At Mass this morning, the Feast of St Bruno, the Gospel Reading was about commitment to Christ; when people made excuses to delay following him, Jesus told them, “Once the hand is laid on the plough, no-one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Our parish priest took the opportunity to preach a short homily on this theme. He told us that he had recently been trying to arrange Confirmation classes for young people in the parish and had found it very disheartening when parents were reluctant to make a weekly commitment because of football practice, which seemed to take place every night of the week. While sympathetic to the demands of family life, our priest also felt that being a Christian called one to a deeper commitment; it meant sacrifices of one’s time and one’s other priorities and that if young people did not learn this while still at home there would be little chance of them learning it when they had flown the nest. I felt sorry for him as I listened to his words, thinking how lonely it must be to be a priest today when families (who must make up the backbone of a parish) have so many worldly claims on their time and attention. Yet, as he indicated, Christ’s words from Luke: 9:57-62 resonate today as much as when they were spoken. They reminded me of a poem by that great children’s writer George MacDonald: