Tuesday, April 25, 2006

San Marco

Today's feast of St. Mark reminded me of a legend that is depicted in them mosaics in the famous Basilica in Venice. Mark's relics were being spirited (if that is indeed an appropriate word!) out of whichever predominantly Islamic country they had been in for centuries--maybe Egypt. But to keep the "translation" (as the transport of things like relics and holy houses) from being discovered by the Moslems and confiscated (or to keep the translators from being killed), the casket was hidden under baskets of freshly slaughtered pork! The mosaic depicts men in turbans holding their noses as they pull the covers from a small boat.
I guess that's not very politically correct, but it sure was comical, especially since the mosaics are in typical Byzantine style, so hieratic!
Mark is a good reminder that you can be a bit of a loser at first, and still do great things for the Gospel. (Mark is often identified with the young man in his Gospel who ran away naked when Jesus was arrested; he also abandoned Paul and Barnabas on an apostolic journey and went home to Jerusalem. But then... wrote a Gospel and died a martyr.) What about you?

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