And they came into Jericho.

And when he was leaving Jericho, with his disciples and with a large crowd – Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) a blind beggar, was sitting beside the road. 

And having  heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out:
‘Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me.’

And many sternly ordered him to be silent.

But he shouted even more:
‘Son of David, have mercy on me.’ 

Jesus stopped and said: ‘Call him.’
and they called the blind man, saying to him
‘Take heart, get up, he is calling you.’ 

Having thrown off his cloak and  jumped up, he came to Jesus. 

And Jesus responded to him ‘What do you want me to do for you?’

The blind man said to him: ‘Rabbouni, I want to see again.’

And Jesus said to him:
‘Go, your faith has saved you.’
and immediately he saw again
and he followed him on the road.

O thou, who art the light of the minds that know thee,
the life of the souls that love thee,
and the strength of the wills that serve thee;
help us so to know thee that we may truly love thee;
so to love thee that we may fully serve thee,
whom to serve is perfect freedom.
Amen

And Jacob* and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him saying ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you.’

He said to them ‘What do you want me to do for you?’

And they said to him: ‘Grant to us that one of us will sit at your right and one at your left in your glory. ‘

But Jesus said to them: ‘ You do not understand what you are asking for.
Can you drink the cup which I drink
or be baptised with the baptism with the baptism I will be baptised with? ‘

But they said to him ‘We can.’

But Jesus said to them:
‘The cup which I drink, you will drink,
and you will be baptised with the baptism with which I will be baptised,

but to sit at my right or left is not mine to give.
But it will be given to those for whom it is prepared.’

But the ten hearing this, began to be angry about Jacob and John. 

And when Jesus had called them together, he said :
You understand that those who are seen to be rulers of the pagans lord it over them
and their great ones tyrannise them.
It is not so among you,
but whoever wishes to be great,
let them be among you as your servant,
and whoever wishes among you to be first will be a slave of everyone. 

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve,
and give his life a ransom for many. ‘

*James

God be in head and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking;
God be at my end and at my departing.

Peter began to say to him: ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. 

Jesus said: ‘Truly I say to you, there is no-one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or mother or father or children or fields because of me and because of the gospel who will not receive, now in this time,  a hundred times house and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields with persecution, and in the coming age ‘eternal life. 

‘But there will be many that are first last and last first. ‘

They were on the road,  going up to Jerusalem,  and Jesus was going ahead of them, and astonished, the followers were fearful, and taking aside the twelve again, he began to tell them the things about to happen to him: ‘Look, I am going up into Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to  the High Priests and the scholars, and they will condemn him to death and they will hand him over to the pagans, and they will mock him, and spit on him and scourge him and they will kill him. And after three days he will rise. ‘

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.
Alcuin

And when he had gone out onto the road, one person, having run up to him and having knelt before him, asked him : ‘Good teacher, what must I do in order to receive the life of the new age?’

But Jesus said to him ‘Why do you say “good”? Nobody except God is good. You know the commandments: “Do not murder.” “Do not commit adultery.” “Do not steal.” “Do not bear false witness.” Do not cheat. “Honour your father and mother.” 

And he said to him: ‘Teacher, I have kept myself from all these from my youth.’ 

Jesus having looked directly at him, loved him and said to him: ‘One thing you lack, go, whatever you have sell, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me! 

But shocked because of the saying, he left, sad. 

For he had many possessions.

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

And they were bringing to him little children in order that he might lay his hands on them. But the disciples rebuked them. 

Jesus having seen this, was angry and said to them: ‘Let the little children come to me, do not try to stop them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to ones such as these. 

Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child (receives it), will not enter it.’

 And having put his arms around them he blessed them, placing his hands on them. 

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

And setting out from there, he went into the region of Judah beyond the Jordan and crowds gathered to him again, and as he was accustomed he taught them, and Pharisees came to him and asked him if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife, testing him. 

But he answered: ‘What did Moses command you?’

And they said: ‘Moses permitted a man “to write a certificate of divorce and to divorce”’.

But Jesus said to them; ‘Because of the hardness of your hearts  he wrote this command for you. From the beginning of creation “Male and Female he made them… Because of this a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife. And the two will be one flesh.” So that they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore that which God has joined together let no man separate.’

And in the house again  the disciples asked him about this.

And he said to them:
‘Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery against her.
And if she divorces her husband and marries another she commits adultery.’

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble,
it is better for them if a large millstone is placed around their neck,
and they are thrown into the sea. 

And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life maimed,
than having two hands,  to come to Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire.

And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life lame,
than having two feet be thrown into Gehenna. 

And if your eye causes you to stumble, throw it away.
It is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God one-eyed,
than having two eyes be throw into Gehenna, 
where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

For everyone will be salted with fire.

Salt is good but if salt becomes ‘unsalty’, how can it be seasoned? 

Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other. 

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

John said to him: ‘Teacher, we have seen someone casting out demons in your name and we told them to stop because they were not following us.’

But Jesus said ‘Do not stop them:

• For there is no one who performs acts of power in my name, and soon afterwards bad mouths me. 
• For whoever is not against us is for us. 
• For whoever gives you  a cup of water to drink because of the name – you are Christ’s – truly I say to you that they will not lose their reward.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

And having moved on from there, they were passing through the Galilee area, and he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples and was saying to them ‘The Son of Man will be handed over into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and having been killed he will rise after three days.’

But they were not understanding the saying, and were frightened to ask him. 

And they came to Capernaum, and being in the house, he asked them ‘What were you discussing on the road?’ But they were silent, for on the road they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 

And when he sat down he called the twelve and said to them: ‘If someone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and a servant of all. 

And taking a little child he set it in the middle of them and wrapping his arms around the child he said to them: ‘Whoever welcomes in my name one of these little children, welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me, does not welcome me, but the one who sent me.’

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and scholars arguing with them. 

And immediately all the crowd, having seen him, were greatly surprised –
and hurrying over greeted him. 

And he asked them ‘What are you arguing about with them?’

And someone from the crowd answered him :
‘ Teacher, I have brought my son to you;

he has a spirit that makes him mute.
And wherever it seizes  him
it dashes him to the ground,
and he foams at the mouth
and grinds his teeth
and he becomes stiff.
And I asked your disciples to cast it out,
and they were not powerful. ‘

So he replied: 
‘O faithless generation!
How much longer will I be with you?
How much longer will I put up with you?
Bring him to me. ‘

And they brought him to him. 
And when the spirit saw him
it immediately threw him into convulsions,
and falling on the ground,
he rolled around,
foaming at the mouth. 

And he asked the father ‘How long since has this been happening to him?

And he said
‘From childhood.
It has often thrown him into the fire
and into the waters
to destroy him.
But if you can, help us,
have pity on us.’

Then Jesus said to him
‘“If you can?!”
– all things are possible, to those who believe.’ 

Immediately the father of the child cried out :
‘I believe, help my unbelief.’

Jesus seeing that the crowd was gathering, rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it
‘Mute and deaf spirit, I order you,
leave him
and never enter him.’

And crying out,
it left,
throwing him into many convulsions.
And he was like dead,
so that many said that he had died.

But Jesus taking him by his hand, raised him up and he stood up. 

And when he had entered his house, his disciples asked him privately
‘Why could we not cast it out?’
And he said to them
‘This kind can never be cast out except by prayer.’

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm