This Sunday we hear of a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, asking for Jesus’ help based upon his faith, and his request is granted by Jesus. This gospel is unlike Mark’s account last weekend when James and John, the sons of Zebedee, do not realize or understand—nor do they see—for what they were asking. Today’s gospel is significant for a number of reasons:

All Souls Day and Prayers Our Catholic Church celebrates the noble souls of our faithfully departed each November. On Sunday, November 3rd at the 11 a.m. Mass we will recall the names of all those who have died in 2024 and were buried from our parish. The Book of the Dead will be placed before the altar, our cantor will recall the names aloud of our deceased loved ones this year, then a bell shall toll and a moment of silent prayer will be offered as I incense the names inscribed upon our Memorial Book.

It is amazing sometimes how folks will ask a question without giving a thought as to its impact on others—or the demands an answer may place on them. Trial lawyers live by an important rule: “Never ask a question for which you do not know the answer.” James and John should have been better “prepared” to question the Lord in today’s gospel. Jesus’ response “You do not know what you are asking,” put them in their place—or perhaps made them at least think more deeply about the question being asked.

Today our readings are all about the vocation’s journey—a vocation to the priesthood, to religious life or to family and married life. For each of these vocation calls us to empty ourselves individually and seek the “common good,” whether that “good” is for Christ and His Church or for the family-it is a faith-filled and lived journey.