On the last day of the Church’s Liturgical year, Fr Paul Gooley reads from Luke’s Gospel (21: 34-36) in which Jesus tells the disciples to be careful not to be weighed down by distractions of life but to watch and pray, always, so they are ready to stand with confidence before the Son of Man. Fr Paul says today in his Gospel Luke puts before us three things, all of real importance in the work of spreading the Good News which Luke has been outlining: sobriety, a trap and prayer. The first, sobriety, is a symbol for concentration and perseverance, to avoid the distractions of carousing in a worldly way. The second thing Luke talks about is a trap being suddenly sprung if we don’t stay awake to what is going on. The third thing is prayer. It is the permanent accompaniment of the apostolate, which Luke has stressed throughout the Gospel: Jesus prays all night before choosing the Twelve; he teaches them his own prayer; there are parables about, and, especially, about persistence in prayer. With this message in mind, Fr Paul invites each of us to consider, ‘Are concentration, perseverance, alertness and prayer part of my life? Or am I easily distracted?’