Patrick Comerford
The 50-day season of Easter came to an end last Sunday with the Day of Pentecost (19 May 2024), and tomorrow is Trinity Sunday. The Church Calendar has returned to Ordinary Time, which continues until Advent, and the liturgical colour has returned to green.
This week, between the Day of Pentecost last Sunday and Trinity Sunday tomorrow (26 May 2024), my morning reflections have included the daily Gospel reading, the prayer in the USPG prayer diary, and the prayers in the Collects and Post-Communion Prayer of the day.
The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers the life and witness of the Venerable Bede (735), Monk at Jarrow, Scholar, Historian, and Aldhelm (709), Bishop of Sherborne.
This is a Bank Holiday weekend in England. Before this day and this weekend begin, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
3, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Mark 10: 13-16 (NRSVUE):
13 People were bringing children to him in order that he might touch them, and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Today’s Prayers (Saturday 25 May 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), has been ‘Pentecost Reflection.’ This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Reflection by the Revd Duncan Dormor, USPG General Secretary.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (25 May 2024) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:
So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding (I Corinthians 14: 15).
The Collect:
God our maker,
whose Son Jesus Christ gave to your servant Bede
grace to drink in with joy the word
that leads us to know you and to love you:
in your goodness
grant that we also may come at length to you,
the source of all wisdom,
and stand before your face;
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.
Post Communion Prayer:
Merciful God,
who gave such grace to your servant Bede
that he served you with singleness of heart
and loved you above all things:
help us, whose communion with you
has been renewed in this sacrament,
to forsake all that holds us back from following Christ
and to grow into his likeness from glory to glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of Trinity Sunday:
Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
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.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
No comments:
Post a Comment