04 December 2018

Continuing Ministerial Education:
January workshop
on Celtic Spirituality

Saint Patrick’s Breastplate on a wall in a side chapel in Glenstal Abbey … the training day in Askeaton on 14 January explores Celtic Spirituality (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

The continuing education programme for all clergy and readers in the diocese resumes in January, with workshops on Celtic Spirituality in the Rectory, Askeaton, Co Limerick, on Monday 14 January 2019. These workshops are being facilitated by the Rev Ann-Marie Stuart and the Revd Isabel Keegan.

The February programme, on Monday 11 February, looks at the practice of the Jesus Prayer and using icons in prayer.

These programmes are offered in two sessions: from 11 am to 3.30 for day-time participants, and from 7 pm to 9.30 pm for people in ministry who are also in secular ministry.

Tea/coffee/biscuits are provided, but participants are asked to bring sandwiches.

In November, the Revd Rod Smyth of Nenagh introduced a workshop on the choice of hymns, canticles and music, which is often a difficult task for clergy and readers alike.

Rod tackled the thorny problems faced by people who have difficulty in selecting hymns for Sundays, and offered advice about appropriate hymns for Advent, as well as Baptisms, weddings and funerals.

Meanwhile, Canon Patrick Comerford publishes online resources every Monday morning that are suitable for clergy and readers planning services the following Sunday. These are available online at: https://cmelimerick.blogspot.com/

This news report is published in the December 2018/ January 2019 edition of ‘Newslink’ the magazine of the Church of Ireland Diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert

Praying in Advent with USPG
and Lichfield Cathedral
(4): 4 December 2018

The High Leigh Conference Centre in Hertfordshire … the venue earlier this year for the USPG Conference, ‘All Things Are Possible’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford

Throughout the season of Advent this year, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 being used in Lichfield Cathedral.

USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.

USPG is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice.

Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current USPG prayer diary (7 October 2018 to 16 February 2019), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.

We are in the middle of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, and the USPG Prayer Diary begins this week with an extract from a speech given at this year’s USPG Conference, ‘All Things Are Possible,’ in High Leigh by Jessica Richards, co-ordinator for Campaigns and Advocacy in the Church of South India.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Tuesday 4 December 2018:


Pray for safety and protection for girls in India who, even in the womb, face the threat of death due to cultural attitudes.

The West Front of Lichfield Cathedral on a cold winter night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:

Lichfield Cathedral’s Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar for 2018 suggests you light your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray. It suggests setting aside five to 15 minutes each day.

Buy or use a special candle to light each day as you read and pray through the suggestions on the calendar. Each week there is a suggestion to ‘eat simply’ – try going without so many calories or too much rich food, just have enough. There is a suggestion to donate to a charity working with the homeless. There is encouragement to pray through what you see and notice going on around you in people, the media and nature.

The calendar is for not only for those who use the Cathedral website and for the Cathedral community. It is also for anyone who wants to share in the daily devotional exercise. The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.

Today’s suggested reading is Luke 10: 21-24.

The reflection for today suggests:

As you read today’s passage remember God reveals himself to us in the simplicity of who we are, not what we would like to be.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland):

Isaiah 11: 1-10; Psalm 72: 1-4, 18-19; Luke 10: 21-24.

Collect:

Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

God our deliverer,
Awaken our hearts
to prepare the way for the advent of your Son,
that, with minds purified by the grace of his coming,
we may serve you faithfully all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection.

Continued tomorrow.