father in the Vatican, and urged he and his partner be allowed “to seek new forms of treatment” for Alfie.
President Andrzej Duda of Poland also said “Alfie must be saved,” and the case was closely followed in the country.
Although many commentators around the world questioned why Alfie could not be moved, the bishops in England were supportive of the hospital, and the British legal system which prevented the Evans family from moving him.
“It is important to remember that the Alder Hey Hospital looked after Alfie not for two weeks or two months, but for eighteen months,” Nichols told KAI. “And during this time, they consulted the best specialists from around the world. Therefore, the position of the medical staff was very clear that there was no more medical help that could be given to the boy.”
Read more at Crux.

Days after England tortured and murdered little baby Alfie; the Pope speaks out on life, even little flames

Pope © Vatican Media

Pope on Every Human Life: Safeguard Little Flame in Midst of Dark Night

Addressing ‘A Rare Life’ Association, Reminds Life Is First and Foremost

April 30, 2018 14:50Deborah Castellano LubovPapal Texts, Pope and Holy See

Each life is first and foremost, and each ‘little flame’ is to be safeguarded ‘in the midst of the darkest night.’
Days after little Alfie Evans was welcomed into heaven, Pope Francis stressed this today in the Vatican to members of the Italian “A Rare Life” Association.
The association is at the end of the nine stages of the “Rare Words Run,” which began on April 21 from Monticelli Brusati, Brescia, Italy, and arrived today in Rome. The association is intended to give voice symbolically to those who are affected by Allan Herndon Dudley Syndrome (AHDS-MCT8) and those engaged in supporting scientific research and healthcare related to rare diseases.

The Holy Father began expressing his appreciation for associations dedicated to researching rare diseases and offer solidarity.
While acknowledging the reality that there is pain for the suffering and hardships, the Pope stressed, “I am always struck by – and admire – the will of families to join together to face this situation and to do something to improve it.”
The Pope praised the name of the association for being ‘positive.’ “The negative exists, we know, it is daily life. But this name shows that you know how to look to the positive: that every human life is unique, and while the disease is rare or extremely rare, it is life that is so first and foremost.”
“This positive outlook is a typical “miracle” of love. And it is love that does this: it knows how to see the good even in a negative situation, it knows how to safeguard the little flame in the midst of a dark night,” he said.
Love, the Pope said, works another miracle.
“It helps us remain open to others, capable of sharing, of being in solidarity even when one is suffering from a disease or difficult condition, that can be wearing in daily life.”
Pope Francis concluded, thanking those present, saying he would pray for them, and asking them to pray for him.

Pope Francis expresses sadness and offers prayers on death of Alfie Evans

Pope Expresses Condolences Upon Death of Alfie Evans
         

‘I am deeply moved by the death of little Alfie. Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace.’

April 28, 2018 22:01Jim FairFamily & Life Issues

Pope Francis on April 28, 2018, expressed his condolences to the parents of Alfie Evans upon learning of the toddler’s death early in the morning local time in a Liverpool hospital.
“I am deeply moved by the death of little Alfie. Today I pray especially for his parents, as God the Father receives him in his tender embrace,” the Pope said via Twitter.
Alfie had been the center of an international debate over his care that included an offer from the Vatican’s Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome, to assume the care — and expenses — of the ill child after Alder Hey Hospital said his condition was not treatable and he should be allowed to die.  The hospital’s decision was upheld by UK courts in the face of repeated appeals by the parents, as well as concerned people around the world, including the Holy Father.

Baby Alfie Evans has died; the country of England has succeeded in killing a little baby boy and devastating his parents lives; rest in peace brave one, as far as the U.K., well, I should not say it here

Alfie Evans dies amid outpouring of prayer, support

• In Catholic News Agency, Global Church
• Elise Harris
  Apr 28, 2018
  CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

In this April 23, 2018 handout photo provided by Alfies Army Official, brain-damaged toddler Alfie Evans cuddles his mother Kate James at Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool, England. (Credit: Alfies Army Official via AP.)

Ailing toddler Alfie Evans died in the early hours of Saturday morning after being removed from life support.

