Patrick Comerford
We are in the Kingdom Season, the time between All Saints and Advent. In the Church Calendar today is both the Third Sunday before Advent and Remembrance Sunday.
Later this morning, I hope to be at the Cathedral Eucharist in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching, at 8:30, when the Precentor, Canon Roannie Cannidy is presiding, and the preacher is Bishop Bolly Lapok, retired Bishop of Kuching and former Archbishop of South-East Asia. But, before today begins, before having breakfast, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Mark 1: 14-20 (NRSVA):
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake – for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
Today’s reflection:
The fear of the potential consequences of Trump’s election victory have not abated in the past few days. I truly fear for world peace and stability, about global change and about the course of world democracy over the next few years. I can only imagine an upsurge in violence, racism and antisemitism in the years to come, and worry that political violence is going to become increasingly acceptable in many places.
So, I am finding comfort this morning in the words of the Collects and the Post-Communion Prayer, as they ask God to ‘govern the hearts and minds of those in authority,’ seek God’s ‘just and gentle rule’, ask God to ‘look with compassion on the anguish of the world’ and to ‘bring near the day when wars shall cease and poverty and pain shall end’.
In this morning’s Gospel reading, the proclamation of the kingdom of God and the good news are linked to the call of the first disciples, Peter, Andrew, James and John.
The disciples are called but not compelled to follow Jesus. On this Remembrance Sunday, I remind myself that those who fought and died in wars included both conscripts and volunteers. In hindsight, we often say they saw their war as the war to end all wars. But many had no choice, whether they were conscripts or volunteers. Many signed up because of the social pressures they faced, others hoped that by enlisting their wives and families would be looked after. Some in Ireland believed enlisting during World War I would advance the cause of Home Rule.
During a recent visit to Dublin, I picked up a copy of Bryan Cooper’s The Tenth (Irish) Division in Gallipoli in ‘The Last Bookshop’ on Camden Street. Cooper, who was a minor poet and an admirer of WB Yeats, was posted to Gallipoli and then to Thessaloniki.
Cooper’s book includes the poem ‘The Irish in Gallipoli’ by Francis Ledwidge and recalls many of the experiences my grandfather, Stephen Edward Comerford (1867-1921), must have shared in Gallipoli, the Balkans and then in Thessaloniki with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
Both Francis Ledwidge and my grandfather fought at Gallipoli, were later in Thessaloniki, and found themselves back in Dublin in the aftermath of the Easter Rising in 1916.
Cooper’s book reminds me too that had my grandfather not been stricken with malaria in Thessaloniki, he might have been sent back to the front, and like Ledwidge been killed on the western front or in the trenches in France or Belgium. Instead, my grandfather remained invalided in Dublin, my father was born in 1918, and so I am alive today.
Francis Ledwidge was born near Slane, Co Meath, in 1887. Family poverty forced him to leave school at 13. He became an active trade unionist, and began writing poetry in the Drogheda Independent. Lord Dunsany became his patron, he was admired by many leading figures in the literary revival, and was soon recognised as an important poet and writer.
Ledwidge was an early member of the Irish Volunteers in 1913. When the Volunteers split at the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, he was initially sceptical of John Redmond’s support for the war. But in October 1914 he joined the 5th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 10th (Irish) Division.
He later said: ‘I joined the British army because England stood between Ireland and an enemy common to our civilisation, and I would not have had it said that she defended us while we did nothing at home but pass resolutions.’
Ledwidge became a lance-corporal, landed at Gallipoli in July 1915, and took part in the allied attack on Suvla Bay in August. The allied forces were attacked by the Turks, the 5th Battalion were trapped not far from the beach, and a stalemate ensued.
Ledwidge and the 10th (Irish) Division were withdrawn from Gallipoli in October 1915, and then found himself in Serbia during a harsh winter. They came under heavy attack from a larger Bulgarian force on 9 December and suffered 1,500 casualties. Ledwidge survived, but damaged his back during the retreat to Thessaloniki, and was sent to hospital first in Cairo and then in Manchester. At the same time, my grandfather was sent back to Dublin and never returned to war.
Ledwidge returned to the front in France late in 1916. He fought at the Battle of Arras in 1917, and was then sent north to Belgium in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres. He was stationed near the village of Boezinghe on 31 July when he a long-range German shell exploded next to him. Ledwidge was killed instantly alongside five other soldiers in his regiment. The battalion’s Jesuit chaplain, Father Francis Charles Devas (1875-1951), had given Holy Communion to Ledwidge that morning. He wrote in his diary, ‘Ledwidge killed, blown to bits’.
Ledwidge was buried close to where he died at Carrefour de Rose, and was eventually reinterred at the Artillery Wood Military Cemetery.
‘The Irish in Gallipoli’ by Francis Ledwidge
Where Aegean cliffs with bristling menace front
The treacherous splendour of that isley sea,
Lighted by Troy’s last shadow; where the first
Hero kept watch and the last Mystery
Shook with dark thunder. Hark! The battle brunt!
A nation speaks, old Silences are burst.
’Tis not for lust of glory, no new throne
This thunder and this lightning of our power
Wakens up frantic echoes, not for these
Our Cross with England’s mingle, to be blown
At Mammon’s threshold. We but war when war
Serves Liberty and Keeps a world at peace.
Who said that such an emprise could be vain?
Were they not one with Christ, who fought and died?
Let Ireland weep: but not for sorrow, weep
That by her sons a land is sanctified,
For Christ arisen, and angels once again
Come back, like exile birds, and watch their sleep.
Today’s Prayers (Sunday 10 November 2024 (Remembrance Sunday, Third Sunday before Advent):
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 ‘A Look at Education in the Church of the Province of Myanmar’. This theme is introduced today with a Programme Update by Nadia Sanchez, Regional Programme Coordinator, USPG:
Despite being rich in resources, Myanmar remains designated as one of the least developed countries in the world. Access to education was severely affected by Covid-19 and the civil disobedience movement which led to teachers and medical professionals leaving their jobs. This in turn has led to much of the population being left without adequate public services.
The Church of Province of Myanmar’s Provincial Education Development Initiative is a holistically developed integrated education programme. It aims to facilitate school-aged children to receive continuous education by upskilling teachers and providing access to materials, uniforms, teaching aids, classroom facilities and safe boarding houses. It will also provide theological education activities for students so they can learn how to effectively take care of the Church and be promoted for leadership in the diocese. Finally, it will seek to improve health awareness through training on things such as Covid-19 and personal hygiene so that communities can look after themselves better and share knowledge with their peers.
This programme will strengthen and improve secular education, theological education and health education for an estimated 3,000 people across the nine dioceses of the Church of the Province of Myanmar.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 10 November 2024, Remembrance Sunday, Third Sunday before Advent) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:
Peaceful God,
Teach us to forsake division and violence.
Let us serve each other in peace,
And live side by side in harmony.
The Collect:
Almighty Father,
whose will is to restore all things
in your beloved Son, the King of all:
govern the hearts and minds of those in authority,
and bring the families of the nations,
divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin,
to be subject to his just and gentle rule;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion Prayer:
God of peace,
whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the kingdom
and restored the broken to wholeness of life:
look with compassion on the anguish of the world,
and by your healing power
make whole both people and nations;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Additional Collect:
God, our refuge and strength,
bring near the day when wars shall cease
and poverty and pain shall end,
that earth may know the peace of heaven
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
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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