Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Ninth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity IX).
The football season begins in earnest today, and I am hoping to find an appropriate place see Aston Villa’s opening game, a home fixture against Newcastle United, whch kicks off at 12:30.
Before today begins, 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 reflection on the Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Matthew 19: 13-15 (NRSVA):
13 Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; 14 but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ 15 And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.
Melina Mercouri singing ‘The Children of Piraeus’
Today’s Reflection:
In this morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist, when ‘little children’ are brought to Jesus, he reminds the disciples that it is ‘to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs’, and he then blesses them.
The phrase used here twice for ‘little children’ is one word, παιδία (padía). It is a term of endearment, ‘my dear children,’ but it is also used, alongside a similar word τεκνία (teknía), in I John as a term of familiar address or endearment for adult members of the church – our equivalent today of men addressing their friends as ‘lads’, ‘boys’ or ‘guys’.
At the height of the financial crisis in Greece in 2015, I saw a parent on a protest in Athens with a T-shirt asking: «Γονεις χωρις δουλεια πωσ θα ζησουν τα παιδια», ‘If the parents don’t have jobs, how will the children survive?’
That evening, as Greeks prepared to vote in a referendum on their nation’s future, I wondered what was going to happen to the children of Greece after that Sunday? And I found myself thinking about the song ‘The Children of Piraeus’, written in Greek by Manos Hatzidakis as Τα Παιδιά του Πειραιά (Ta Pediá tou Pireá), and first sung by Melina Mercouri in the film Never on Sunday (1960), directed by Jules Dassin and starring Melina Mercouri.
The original song title Τα Παιδιά του Πειραιά is usually translated as ‘The Children of Piraeus’. But in Greek the word παιδιά (paidiá) can also have the same meaning as kids, guys or men.
Never on Sunday (Ποτέ Την Κυριακή, Pote Tin Kyriaki) is a Greek black-and-white romantic comedy film starring Melina Mercouri, who was one of the potent figures in resistance to the colonels’ junta in Greece more than half a century ago.
The title song of the film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1960, a first for a foreign-language picture. The song won Manos Hatzidakis an Academy Award for Best Original Song and became a worldwide hit. But Hatzidakis, whose family was from Rethymnon, did not attend the Academy Award ceremony in 1961, and refused to collect his award, saying the film with a prostitute as its protagonist reflected negatively on Athens and misrepresented Athens.
The original Greek lyrics by Hadjidakis, as well as the translations in German, French, Italian and Spanish sing of the Children of Piraeus, the port city of Athens – do not mention ‘Never on Sunday’, which is only found in the English lyrics. The lyrics to the English version of the song were written by Billy Towne, with five versions reaching the UK Singles Chart.
In the original song, the main female character of the film, Illya (played by Melina Mercouri), sings of her joyful life in Piraeus:
If I search the world over
I’ll find no other port
Which has the magic
Of my Port Piraeus.
Although she earns her living as a prostitute, she longs to meet a man who is just as full of joie de vivre as she is. A love-smitten American, Homer Thrace (Jules Dassin), and a handsome Greek-Italian dockhand, Tonio (George Foundas), compete to win her heart and find they are learning lessons about the secret of happiness and life itself.
The film made Melina Mercouri an international star, won her an Academy Award and introduced Greek bouzouki music to the rest of the world. In the original soundtrack, the bouzouki solo sections were played by Giorgos Zampetas, one of the greatest bouzouki artists of the rebetiko era of Greek music. He began his career as a songwriter in 1952, and was popular in Greece throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
Melina Mercouri was also an acclaimed classical actor. She played the title role in Phaedra (Φαίδρα), an adaptation by Margarita Lymberaki of Hippolytus, the tragic drama by Euripides about how the wilful actions of parents can have devastating and deathly consequences for their children.
The film is set in Paris, London and the Greek island of Hydra. The music was composed by Mikis Theodorakis and her recording of Αστέρι μου φεγγάρι μου (Asteri mou, Fengari mou, ‘My Star, My Moonlight’) remains a popular song in Greece.
Melina Mercouri became one of the potent figures in resistance to the oppressive junta of the colonels in Greece following their coup in 1967. Melina and Jules fled Greece and in 1970 they were accused of financing a plot to overthrow the regime. The charges were dropped but the interior minister, Colonel Stylianos Pattakos, revoked her Greek citizenship and confiscated her property.
When she was stripped of her citizenship, she said: ‘I was born a Greek and I will die a Greek. Pattakos was born a fascist and he will die a fascist.’
Later, she was a founding member of PASOK and became a prominent politician. She was elected to Parliament for Piraeus, became Minister of Culture in Andreas Papandreou’s cabinet, and devoted much of her career to demanding the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum to Athens.
The title of her autobiography, I was born a Greek, comes from her celebrated riposte when her Greek citizenship was revoked by the colonels.
In his poem ‘Athens 2005’, the poet Thomas McCarthy who was born in Cappoquin, Co Waterford, writes of
… Melina Mercouri’s dream, her idealised place
Where a child might grow tall with European-ness, at home and in love
From the Shannon river to the Danube Volga, or Vistula; consoled
By culture for all the horrors of war and exile …
It is a dream for children that is a reminder that it is ‘to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs’.
Melina Mercouri sings ‘My Star, My Moonlight’, composed by Mikis Theodorakis for Phaedra
Today’s Prayers (Saturday 16 August 2025):
The theme this week (10 to 16 August) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Serving God in the Gulf’ (pp 26-27). This theme was introduced last Sunday with reflections from Joyaline Rajamani, Administrator at the Church of the Epiphany, Doha, Anglican Church in Qatar.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 16 August 2025) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:
Heavenly Father, we lift up the Church of the Epiphany and all Christian communities in Qatar. Help them to be instruments of your love, fostering harmony and coexistence, and reflecting your kingdom on earth.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty Lord and everlasting God,
we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern
both our hearts and bodies
in the ways of your laws
and the works of your commandments;
that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever,
we may be preserved in body and soul;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Strengthen for service, Lord,
the hands that have taken holy things;
may the ears which have heard your word
be deaf to clamour and dispute;
may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit;
may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love
shine with the light of hope;
and may the bodies which have been fed with your body
be refreshed with the fullness of your life;
glory to you for ever.
Additional Collect:
Lord God,
your Son left the riches of heaven
and became poor for our sake:
when we prosper save us from pride,
when we are needy save us from despair,
that we may trust in you alone;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of Trinity IX:
Almighty God,
who sent your Holy Spirit
to be the life and light of your Church:
open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit
in love and joy and peace;
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 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
