Patrick Comerford
Lent began yesterday with Ash Wednesday. Later this evening I am having yet another CT in Milton Keynes University Hospital. But, before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read 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.
Luke 9: 22-25 (NRSVA):
22 [Jesus said:] ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’
23 Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. 25 What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?’
Today’s Reflection:
In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Luke 9: 22-25), after feeding the multitude and sending them away, Jesus has been was praying alone, with only the disciples nearby. When he asks them ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ (verse 18) and ‘who do you say that I am?’ (verse 20), Peter answers, ‘The Messiah of God.’
But Jesus commands them not to tell anyone, and goes on to talk about his own impending suffering, death and resurrection. He then challenges the disciples to follow him, deny themselves and ‘take up their cross daily and follow me’.
I have often watched the Good Friday processions in places such as Crete, Thessaloniki and in Barcelona, where people humble themselves and take up the Cross in processions to symbolise their penitence and their renewed intention to follow Christ.
The cathedral in Barcelona is dedicated to the Holy Cross (Santa Cruz) and to Saint Eulalia, Barcelona’s martyr and first patron saint. There I once joined the procession of the Cross on Good Friday from the cathedral cloisters into the nave of the cathedral and out onto the steps of the west front for the solemn prayers and readings.
Later that day, I joined one of the many Good Friday evening processions through the narrow cobbled streets and small squares of the old city to the square in front of the main façade of the cathedral.
The outpouring of collective and individual piety in these processions is deeply moving. The procession I joined was led by a uniformed brass band playing solemn, funeral-style music or marchas procesionales, followed by a large float bearing a life-size Pieta composition from the Church of Sant Jaume on Calle Ferran, with a weeping Madonna cradling the dead body of Christ taken down from the Cross.
Along its way, the procession stopped relatedly in the narrow streets, and when it arrived at the cathedral it was joined by similar processions from other parishes throughout the old town with their own pasos or floats.
Penitent and pious people thronged the square for the evening of prayers. Some were dressed in the distinctive cloaks and hoods (capirotes) of the brotherhoods and confraternities associated with the Holy Week processions in Spain. Some women were dressed formally in black with tall head-dresses and black mantillas. A small number of people in bare feet carried their own large wooden crosses, shackled to chains they dragged behind them.
It is important for the processing penitents to keep their faces covered so that others do not know their identity. The fear is that the praise they might receive for taking up the cross would cancel out the penitence and piety they seek to express.
At the beginning of Lent, it is worth asking what benefits I expect from my planned penitential practices this Lent, as I seek to take up the Cross once again and to follow Christ? And I am reminded of the advice in yesterday’s Gospel reading (Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21) about being private rather than public about almsgiving, praying and fasting? Do I do any of these for the praise of others or in my search for ways to take up my cross daily and follow Christ?
Today’s Prayers (Thursday 6 March 2025):
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 World’s Greatest Leader: Jesus Christ.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by the Right Revd Filomena Tete Estevão, Bishop of Angola.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 6 March 2025) invites us to pray:
We lift the street children of Luanda, who face extreme poverty. Surround the children with your protection and provide them with hope, dignity, and justice. Grant the Anglican Church wisdom and compassion to support the children and campaign against structures of injustice.
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
Continued Tomorrow
The Good Friday procession in Barcelona (Patrick Comerford)
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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