I have always envied people who find prayer easy. I would like to be one of them but for some reasons the Lord hasn’t given me such a gift. However he has given me a couple of prayers which have sustained me in my life splendidly. One of them is the Breviary which as a priest and Oblate I pray five times a day and the second prayer is the Rosary. As we come to the end of October which is dedicated to the Rosary we are reminded that October is not the only time we should remember our Rosary beads. October is like a teaser to get us savour the depth, beauty and power of the Rosary prayer so that we could extend our use of the Rosary for the remaining eleven months.
Why do I appreciate this prayer so much? I know a wise and holy priest who keeps saying that praying and playing golf have a common aspect. If you don’t do them regularly you do them badly. The Rosary gives us a chance to do praying well by engaging us in praying regularly. Because of my daily commitment to the Rosary I have prayed in the times when I was so happy that I  would jump up to the moon but I have also prayed when I didn’t feel like leaving my room. What I have learnt from this exercise is that I don’t wait to pray until I feel like praying but I pray every day. I love the simple words we repeat so often which have been taken from the Holy Bible, I appreciate that I can meditate in a simple way on the most essential mysteries of our salvation and I have never enough the company of Our Lady as she leads my through these deep events her Son Jesus Christ was part of.
What can I say about my prayer then? It is regular thank to the Rosary.

            Do you feel like in depression right now? I do. The Gospel today takes us to the ancient city of Jericho which is located 258 meters below sea level. That’s a significant depression. The history of the city, which is believed to be the oldest in the world, adds even more gloomy feelings. When the people of Israel conquered Jericho on the way from Egypt they were told by God to leave it inhabited. God placed a curse on the city as its king killed his son and placed his dead body in the foundations of the city. Later however the city was rebuilt against the instructions of God. As it grew rich and influential people didn’t think about God’s instructions; the city founded on a horrible crime of a parent proudly challenged God’s reign in the world.
            My Dear Sisters and Brothers! The history of Jericho is the story of a human enterprise being built on death which always comes from sin. Although Jericho was flourishing in economic terms at the time of Jesus it was still a symbol of choice against God’s will. If some people were expecting God to send brimstone and fire like he did in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah they were to get disappointed too. God didn’t send brimstone and fire this time but he sent his Son Jesus Christ to Jericho. Our Blessed Lord brought into the city the Word of God which crushed the hardened heart of Zacchaeus and opened the blind eyes of Bartimaeus. However when Jesus entered the city, which was a symbol of doing things against God’s will, he brought with him his obedience to the will of his heavenly Father. Jesus even said that “his food was to do the will of his father.”
            As we read the story of the healing of the blind man we discover that after “his sight returned he followed Jesus along the road.” Where did the walk take him to? From Jericho Jesus was walking straight to Jerusalem. It was a laborious excursion. Even if the distance between the two places is only 27 kilometres, there is a thousand meters difference in altitude and the way leads through some rocky desert which makes it even more difficult. Bartimaeus set out on a difficult expedition as he followed Jesus. In his person we can see, like in a mirror, ourselves. The blind man is introduced by his name; we even learn the name of his father. He is not an anonymous person. He is not a number. He is not a part of the crowd. God doesn’t work with crowds but our God who is the community of Divine Persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, calls us, by name, out of anonymity of the crowd to the communion of the Church which is established at our baptism. Can you remember what Bartimaeus did after he learnt that Jesus was calling him? “He threw off his cloak; he jumped up and went to Jesus.” The early Christians who listened to these words could easily recognise in them their own baptism. Adults would take off their clothes and they would go to the pool to be immersed, after the immersion they would be clothed in new white clothes symbolising new quality of life they had just received as it can be read in the Letter to the Galatians: “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Bartimaeus left his cloak behind as he left behind his old life. The wealth of Jericho didn’t attract him as he discovered what St Paul expressed in his Letter to the Philippians some time later: “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.”
            I believe that if Bartimaeus is mentioned by name it means that he not only reached Jerusalem with Jesus but he became part of those transforming events which happened at the end of the 27-kilometer-walk. The events which were to begin with the Palm Sunday, found their culmination in Jesus’ death and Resurrection and were sealed by the mystery of Pentecost. Bartimaeus lived in a double depression: geographical and personal. After meeting Christ he was brought out of both. He has been remembered not simply because he was healed by Jesus but he must have been remembered by early Christians as a fellow brother in their Church community. His story is an encouragement for us all to let Jesus open our eyes to the realities which only faith enables us to see, to see God coming into various depressions we experience in order to take us out of them into “his own wonderful light.”

