Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

I have at times witnessed a parenting technique my brother would use with my 5-year-old niece. When she was distracted or he wanted to call extra attention to what he was saying, he would tell her to put on her ‘listening ears.’ I would smile to myself as she made the gesture of putting her hands up to her ears to show that she was truly listening. This Sunday’s Gospel is asking each one of us to put on our ‘listening ears.’ We witness an encounter between a scribe and Jesus. When approached and asked which is the first the commandments, Jesus answers with the words of the Shema, a simple but life-immersing prayer which the Jewish people would pray at least twice daily to remind them of who gave them life, who gives love, who gives us other brothers and sisters to walk alongside and practice and receive love. It was a prayer also which would have been formative for Jesus, and he drew upon it in his teachings: ‘Listen, Israel…’  The call to listen should stir in us something – a stillne

This Sunday’s Gospel has us continue the journey with Jesus. He has left Jericho and is en-route to Jerusalem. We are told that his disciples and a large crowd are with Him and as they journey, they encounter a blind beggar. The encounter takes place at the side of the road, ‘para ho hodos’ as the Greek text offers. The word ‘hodos’ in Greek means a path, a way, which gives us the root for words like ‘syn-odos’ (which we are hearing a lot about in these days) and ‘ex-odos’. Often in life we can feel that we are sitting on the side of the road- stuck and not able to move forward. We can be like Bartimaeus, no longer moving toward goodness, fulfilment and fulness of life, but stuck in sin and death, that is, until we encounter Jesus. There is a new sense of hope for Bartimaeus, and he cries out to Jesus, not once but twice. The beautiful thing is that he is named- even though he is for many, a blind beggar, St. Mark names him and links him to his family, he is Bartimaeus, the son of Tima

In the Gospel this Sunday we see James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approach Jesus and ask him for a favour. Jesus’ response : “What is it you want me to do for you?”. Their answer reveals that they want to be offered special places, power and prestige, either side of Jesus. When questioned if they were ready for all that the position would bring them, they affirm that they can. Little did they know at that stage where their discipleship, the true discipleship, would bring them! We cannot help but think of another Scripture passage which speaks of two men being at the right hand and left hand of Jesus. These men, however, did not request these places. It was on the Cross where Jesus had either side of Him, a thief, both condemned to death, just like Jesus. One would realise the humble privilege of being alongside the Saviour of the world, the other would mock Him even in the last hours of death, questioning his identity as the Beloved Son of the Father. St. Thomas Aquinas once sa

  Have you ever tried to thread a needle? Even with the best of eyesight, it can still be a complex task- to get that thin piece of thread through that little eye and then proceed with the task at hand. So can you imagine trying to get a camel (yes, a camel!), through the eye of a needle! This image is one which Jesus uses in this Sunday’s Gospel. The Gospel sets the scene of a man who comes to Jesus to seek out eternal life. He had lived the commandments all his life. What more could he do? We are told that Jesus looks at the man with a deep love, an agape love, a love which is not superficial but reaches the soul.  His response to the man is: “Go and sell everything you own, give the money to the poor, and then you will have treasure in heaven.” The gaze of Jesus steadies him to look inwards. When we come to pray, in the words of St. John Vianney, the Cure’ of Ars, “We look at Him and He looks at us”. It is an intimate time of heart-to-heart interaction. The encounter with Jesus shou

  Over the past 20 months or so, we have become accustomed (or not!) to so many rules and regulations as we continue to overcome the COVID 19 pandemic. Only a year ago we were asking ourselves is it ‘permitted’ to go beyond 5km or outside our county? Even now, even in our Churches there are still so many things we can and can’t do…stay 2 metres apart, no choirs, no sign of peace, etc. We are surrounded by laws, rules, regulations, policies, guidelines, codes and more. It can be tiring, frustrating and tedious, for those who have to follow them and for those who have to oversee their application. When I was a student of Canon Law (the legal system of the Catholic Church), I was fascinated by the shortest canon in the Code of Canon Law, canon 1752 which reads : “The salvation of souls is the supreme law.” This canon is the kaleidoscopic lens through which we are called to read all of the other 1751 canons. Ironically it’s the very last canon and not the first! With the Gospel this Sun