On November 22, we celebrate the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.  The prayers and readings focus on the eschatological end of times, marked with a call to reckoning, as we are all asked to make an assessment and accounting of our spiritual lives.

It is also the end of a Liturgical Cycle.  This year, we will conclude with Cycle A, a year associated with the Gospel of St. Matthew. This means majority of the Sunday readings throughout the year are drawn from the Gospel of Matthew.  The start of a new liturgical year, beginning with the first Sunday of Advent, marks the transition from one lectionary cycle (A, B, or C) to the next.

These cycles are a result of the Second Vatican Council, which ordered a change in the Sunday readings at Mass so that Catholics would become more familiar with the text of the Bible. As a result, we now have a three-year cycle of readings built around readings from the three synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

This year, meaning most of 2021, Year B (and every three years following the cycle) in the Catholic Church’s lectionary of Scripture readings for Mass, the Gospel of St. Mark is featured prominently.

A few notes on Mark’s Gospel.  First, notable is the fact that it is now generally regarded as the earliest Gospel. It presents a stark and challenging portrait of Jesus’ public ministry, which leads into a dramatic account of his passion and death. It has often been described as a passion narrative with a long introduction. Mark presents Jesus as a wise teacher and a powerful and compassionate healer. But he also insists that this Jesus can be properly understood only when we confront the mystery of the cross and Jesus’ identity as a suffering Messiah. For this reason, Mark’s work is sometimes called the Gospel of Suffering. As we study and pray through this text, we will have to face the suffering of Jesus the Son of God and the suffering that is part of our lives as individuals and as citizens of the world.