Tony Worner, Leader of Formation for St Agnes’ Catholic Parish, reads from the Gospel of Mark (10: 28-31) in which Peter says to Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you! and Jesus replies, “There is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or land for me and the gospel who will not be repaid a hundred times over”.

Tony notes it is only a short scripture passage today and says, for him, there seems to be a selfish hint in Peter, when he says, “What about us?” It’s like Peter is asking, “What’s in it for us? What are we going to get for following you, with everything we’ve done for you?”

Tony wonders if we can sometimes be like Peter by thinking “Look how good I am. Look what I do to live my Christian life, my Catholic life!”

Jesus is reminding Peter and the disciples, and is reminding us, of the rewards that come from discipleship. For those who leave everything, they will be rewarded a hundredfold, but also this will include some suffering.

So, today Tony invites us to pray for the gift to know what it is to follow Christ, and also for the gift to accept all that this entails.