Censings

Authorship - Unknown Like the other three canonical gospels, the author of Mark is anonymous. However, tradition, as transmitted by bishop and apostolic father Papias who lived around 60-130 AD, holds that he was “John Mark”, a companion of the apostle Peter. “John Mark” is mentioned in Acts 12:12-14, which indicates John Mark’s mother’s house was a regular enough stop for Peter that the servants recognized him by voice alone. There are other mentions of John Mark in Acts 12:24 and 13:5 and at Colossians 4:10. If one believes Peter was actually the author of I Peter, one can hypothesize further that there was a close relationship between Peter and Mark, as at I Peter 5:13, where the author refers to Mark as his son. Someone named Mark is also mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:11, where the author, (either St. Paul himself or one of his students; scholars aren’t sure), states, “Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry.” There is ...

Saint Cecilia Catholic Community Thanksgiving Day November 23, 2017 10:30 AM Rev. David Justin Lynch Sirach 50:22-24 Psalm 45:2-11 I Corinthians 1:3-9 Luke 17:11-19        + In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.        Secular authority in our country designated today to give thanks, to show our gratitude for all the blessings of life. For most people, that includes family, friends, and perhaps economic success. Those prone to American Exceptionalism give thanks for living in the United States rather than elsewhere. Christians, however, give thanks to God, first and foremost, for the simple gift of life itself, rather than gloat over whatever good fortunes life has brought us.        Common folklore tells us that the first thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims, who were anti-Catholic refugees from the Church of England, in Massachusetts in...

Saint Cecilia Catholic Community, Palm Springs California All Saints & All Souls Sunday November 05, 2017 10:30 AM Rev. David Justin Lynch Sirach 45:1-10;14-15   Revelation 7:2-4;9-14 Matthew 5:1-12A        + In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.        I look forward to All Saints Day every year because I get to sing “I Sing A Song of the Saints of God.” The words are by Lesbia Scott, and the tune was composed by John Henry Hopkins. I heard it for the first time when I was about eight or nine years of age. Lesbia Scott was the wife of an English priest and the mother of three children. She wrote the lyrics we sang this morning in 1920. It was one of many poems she wrote to teach her children about God.  John Henry Hopkins was eighty-one years of age and a retired priest when he composed the tune, named “Grand Isle”, after his home town in Vermont. The tru...