Today is the feast of St Mark, the Evangelist and Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Mark (16: 15-20) in which the disciples, after Jesus is taken up into heaven, went out and preached everywhere, ‘the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it”.Fr Paul then shares a little of what is known about St Mark, saying Mark was a cousin of Barnabas.  Mark accompanied the Apostle, Paul, on his first missionary journey and later followed Paul to Rome.  Mark was a disciple of Peter and when we read Mark’s Gospel it is told from Peter’s point of view.Mark is also credited with beginning the church in Alexandria.  In 828AD Mark’s body was stolen from Alexandria and taken to Venice, which has adopted Mark as its Patron Saint.To close, Fr Paul invites us, as we do in the tradition of our church, to ask ‘St Mark, pray for us’!