Ailing toddler Alfie Evans, whose plight has tugged at the world’s heartstrings throughout the past week, died in the early hours of Saturday morning after being removed from life support.
In an April 28 Facebook post, Alfie’s father, Tom Evans, said: “My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his wings at 02:30…absolutely heartbroken. I love you my guy.”
Just shy of two years old, Alfie had been in what physicians described as a “semi-vegetative state” due to a mysterious degenerative neurological condition that doctors at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, England have not been able to properly diagnose. He had been hospitalized since December of 2016.
RELATED: Charlie Gard’s parents express support for Alfie, want to change UK law to prevent parent-hospital conflicts
Although Italian officials earlier this week granted Alfie citizenship and the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù children’s hospital offered to take the toddler for further diagnosis and treatment, UK courts repeatedly refused to allow the transfer, ruling that it is not in the child’s best interest.
With permission of the court, but against the will of Alfie’s parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, the hospital earlier this week removed Alfie’s ventilator and withheld food and water from the child.
Although the toddler was only expected to live for a few minutes, he was able to breathe on his own for a number of hours, until doctors administered oxygen and hydration. They later administered nutrition as well, after the boy went almost 24 hours without food, according to Alfie’s father.
Life support was again removed from Alfie after a last-minute appeal by his parents was struck down Wednesday. After the ruling, the toddler’s parents released a statement thanking the doctors and hospital staff who cared for their son, saying they wanted to “build bridges” with Alder Hey.
Rallies in support of Alfie’s parents have been held throughout the week in London, Washington, D.C., New York and the Vatican, with pilgrims gathering to pray the rosary in St. Peter’s Square each night leading up to the toddler’s death.
Pope Francis has also been outspoken about supporting the child’s parents.
The pope, who met with Alfie’s father last week, has offered public prayers for Alfie and his family several times, including at a general audience and in several Twitter posts.
“Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek new forms of treatment may be granted,” he said Monday on Twitter.

Fr. Dwight opines on the scandal of the Archbishop of Liverpool concerning Alfie Evans

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Alfie and the Archbishop

I’ve held back from commenting on the Alfie Evans case so far because everybody else and his brother seem to be weighing in, and to be truthful, these cases are extraordinarily complex and I’m not a medical professional.
However, I do know the Catholic principles for dealing with end of life issues. If an illness is definitely terminal, then the family does not have to resort to heroic measures to maintain life. They should, however, maintain pain relief, nutrition and hydration. Furthermore, if the family wish to seek further medical help they may do so.
If the news reports are to be believed, this case is violating Catholic end of life issues. The family could agree to turn off the life support technology, but they may choose not to. Furthermore, whatever the situation, pain relief, nutrition and hydration must be maintained until such time as the patient can no longer process them. An example of this is when the terminally ill person’s digestive system simply doesn’t accept the nutrition any longer or feeding tubes can no longer be maintained. The bottom line is that no one may take active steps to intentionally end the patient’s life.
But this seems to be exactly what the medical staff are doing, and it fits with the notorious Liverpool Care Pathway.
The fact that the Archbishop of Liverpool has taken the side of the hospital in this case is shocking. Does he not know the Catholic principles for end of life matters? Does he not stand up for them? Why on earth hasn’t Archbishop McMahon spoken clearly about the Catholic principles on end of life issues? This is not only for the sake of Alfie and his family, but it is a powerful teaching opportunity while the world’s media is watching.
Instead we get a bland, sentimental statement that the hospital has done all it possibly can. No. The medical staff are clearly contravening Catholic end of life issues. They are withholding nutrition and hydration from the child and they are therefore taking steps to intentionally end life.
Instead of siding with the British establishment in this debacle, what if this Archbishop had donned his red buttoned cassock, his scarlet cincture, biretta and feriola (that’s the cape that Fulton Sheen used to wear on TV) and marched up to the hospital feriola flying in the breeze backed by a crowd of Catholics and a medical team,  walked into the hospital and scooped up that baby in his arms and walked out to the waiting helicopter?
I guarantee the hearts of Catholics the world over would leap up and pews would be filled up the following Sunday.
But no. The UK Catholic bishops are notorious for never rocking the establishment boat. They are so desperate to belong and fit in with the Crown and the Church of England that they will rarely if ever stand up to the British establishment.
It has pretty much always been so.
At the Protestant Revolution it was only St John Fisher who defied the crown. At least then, the bishops had an excuse. They had never been in such a situation before and they imagined that Henry VIII would soon change his mind and things  might be resolved. Only John Fisher saw the true implications and saw the rocks onto which the boat was headed.
The rocks on which the boat is headed in this case are far more looming and ominous than just the situation with this poor little boy. What we are really witnessing here is a showdown between the authority of the UK establishment–which includes the National Health System, the judiciary and the full weight of government authority–and individual citizens. The real issue here is not Alfie Evans, but the freedom of parents to choose the right path of life for their child. The shocking irony is that if Alfie’s mother had chosen an abortion two years ago this same government would have defended to the death her right to choose to kill her child, but now they will not defend her right to choose the chance of life for her child.
The rocks ahead are also ominous because we are witnessing openly what has been happening for a long time: forced euthanasia. This one has been creeping up for a long time complete with sinister euphemisms like the “Liverpool Care Pathway” The reality is summarized in an excellent article by  Charles Camosy at First Things. He comments on the judicial ruling:

But even if we suppose the judge is correct, he and others are making the case that certain profoundly disabled children are unworthy of life. And when one combines Alfie’s case with that of Charlie Gard, the UK has now established the clear and frightening precedent that parents who have a different understanding of what kinds of lives are worth living may have their children taken from them and left to die—in the children’s own best interests.

