12 April 2017

Praying in Lent 2017 with USPG,
(46) Wednesday 12 April 2017

‘A woman poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ head … They found fault with the woman’ (Image: Wayne Forte)

Patrick Comerford

In our pilgrimage and journey in Lent we have arrived at Holy Week, the last week in Lent. In our pilgrimage and journey in Lent we have arrived at Holy Week, the last week in Lent. Every evening in Holy Week, there are special services in the churches in the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes. This evening’s service (12 April 2017) is in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick, at 8 p.m.

The Lent 2017 edition of the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) follows the theme of the USPG Lent study course, ‘Living an Authentic Life.’

Throughout Lent, I have been using this Prayer Diary for my prayers and reflections each morning, inviting you to join me in these prayers and reflections, for just a few moments each morning.

In the articles and prayers in the prayer diary, USPG invites us to investigate what it means to be a disciple of Christ. The Lent study course, ‘Living an Authentic Life’ (available online or to order at www.uspg.org.uk/lent), explores the idea that discipleship and authenticity are connected.

This week, from Palm Sunday (9 April) until Holy Saturday (15 April), the USPG Lent Prayer Diary is following the narrative of Holy Week. The topic was introduced on Sunday in an article in the Prayer Diary by Paulo Ueti, a bible scholar and theologian in the Anglican Church of Brazil.

In his article, he recalled how the fourth-century Church Father, Evagrius Ponticus, says we can only encounter God if we are prepared to encounter ourselves in truth. When we can acknowledge and accept our own darkness, then we are able to accept others.

Wednesday 12 April 2017:

A woman poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ head… They found fault with the woman. Men fight wars; men flex their muscles in the home. Pray for peace.

The Collect of the Day (Wednesday in Holy Week):

Lord God,
whose blessed Son our Saviour
gave his back to the smiters,
and did not hide his face from shame:
Give us grace to endure the sufferings
of this present time,
with sure confidence in the glory that shall be revealed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ,
you humbled yourself in taking the form of a servant
and in obedience died on the cross for our salvation.
Give us the mind to follow you
and to proclaim you as Lord and King,
to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Continued tomorrow.

Yesterday’s reflection.

Reflections in Holy Week 2017 (2),
Tuesday, Saint Brendan’s, Kilnaughtin

The Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids (Matthew 25: 1-13) … one of the themes of the Tuesday in Holy Week in the Orthodox tradition

Patrick Comerford

Tuesday of Holy Week, 11 April 2017

8 p.m., Late Evening Office,

Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin, Tarbert, Co Kerry.


Readings: Psalm 31: 1-6; John 12: 20-36.

Hymns: 66, Before the ending of the day; 216, And can it be.

May I speak to you in the name of + the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Throughout this week, as we journey together through Holy Week, we continue the gradual build-up from Palm Sunday, with services each evening in this group of parishes. We were in Saint Mary’s, Askeaton yesterday [10 April 2017]. This evening [11 April] we are here in Saint Brendan’s, Tarbert. Tomorrow, we journey on to Rathkeale, then to Castletown for the Maundy Eucharist on Thursday evening, so that we can mark Good Friday prayerfully and appropriately in Saint Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Rathkeale, at noon on Friday and in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton that evening.

All this is to prepare us to celebrate the Resurrection, on Easter Eve in Castletown and on Easter Morning in Tarbert, Askeaton and Rathkeale.

In the Gospel reading for this Tuesday in Holy Week (John 12: 20-36), Christ tells his disciples that the hour for him to be glorified has come – the hour when he will be lifted up from the earth.

Traditionally, this Tuesday in Holy Week is also associated with the encounter between Christ and Pharisees, when they try to trap him into making a blasphemous remark, and with his discourse with his disciples on the Mount of Olives about the destruction of Jerusalem and the signs of the last day.

The theme for Orthodox services on Tuesday is found in the parable of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids (Matthew 25: 1-13), and the parable of the Talents (Matthew 25: 14-30).

These are understood as parables of vigilance and judgment, emphasising our need to accept responsibility for our own lives. They also develop and elaborate the note of judgment found in the Bridegroom motif on these first three days of Holy Week: when the bridegroom comes at Easter, we must be prepared.

Are we prepared?

The Collect of the Day:

O God,
who by the passion of your blessed Son made
an instrument of shameful death
to be for us the means of life:
Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ,
that we may gladly suffer pain and loss
for the sake of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A modern icon of the Wise and Foolish Bridesmaids (Matthew 25: 1-13) … one of the themes of the Tuesday in Holy Week in the Orthodox tradition

(Revd Canon Professor) Patrick Comerford is Priest-in-Charge, the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes. This Holy Week Reflection was prepared for Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin, Tarbert, Co Kerry, on 11 April 2017.