Mission: Praying Scripture in a Contemporary Way: Year B

by Mark Link

An invitation to all Christians to join in prayer for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the human race. Draws upon the daily lectionary for Year B.

Genres: Spirituality

407 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

About the author

Father Mark J. Link, S.J., was a Jesuit priest, writer, and teacher.

Link received his B.A. in Architecture from the University of Cincinnati in 1950, then entered the Society of Jesus. He was ordained in 1960, and took his vows in 1977.

Link taught English and algebra at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, was an author in residence at Loyola Press, taught religion at Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, and taught theology at Loyola University. In 1990, he became a full-time author.

Reviews

[Jungsook Chung]

Mission 2000 by Mark Link, S.J. is the second of the Vision 2000 program. It is based on the Common Lectionary readings for Sunday: Gospel (B Cycle), Weekday: Reading I, Year II.

Just like 'Challenge,' 'Mission' is a Daily Mediation Program based on The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius.
Vision, Mission, and Challenge are for people who cannot do full-time retreats for many days. It is programmed to be made for 36 weeks.

The mission is divided into four parts: Challenge, Decision, Journey, and Victory
The daily reflection exercise format has the same four elements.

- a Scripture passage,
- a story from life,
- an application to life,
-a concluding thought

You have to

1. Read the reflection prayerfully. (about one minute)
2. Think about what struck you most as you read the reflection. Why this (About four minutes)
3. Speak to God about your thoughts. (about one minute)
4. Listen to God's response. Simply rest in God's presence with an open mind and an open heart.
(about four minutes)
5. End each reflection by praying the Lord's Prayer slowly and reverently.

Each page ends with proverbs as these, 'Remember that what you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to another, but what you are will be yours forever.' 'A diamond is a chunk of coal that has made good under pressure.' 'Acquire inward peace, and a multitude around you will find their salvation.' 'Everything I have learned... everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my experience, has been through an affliction and not through happiness.'

[Jungsook Chung]

Mission by Fr. Mark Link, a Jesuit priest, is the second book of the vision 2000 program. Fr. Link said this book was created inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall. If the history making event could happen so quickly, that other walls of prejucice, injustice, ignorance, and hatred' can fall as that.

This is the book for invitation for the people who want to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our world. This book invites us to pray for a new union and solidarity of the human family.

Our local prayer group, one of the CLC(Christian Life Community) which follows St. Ignatius spirituality uses this book as a spiritual guide. I translated this book into Korean. I like the format, an introductory bible verse which is supposed to meditate everyday, an episode, and a reflective question related to the gospel, and a proverb. Fr. Mark Link's books are very helpful for us, but I found out some factual errors in the episodes he introduced. In spite of that, this book inspires us a lot. This is not for reading but for praying on.