11 October 2024

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024:
153, Friday 11 October 2024

‘If it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you’ (Luke 11: 20) … the finger of God touches Adam in Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel (1508-1512)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIX).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Ethelburga (675), Abbess of Barking, and James the Deacon 7th century), companion of Paulinus.

In the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the Day of Repentance, begins this evening, and I hope to attend the Kol Nidre service in Milton Keynes and District Reform Synagogue this evening. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons’ (Luke 11: 15) … a gargoyle at Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 11: 15-26 (NRSVA):

15 But some of them said, ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.’ 16 Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? – for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. 22 But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

24 ‘When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting-place, but not finding any, it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” 25 When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.’

‘When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe’ (Luke 11: 21) … Ballybur Castle, the former seat of the Comerford family near Callan, Co Kilkenny (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s reflection:

In this morning’s Gospel reading, Christ is challenged about whether his work is the work of God or the work of the Devil.

Too often, when I am offered the opportunity to do the right thing, to make a difference in this society, in this world, I ask: ‘What’s in this for me?’ And how often do I challenge others when they are doing the right thing, questioning their motives and wondering ‘Wat’s in it for them?’

When I am asked to speak up for those who are marginalised or oppressed, this should be good enough reason in itself. But then I wonder how others are going to react – react not to the marginalised or oppressed, but to me, and then jealous or feeling hubris when others are seeing to do the right thing when I failed to respond?

How often have I seen what is the right thing to do, but have found an excuse that I pretend is not of my own making?

How often do I think of doing the right thing only if it is going to please my family members or please my neighbours?

How often do I use the Bible to justify not extending civil rights to others?

How often do I use the Bible to condemn others when I know, deep down, that they are doing the right thing for other people?

How often do I use obscure Bible texts to prop up my own prejudices, forgetting that any text in the Bible, however clear or obscure it may be, depends, in Christ’s own words, on the two greatest commandments, to love God and to love one another.

We can convince ourselves that we are doing the right thing when we are doing it for the wrong reason. A wrong decision taken once, thinking it is doing the right thing, but for the wrong reason, is not just an action in the present moment. It forms habits and it shapes who we are, within time and eternity.

The Revd Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), a prominent German Lutheran pastor and an outspoken opponent of Hitler, spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. He once said:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.


What we do today or fail to do today, even if we think it is the right thing to do but we do it for the wrong reasons, reflects how we have formed ourselves habitually in the past, is an image of our inner being in the present, and has consequences for the future we wish to shape.

As TS Eliot writes:

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past
(‘Burnt Norton’).

How is the Church to recover its voice and speak up for the oppressed and the marginalised, not because it is fashionable or politically correct today, but because it is the right thing to do today and for the future?

Surely all our actions must depend on those two great commandments – to love God and to love one another.

‘Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out?’ (Luke 11: 19) … an image at La Lonja de la Seda in Valencia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 11 October 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 the ‘Humanitarian Corridors project in Leuven, Belgium.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by Rebecca Breekveldt, Second Secretary, Central Committee of the Anglican Church in Belgium.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 11 October 2024) invites us to pray:

We pray for all of the chaplains throughout the Diocese in Europe and for all the projects and work they do to support displaced people.

The Collect:

O God, forasmuch as without you
we are not able to please you;
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
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:

Holy and blessed God,
you have fed us with the body and blood of your Son
and filled us with your Holy Spirit:
may we honour you,
not only with our lips
but in lives dedicated to the service
of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Faithful Lord,
whose steadfast love never ceases
and whose mercies never come to an end:
grant us the grace to trust you
and to receive the gifts of your love,
new every morning,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

‘Time present and time past / Are both perhaps present in time future / And time future contained in time past’ (TS Eliot, ‘Burnt Norton’) … the clock on Donegall House in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

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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