General. Attending Sunday Mass, more than anything else, is an exercise in faith and obedience. Faith in God the Father, in His Son Jesus and in the love-bond between them, the Holy Spirit. It is for this reason that during this week’s Eucharist we shall be praying God to increase in us our faith, hope and charity for if we have these within us, we would definitely not lack the obedience required of us to merit everlasting life which starts right from here on earth.

Jeremiah. The wailing prophet is joyful this time round. He is talking about a time when God will reconvene all faithful persons together to give praise and to recognize Him as their Living God. All will be there in great company. Yet it is God Himself Who will lead them back in a straight path and see that they should not stumble. For notwithstanding any hard times man’s faith and the Church might pass through, God will always be there to lead back and gather together those who trust Him as Father.

Letter to the Hebrews. A priest has a high office which is attributed to him and which no other person can usurp. It is with a service of divine mission that God calls and anoints, as in the case of sending His Only Begotten Son Jesus on earth to accomplish the salvation of humankind. The priest’s mission is for those around him in anything which regards God and man’s relationship with Him. It is also his mission to offer up sacrifices to make up for these sins and as an aid for himself to become holier. God is holy and He wants His priests to be holy just like Himself. The priest is indeed a person who understands humanity, because even he is infirm and knows the ways how to overcome this infirmity, mainly by prayer.

St Mark. Jesus heals the blind beggar who had faith in him and the humility to ask for his healing. On being told to rise and go to Jesus, he threw off his current standing (mantle), albeit low as it was, and begged with faith recognising the power Jesus had. This is known as the Jesus Prayer, which the Church Fathers continuously recited and which Russian Orthodoxy practises intermittently. It is a prayer which has the power to heal, completely, the soul especially, if recited repeatedly along with the heartbeat and coming out of the same heart in the belief that Jesus is ever present and that he will have mercy according to the Father’s Will. The meaning of the Our Father prayer may here also be explained.

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