            Do you like playing games? I would like to play one with you today. I will pretend that I am ignorant, though my dear sister would say that I don’t need to pretend that, and  I will ask you to explain to me what some things are for. You need to say the first thing that comes to your mind, it needs to be just one word and you need to say it together. Let’s start?
What is a pen for? … Writing
What is a book for? … Reading
What is wine for? … Drinking
What is a school for? … Learning
What is a shop for? … Shopping
What is the Church for?... ???? Ups! Looks like we’ve got stuck, doesn’t it?
            If Jesus calls us in the Gospel to be servants and later he prayed for us to be one, which means that we are going to be occupied with something as a team, it looks like we are not synchronised yet. Servants in a household need to work as a team, don’t they? They synchronise even their clocks to make sure that their service is interconnected.
            My Sisters and Brothers!
The first document of the Second Vatican Council authorized by Blessed Pope Paul VI was about the Liturgy. However it wasn’t about how to make Mass nice and relaxing. On the contrary in the first lines of the document we read about the need “to strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of humankind into the household of the Church.” Some ten years later the same Pope wrote at the end of the synod of bishops a document called Evangelii nuntiandi where we read: “The Church exists in order to evangelise.”
            So let me ask you now: What is the Church for? … Evangelising.
            It couldn’t be clearer. The Church exists in order to evangelise. That means that if you are a member of the Church, then you are called to evangelise. That’s why if you ask yourself now: what is the Mission Sunday for? The answer is: To remind all of us that we are entrusted by Jesus Christ with the task of evangelising, not just some missionaries sent far away. We all are called to evangelise. That was the mission Jesus received from his Father as he said it in his first public sermon in Nazareth: “The Lord sent me to evangelise the poor.” Before he ascended to haven he sent his disciples to continue evangelising.
            So, what does it mean to evangelise? It means that I am a servant of the Gospel. It doesn’t make me better that others but it makes me responsible to share the Good News of what God has done for the people in the death and Resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ. It is like delivering a letter or an email with good life changing news for the person. It is like updating a computer to utilise the most recent improvements in the field of technology. But here we are not talking about machines and technology; we are talking about people of whom God spoke: “You are precious in my sight. I love you.” (Is 43:4) and Jesus proved it by his death on the cross and his Resurrection. That’s what can be called the update for all women and men.
            So how can we evangelise? Firstly by witness; the first and most important way to evangelise is to live our faith fully and joyfully. This is the witness of our life.  Even nonbelievers can teach about Jesus but to evangelise one need to give their lives to the Lord. Evangelisers will always be impacted and influenced by the Gospel first so that those around them will ask: Why are they like this? Why do they live in this way? What or who is it that inspires them? Why are they in our midst? Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one...All Christians are called to this witness, and in this way they can be real evangelisers.
Secondly, in the long run the Gospel needs to be explained, justified – what St Peter called “always having your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you all have.” There is no true evangelisation if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed.
For many of us, this is the scary part, isn’t it? Perhaps the most powerful and simple way is to be ready to share our “own faith story” or “testimony.” This means sharing with another the story of how encountering Jesus Christ and following him has changed us and given us hope for the future. Do you have such a story to share?
So: What is the Church for? … Evangelising.

Would you call the encounter of the man from today’s Gospel with Jesus a happy-end? Doesn’t look like one, does it? Although it started with so much excitement as St Mark reports for us: “Jesus was setting on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him: “Good master what must I do to inherit eternal life?” A great start to exploring something new, something promising, something exciting etc., doesn’t it? How does it finish? Very skilfully Jesus kills all that excitement. Was he a grumpy man aiming at spoiling the excitement of his visitor?
            Jesus wasn’t a grumpy man but he was spotting on a problematic issue in the life of the man who came up to him straight away.
            A few years ago I heard of a man who had a number of health issues. One day he heard that a new doctor was opening a surgery in the neighbourhood. The people were saying that it was a blessing that the man decided to move into their area and to work among them as he was a sought-after GP. So our friend couldn’t wait to have an appointment with the new doctor. He was telling everyone that after those other hopeless doctors, eventually they had got a true professional. He booked his appointment. He went to see the doctor and… he never went to him again. After some weeks someone asked him what happened at the appointment. He answered: “He told me I need to lose weight.”
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! At the core of the Gospel is the call to conversion, to change one’s life. Following Christ is not about having spiritual conversations and theological disputes but it is about being challenged by the “Word of God which is alive and active; it cuts like a double-edged sword but more finally” as were read in the Letter to the Hebrews.
The man from the Gospel got cut to the quick by Jesus’ words. He went away sad. However we can always hope that the episode from the Gospel, which wasn’t a happy end, wasn’t an end at all. We can hope that it was the beginning of a freeing process for the rich man who realised how much he had grown addicted to his wealth. It became such an integral part of his life that he couldn’t imagine his life without it.
As we listen and observe this situation from the Gospel I hope we can put ourselves in the shoes of the man from today’s Gospel, who is a representative of many in our society, and in our Church as well, who have great desires for goodness, friendship, integrity of character etc. but at the same time experience many attachments which take away from them the joy of following Jesus. The Gospel for this Sunday gives us some indication how to assist them as it shows Jesus who “looked steadily at the man and loved him.”
As in our society there is so much misunderstanding regarding love I usually try not to use the word love on its own. One of my favourite combinations is: “PEDAGOGICAL LOVE”, (by the way some friends of mine said to me that my way of talking about love kills all the romance) which indicates such an approach you take which stimulates the person to move forward, to keep maturing in human, faith, personal and social aspect.
In order not to finish on a sad note I would like to take us away from the Galilee, where we met the rich man coming to Jesus, and to reach the destination of the journey Jesus was beginning in today’s Gospel. I mean Jerusalem. Let’s take a place among the Apostles at the Last Supper who were sad realising that they were going to “lose” Jesus but Our Blessed Lord said to them: “You are sad now but your sadness will be turned into joy when you see me again.”
If we can speak about a happy-end to the process of maturing which we support with “PEDAGOGICAL LOVE” it is about being aware, and applying this awareness to life, that life without Jesus is a sad one. Amen.

            If the bishops who today are beginning the Synod on the Family were only to discuss the divorces, same sex relationships or substitutes for the marriage, as the media are presenting it, after listening to today’s readings the bishops should pack their bags and go back to their dioceses as there is no much to be discussed. However I am sure they are not packing their bags and rescheduling their flights back home as the Synod’s goal is bigger than those issues which make the headlines in the reports we are getting on TV, in radio or in newspapers.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! When we Catholics reflect on the issues of human relationships which occupy minds of the members of our wider community as well, we do so by bringing Jesus Christ into the scene “We see in Jesus one who was for a short while made lower than the angels and is now crowned with glory and splendor because he submitted to death; by God’s grace he had to experience death for all mankind.” Jesus’ Death, Resurrection and the mystery of the Pentecost give us, followers of Christ the Lord, not only and inspiration but also an opportunity to cry to heaven for God’s mercy. Let us recall the opening prayer of this Eucharist: “Almighty ever-living God, pour out your mercy upon us.” In the midst of our Church, and of our society as well, where the marriage and family life faces so many challenges and issues, at the verge of this blessed time of the Synod, we beg God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to pour out his mercy of which a powerful and transforming example we find in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan from the story told by Jesus showed mercy by bringing the injured man out of his misery. Although Jesus didn’t apply the image of the Samaritan to himself we recognize that he is our Good Samaritan who has united himself so closely to the human race that he paid the ultimate price for that. However his Resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit now bring a new Resurrection and a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit to all sorts of difficult and challenging situations, including those experienced by the marriages and families. We need to acknowledge the hurt and pain the people who have been through marriage breakups. As we read the Gospel we discover that it is not a 21st Century invention. The Jewish community was dealing with them 2000 years ago already. If we looked at the bigger context of the Roman and Greek culture we realize that it was happening there too. Into those situations Jesus brings good news and by his grace, he also brings mercy. Jesus presents to his immediate listeners, and to all generation of women and men to come, the marriage as of God’s making.
My Dear Friends! A few months ago Pope Francis issued his encyclical letter “Laudato si” which has made its way even into the non-Catholic circles. The point which one shouldn’t miss is that our world is of God’s making. Somehow it is appealing to us to protect the environment. Probably it is because we understand our survival as indispensable to protecting our planet. However God not only created the physical universe, he also created us- people who unite the physical aspect with the spiritual aspect.  It wasn’t the end of God’s reaction activity though. God also created the marriage, a union of love and fruitfulness between a man and a woman. The Book of Genesis gives us a beautiful, and profound at the same time, the scene of God taking some dust, something physical, and giving his breath, something spiritual, to create the first human being. There is no human being with only one aspect. A human being combines physicality and spirituality. However, as I have already said, it wasn’t the end of God’s creation activity. The persons who were already created, a man and a woman, were given love for each other so that the marriage could be created.
Rightly we are occupied with preserving of our planet as indispensable to our survival. However the marriage, this loving and fruitful relationship of a man and a woman, is crucial to our survival and well-being too.
We know that the Planet Earth is not just a concept, but it is a concrete reality with its mountains and lakes, flora and fauna etc., and us - people being blessed to inhabit it. Protecting the planet means protecting those particular realities. The marriage is not a concept either, it is a reality lived by concrete women and men. That’s why into those concrete realities we beg God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to pour out his mercy which we want to contribute to by our prayers and support to all wives and husbands who are crucial to our human survival and development.

