Patrick Comerford
The Season of Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024).
In previous years, my Lenten reflections have journeyed with the saints, looked at Lent in Art, read poems in Lent, reflected on the music of Vaughan Williams, selected sayings from Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), the Lichfield lexicographer, and similar themes.
This year, I am taking time each morning in Lent to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated by the Church of England in the Calendar of Common Worship. I began this series on Wednesday with a reflection on Saint Alban, England’s first martyr and saint.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time early this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;
2, today’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Early English pre-Reformation saints: 3, Saint Augustine (605), first Archbishop of Canterbury
Saint Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, is commemorated in Common Worship on 26 May. He was the Prior of the monastery of Saint Andrew in Rome in 596 when Pope Gregory the Great sent him as the leader of a group of 40 monks to re-evangelise the English Church.
Saint Augustine appears not to have been a particularly confident person and, in Gaul, he wanted to turn back. But Pope Gregory’s firm resolution held the group to their mission. The monks finally landed in Kent in the summer of 597 where they were well received by King Ethelbert whose wife, Bertha, was a Christian.
Once established, Saint Augustine returned temporarily to Gaul to receive ordination as a bishop. Pope Gregory would have preferred London to have become the primatial see, but in the event Canterbury was chosen and so Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. He died in either 604 or 605.
Matthew 9: 14-15 (NRSVA):
14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ 15 And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.’
Today’s Prayers (Friday 16 February 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Ash Wednesday Reflection.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Jessie Anand, Chaplain, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (16 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:
We pray for the work of USPG on the day that we remember its founder, Thomas Bray. May we look back with open minds to discover new insights to inform the path we tread.
The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Almighty God,
you have given your only Son to be for us
both a sacrifice for sin
and also an example of godly life:
give us grace
that we may always most thankfully receive
these his inestimable gifts,
and also daily endeavour
to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Holy God,
our lives are laid open before you:
rescue us from the chaos of sin
and through the death of your Son
bring us healing and make us whole
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection: Saint Petroc, Abbot of Padstow (6th century)
Tomorrow: Saint Mellitus (624), first Bishop of London
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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