Patrick Comerford
We are in Ordinary Time: this week began with Trinity Sunday (14 June 2026), and the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today recalls Sundar Singh (1929) of India, Sadhu (holy man), Evangelist, Teacher of the Faith (19 June). I stayed up late in the early hoursnight, waiting for the Makerfield byelection result to come in. Now, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, reading 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.
Matthew 6: 19-23 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 ‘The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!’
Today’s Reflections
The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 6: 19-23) continues the series of readings from the Sermon on the Mount. In today’s reading, we are challenged to consider once again to think about the things we treasure, to keep our eyes open to all around us, to the needs of the world, and to step out of the darkness.
In these dark days – dark days for the world politically and socially, and dark days for refugees, the poor, the marginalised and those who suffer – what do I treasure most? What should the Church treasure?
Saint Lawrence the Martyr, who lived in the third century, was one of seven deacons in charge of helping the poor and the needy in Rome. He was martyred during the persecution of Christians in the reign of the Emperor Valerian in the year 258.
When Pope Sixtus II became Pope in 257, he ordained Lawrence deacon and appointed him Archdeacon of Rome. Sixtus II was celebrating the liturgy on 6 August when he taken captive and was taken away to be beheaded, Lawrence followed him weeping: ‘Father, where are you going without your deacon?’ Pope Sixtus answered, ‘I am not leaving you, my son, in three days you will follow me.’
Lawrence proceeded to give to the poor the rest of the money he had with him, and sold treasured church vessels so he would have more money to give away.
The prefect of Rome searched for the hidden treasures of the Church, and ordered Lawrence to bring them to him. The deacon said he would, in three days. Then he went through the streets of Rome and gathered together all the poor and sick people supported by the Church. He showed them to the prefect and said: ‘Here are the treasures of the church. You see, the church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor!’
Ambrose of Milan says Lawrence told the prefect: ‘Behold in these poor persons the treasures which I promised to show you; to which I will add pearls and precious stones, those widows and consecrated virgins, which are the Church’s crown.’
The prefect was furious. In his anger he asked them to kill Lawrence slowly so he would suffer more. He was tied to an iron grill over a slow fire that roasted him. As he was dying on the grill, Lawrence is said to have said: ‘Turn me over’. Before he died, he prayed that the city of Rome might be converted and that Christianity would spread throughout the world.
Lawrence died on 10 August 258. His feast on 10 August spread throughout Italy and northern Africa. The Emperor Constantine built a basilica in his honour, and his name is among the saints named in the First Eucharistic Prayer at the Mass.
Today’s Prayers (Friday 19 June 2026):
In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 14 to 20 June 2026 (pp 10-11), is ‘Rooted in Compassion’. This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Ven Titus Oluwalusi, the Anglican Chaplain at Saint John’s Church in Casablanca, Morocco.
The USPG prayer diary today (Friday 19 June 2026) invites us to pray:
Loving God, open our hearts and minds to understand the experiences and emotions of others. Grant us empathy and compassion, that we may respond with care, patience, and love in all our relationships.
The Collect of the Day:
Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflections
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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