St Thérèse of Lisieux, who is also known as the Little Flower has made a tremendous impact on the Church of our time. Although she lived in an isolated contemplative monastery the story of her life and faith journey, she wrote on the request of her superior, has spoken to many people, Christians and unbelievers alike. In 1898, just a year after her death, the diary was distributed in thousands copies which quickly increased to millions of copies. Although she didn’t complete any prestige university and eventually died at the age of 24 John Paul II, after having received many requests from all over the world, declared St Thérèse a Doctor of the Church There are 35 saints which have been recognized as Doctors of the Church, among them there are St Augustin, St Thomas Aquinas, St John of the Cross, St Catherine of Siena, St Bernard of Clarivaux, St Alphonsus Ligouri  Their teaching is marked by such depth, universality, orthodoxy and knowledge that it can be useful to any Christian in any period of time. What JPII acknowledged on October 19, 1997 was the belief already treasured among Catholics about spiritual uniqueness and brilliance of the writings of that young Carmelite nun. John Paul announced his decision first at the end of the World Youth Day in Paris on August 24, 1997. By such timing he offered to the young people “a teacher” who was not much older than most of them but who was determined to live the teaching she discovered through her prayer, reflection and daily practice.
This youngest Doctor of the Church has been honoured not only with some title but the Church has entrusted he with significant “responsibilities.”
When in 1914, at the outset of WW1 Pope Pius X introduced her canonisation cause he already called her “the greatest Saint of the modern times.” Pope Pius XI who beatified her in 1923 and canonised her in 1925 he called her “the greatest star of his pontificate.” Then the responsibilities started being given to the young Saint. Two years after she was canonised, St Thérèse of Lisieux was declared patroness of all Catholic missions together with St Francis Xavier. St Francis was a great missionary who spent his life in foreign lands preaching the Gospel, St Thérèse spent her life for evangelisation in her Carmelite monastery where she lived, prayed and suffered for missions. When badly exhausted by tubercularises she was in constant pain she was seen taking walks in the monastery. When asked what she was doing she answered: “I am walking for the missions.” She took upon herself an additional sacrifice to support those who were toiling for salvation of souls.
 
St Thérèse of Lisieux learnt this profound science in the heart of the Church as she wrote one day:
"To become, through my union with you, a mother of souls - surely that ought to be enough for anybody? But somehow, not for me; I seem to have so many other vocations as well! I feel as if I were called to be a fighter, a priest, an apostle, a doctor, a martyr... Dear Jesus, how am I to reconcile these conflicting ambitions, how am I to give substance to the dreams of one insignificant soul? I decided to consult St. Paul's epistles, in the hopes of getting an answer....
St. Paul explains in I Corinthians 13 that all the gifts of heaven, even the most perfect of them, without love, are absolutely nothing: charity is the best way of all, because it leads straight to God. Now I was at peace. Charity - that was the key to my vocation. If the Church was a body compos-ed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of all; it must have a heart, and a heart BURNING WITH LOVE. And I realised that this love was the true motive force which enabled the other members of the Church to act; if it ceased to function the Apostles would forget to preach the Gospel, the Martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. LOVE, IN FACT, IS THE VOCAT-ION WHICH INCLUDES ALL OTHERS; IT'S A UNIVERSE OF ITS OWN, COMPRISING ALL TIME AND ALL SPACE - IT'S ETERNAL! Beside myself with joy, I cried out: 'Jesus my Love! I've found my vocation, and my vocation is love'. I had discovered where it is that I belong in the Church, the niche God has appointed for me. To be nothing else than love, deep down in the heart of Mother Church: that's to be everything at once - my dream wasn't a dream after all."
 
Probably she didn’t expect that her passionate search for her place in the Church, which is contained in the above passage, a hundred years later will be “utilised” by the same Catholic Church she loved so much in the Catechism n. 826, where it is quoted to to explain the Churches’ nature and meaning.