Patrick Comerford
This is the last week of Lent, Holy Week, and yesterday was Palm Sunday, the Sixth Sunday in Lent (24 March 2024). In the Church Calendar, today is usually celebrated as the Feast of the Annunciation, but because it falls in Holy Week this year it has been transferred to Monday 8 April.
Today (25 March) is also Greek National Day. The Greek revolution against the Turkish occupation and the War of Independence began on 25 March 1821, when Bishop Germanos of Patras raised the Greek flag in the Monastery of Aghia Lavra in Peloponnese.
Monday in Holy Week is known in many parts of the Church as Fig Monday.
Throughout Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated in Common Worship.
We are travelling to Norwich later this morning. But before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks 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: 41, Saint Richard of Chichester
Saint Richard, Bishop of Chichester, is remembered in Common Worship on 16 June. Richard de Wych was born in Wych, present-day Droitwich in Worcesterdhire, in 1197 and worked hard for his yeoman father to restore the family fortunes. Later he studied at Oxford and Paris and then in Bologna as an ecclesiastical lawyer.
When Richard returned to England in 1235, he was made Chancellor of Oxford University and eventually Chancellor to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund of Abingdon. When he decided to become a priest, he studied theology for two years with the Dominicans at Orléans.
When Richard became Bishop of Chichester in 1244, he was seen as a model diocesan bishop: progressing around his diocese on foot, visiting and caring for his clergy and people, generally being accessible to all who needed his ministry. He insisted that the sacraments be administered without payment and with a proper dignity. While he was on a recruitment campaign for the Crusades, he fell ill at Dover and died there on 3 April 1253. His mortal remains were translated to Chichester on 16 June 1276.
Saint Richard is often remembered for the popular prayer ascribed to him:
Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits thou hast given me,
for all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother,
may I know thee more clearly,
love thee more dearly,
follow thee more nearly.
The prayer was adapted for the song ‘Day by Day’ in the musical Godspell (1971), with music by Stephen Schwartz. The words used, with a few embellishments, were based on the following from Songs of Praise, Enlarged Edition:
Day by day,
Dear Lord, of thee three things I pray:
To see thee more clearly,
Love thee more dearly,
Follow thee more nearly,
Day by Day.
John 12: 1-11 (NRSVA):
1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’
9 When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.
Today’s Prayers (Monday 25 March 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 ‘Holy Week Reflection.’ This theme was introduced yesterday by the Revd Canon Dr Peniel Rajkumar, Theologian and Director of Global Mission, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (25 March 2024), reflecting on the traditional Feast of the Annunciation, invites us to pray in these words:
Today we pray for the strength to follow the calling of the Lord. May we embrace unexpected events and trust in God.
The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race
sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh
and to suffer death upon the cross:
grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility,
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
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:
Lord Jesus Christ,
you humbled yourself in taking the form of a servant,
and in obedience died on the cross for our salvation:
give us the mind to follow you
and to proclaim you as Lord and King,
to the glory of God the Father.
Additional Collect:
True and humble king,
hailed by the crowd as Messiah:
grant us the faith to know you and love you,
that we may be found beside you
on the way of the cross,
which is the path of glory.
Yesterday: Saint Edmund of Abingdon
Tomorrow: Saint Robert Grosseteste (1253), Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist
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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