✝️ Saint Cyriacus, a deacon in Rome during the empire of Diocletian, is celebrated for his extraordinary faith and healing power, notably for having exorcised the emperor's own daughter. Together with his companions, Largus and Smaragdus, and others, he dedicated his life to serving Christians enslaved in the Roman baths, offering them material and spiritual comfort. Their refusal to sacrifice to the pagan gods led them to martyrdom around the year 303, making them supreme witnesses of faith in Christ and examples of heroic charity, with Cyriacus being venerated as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
🕊️ Introit (Psalm 33:10-11)Fear the Lord, all you his saints, for nothing is lacking to those who fear him: the rich have become poor and hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not be deprived of any good. Psalm 33:2: I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall be always in my mouth.
📜 Epistle (1 Thessalonians 2:13-16)
Brethren: We give thanks to God without ceasing, because when you received from us the word of the preaching of God, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which works in you who have believed. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God that are in Judea in Christ Jesus, for you also have suffered the same things from your own countrymen, as they have from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the Prophets, and have persecuted us, and do not please God, and are adversaries to all men, preventing us from speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. For the wrath of God has come upon them to the end.
🎶 Gradual (Psalm 33:10 and 11)
Fear the Lord, all you his saints, for nothing is lacking to those who fear him. Those who seek the Lord will not be deprived of any good. Alleluia (Wisdom 3:7): Alleluia, alleluia. The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds, for ever. Alleluia.
📖 Gospel (Mark 16:15-18)
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover.
🤔 Reflections
💡 In commissioning the disciples, Christ does not promise them a life without dangers, but His operative presence through signs. These signs, however, should not be sought with curiosity, for it says, 'these signs will follow,' not 'seek these signs that you may believe.' Faith must precede, not depend on, the miracle. The Church, as a whole, now performs spiritually what the Apostles performed visibly: she casts out demons when, through exorcism and prayer, she snatches men from the power of darkness; she speaks new tongues when she abandons the language of the old man to announce heavenly truths; and she treads on serpents when she crushes the venom of temptation and wickedness. (St. Gregory the Great, Homily 29 on the Gospels). The persecution suffered, as described in the Epistle, is proof that the word received is not human but divine, for the world hates Christ and those who bear witness to Him. (St. Augustine, Tractate 87 on the Gospel of John).
🗺️ While Mark focuses on the breadth of the preaching ('to every creature') and the miraculous signs that confirm it, the other evangelists add crucial theological dimensions. Matthew (28:19-20) details the mandate, specifying the Trinitarian baptismal formula and the duty to teach the observance of all the commandments, concluding with the promise of Christ's perpetual presence. Luke (24:47-49) underscores the central content of the preaching—repentance for the remission of sins—and the need to await the power of the Holy Spirit before beginning the mission. John (20:21-23), in turn, does not list external signs but directly confers upon the apostles the authority to forgive sins, linking the evangelical mission to the sacrament of reconciliation.
✉️ The writings of Saint Paul function as a vast practical and theological commentary on Mark's Great Commission. While Mark presents the promise of 'signs,' Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12-14, catalogues and contextualizes the charisms (spiritual gifts), such as tongues and healing, placing them within the life of the Church as gifts of the Spirit for the common good, not for individual ostentation. He corroborates the effectiveness of his preaching 'by the power of signs and wonders' (Romans 15:19), validating Christ's promise. Furthermore, Paul deepens Mark's 'believe/disbelieve' dichotomy by developing in his epistles (especially in Romans and Galatians) the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ Jesus as the sole means of salvation.
🏛️ Magisterial documents solidify and expand upon the precepts of the Gospel. The Council of Trent (Session VII, Canon 5 on Baptism) dogmatically affirms the necessity of baptism for salvation, in accordance with the sentence 'he who believes and is baptized shall be saved.' The Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius of the First Vatican Council (Ch. 3) deepens the nature of the faith mentioned by Mark, defining it as a supernatural virtue and miracles as 'most certain signs and adapted to the intelligence of all' that confirm the divine origin of revelation. The encyclical Maximum Illud (1919) of Benedict XV vehemently reiterates the missionary mandate of Mark 16, treating it as a perpetual duty of the Church and urging an evangelization that is not confused with political interests, but aims solely at the salvation of souls.