This is the real issue here and this is why the government is not backing down. If Alfie’s parents can opt out of the “Care Pathway” then any patient or their family can do likewise, and then the quiet, stealthy progress of the British euthanasia program will be hindered, and in the end, as usual, it comes down to money.
Providing long term care for chronically ill people is expensive. Gradually the reach of the euthanasia campaigners will be extended to the mentally disabled, the infirm and the elderly. If you think this is alarmist think again, and if you think you will be able to resist check out the ominous threat from the Liverpool police that they are monitoring your social media messages.
Can the Archbishop of Liverpool not see the bigger picture and just where this is headed–indeed where it already is?
The fact that the Archbishop of Liverpool has sided with the British establishment in this affair is a shocking scandal.
But it is not a surprise.

What's it All About Alfie? England continues to attempt to kill this child

What’s It All About, Alfie?

April 25, 2018 by Gerard M. Nadal

For the second time within a year, England has a high-profile case of court-mandated murder of a desperately ill child. The first was Charlie Gard, and now comes Alfie Evans.
Alfie missed several developmental milestones in his first seven months of life, which did not alarm physicians at the time. It’s not known precisely what his neurodegenerative disorder is, and some say it may be something akin to Charlie Gard’s Mitochondrial Depletion Syndrome (MDS). That’s key to understanding the full horror and depravity of the English judiciary in this case, as well as that of the National Health Service (NHS).
While the English physicians are quite certain that Alfie cannot recover, they do not know what they are facing. They are so possessed of medical certitude that they have not only sought to end life-sustaining treatment, but have argued against the boy being brought abroad for treatment.
Why?
And why the complicity of the courts?
And since when are parental rights to seek treatment for their desperately ill children abrogated by the physicians who can’t even identify the disease, and the courts with no evidence of incompetence on the part of the parents?
What’s worse is that the global narrative has shifted from arguing over whether a patient is still alive, cardiac vs. brain death, to arguing that they have no hope of recovering their former functionality and quality of life. In other words we are now squarely within Eugenics and Euthanasia.
This particular expression of euthanasia is actually First Degree Murder. When Alfie’s ventilator was removed, along with oxygen, food, and hydration, Alfie breathed on his own, and continues to breathe on his own. After several hours of fighting with staff, Alfie was given oxygen and hydration. At this writing,more than 48 hours later, he continues to live, and the courts have determined that he may not be taken abroad.
Alfie. MUST. Die.
The police ringing the building are a frightening testimony to this malignant judicial resolve.
The courts have stated that parents understandably want to hang on after hope has been lost. Tragically, there are far too many physicians, nurses, and judges who have never understood that hope is the irrational driving force behind many medical and scientific breakthroughs.
Take cancer for example. Hope drives cancer research, and the trillions of dollars and hundreds of millions of researcher hours over the past half-century. Looking at the daunting challenge in the 1950’s, before we knew anything about DNA and its role in cancer, how irrational would it have sounded if trillions of dollars, and millions of collective years of research would be required to cure this umbrella group of diseases? Yet, here we are, with many cancers either curable, or with outstanding five-year remission rates. A similar story could be told of HIV/AIDS, and the fact that it is a very manageable disease today.
Imagine if the pessimists were in the driver’s seat at the outset. As the AIDS quilt tells the tale, a frightening number of people died on the way to today’s manageability. The same for cancer.
As any cancer or HIV researcher will attest, even in cases of seeming futility, experimental protocols yield vital data for future treatment designs. They also will attest that surprises happen when we least expect them to. Alfie has already surprised everyone by his continued breathing. Imagine if he were given a fair chance.
Fair chances point toward a central reality in biomedical research: You can’t advance the therapeutic ball if you kill all the hard cases.
There is a war on for the soul of humanity. The Culture of Death has been holding high carnival for decades with abortion, and now the slippery slope from physician-assisted suicide, to euthanasia, to outright court-sanctioned murder rooted in a pervasive eugenics. There is no room in this worldview for faith, hope, or love. There is only expedience, and expedience in the place of faith, hope, and love, never solved a biomedical riddle. None of us who has ever labored in a lab was ever driven by expedience sans hope. The work of healing research requires a soul, the kind of soul missing in action in the Gard and Evans decisions. Faith, hope, and love are the forces that sustain our greatest minds in science and medicine. They inspire and sustain in the face of repeated failure and setback.
So what’s it all about, Alfie? It’s about faith, hope, and love, Alfie.
Alfie.