Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature

25 APRIL (Mk 16,15-20)

All the prophets that came before Jesus turned their Word only to the people of the Lord, inviting people to conversion, to return to the Law of the Covenant. With the prophet Isaiah something unimaginable, unthinkable and totally new happens. The Word of the Lord proclaims the coming of his Servant to bring law and justice to all men, even the most remote, distant and unknown islands.

Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching. Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it: I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. I am the Lord, this is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. See, the earlier things have come to pass, new ones I now foretell; Before they spring into being, I announce them to you. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth: Let the sea and what fills it resound, the coastlands, and those who dwell in them. Let the steppe and its cities cry out, the villages where Kedar dwells; Let the inhabitants of Sela exult, and shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and utter his praise in the coastlands.(Is 42,1-12).

This same prophet concludes his oracles with a vision that the children of Israel could have never been able to conceive, even in the highest freedom of mind and heart. God would have taken Priests and Levites even among the Gentiles. It is a religious revolution that breaks down and destroys the old order of priests. In fact, priesthood was exclusively reserved for the sons of Aaron. Not even the other sons of Levi were entitled to it.

I come to gather nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them; from them I will send fugitives to the nations: to Tarshish, Put and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have never heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the nations. They shall bring all your brethren from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their offering to the house of the Lord in clean vessels. Some of these I will take as priests and Levites, says the Lord. (Is 66,18-21).

This prophecy was entirely fulfilled in Christ Jesus. Today, He sends his apostles throughout the world to bring his Gospel, his Law, his Justice, his Charity, his Love and his Holy Spirit. They must bring him and all his gifts of salvation.

He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents (with their hands), and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.)

It is not the Apostles who go throughout the world. It is Jesus that must be brought by the Apostles. If the Apostles go, but do not bring Jesus, they are empty pitchers, vases without water, leather bottles without oil and lamps without light. It is Christ who saves and redeems. It is He who conquers hearts. It is he who opens the mind to the intelligence of the Scriptures. It is He who is the spiritual nourishment of the soul and spirit. As Christ brought the Father in his body, so the disciples must bring Christ in their body. It is in this bringing Christ that salvation is accomplished and fulfilled. The sterility of the Apostle betrays the absence of Christ Jesus in his life. Absent Christ, never might there be true redemption. Everything is from the Apostle of the Lord. He is the law of the pastoral and pastoral. Nothing is outside of him.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us bearers of Christ Jesus.