Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Mark (10: 17-27) in which Jesus says, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

Fr Paul says, in this Gospel we meet a rich young man who approaches Jesus with a big question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He tells Jesus that he has followed all the commandments since he was young. But Jesus sees into his heart and tells him, “One thing you lack: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me”.

This story teaches us about the importance of putting God first in our lives. The young man is sad because he has many possessions and finds it hard to let them go. Jesus uses this moment to remind us that sometimes our things can hold us back from truly following Him. As He says, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!”.

Jesus wants us to have a heart that is free and open to Him. It’s not that having things is wrong, but we must not let them become more important than our relationship with God. We are called to trust in Him and to share what we have with others.

Fr Paul invites us to ask ourselves: Are there things in our lives that we need to let go of to follow Jesus more closely? With God, all things are possible, and He can help us to choose what truly matters—His love and the love we share with others.