‘The bread of God ... gives life to the world’ (John 6: 33) ... fresh bread in the window of Hindley’s Bakery in Tamworth Street, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
Sunday, 5 August 2018
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 13B).
11.30 a.m.: Morning Prayer, Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin (Tarbert), Co Kerry.
Readings: II Samuel 11: 26 to 12: 13a; Psalm 51: 1-13; Ephesians 4: 1-16; and John 6: 24-35.
‘I am the Bread of Life’ (John 6: 35) ... an image from Saint Luke’s Episcopal Cathedral, Orlando (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
This morning’s Gospel reading (John 6: 24-35) is set on the shores of the Lake of Galilee, and this reading opens with an interesting question from the crowd on the lake shore: ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ (verse 25).
In between all the rowing backwards and forwards, between Tiberias and Capernaum, the people in the crowd were so busy with eating their fill, with their own small world, that they have missed out on the bigger picture – they have taken their eyes off Jesus.
The question they now put to him is very similar in its thrust, in its phrasing, in its direction, to another set of questions in another Gospel story. In the parable of the Goats and the Sheep, or the Judgment of the Nations, in Saint Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 25: 31-46), the righteous ask:
‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry, and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you to drink. And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ (Matthew 25: 44).
And again, the condemned ask:
‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ (Matthew 25: 37-39).
Sometimes we can be so focussed on our own agenda, our own practices of religion, that we can be in danger of losing sight of who Christ should be for us.
Those questions in this morning’s Gospel reading and in that parable of the Goats and the Sheep are very disturbing.
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
When did I last see Christ among the strangers and the unwelcome, among the ragged children and refugees, among the sick who are without medical cards, among those isolated in rural poverty or loneliness, in the prisoners in their own homes? When did I last see you drowning in the sea off the coasts of the Mediterranean?
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
When did I see to it that they not only received the crumbs from my table, but received the Bread of Life?
In this morning’s Gospel reading, we hear how God still wants to provide for us, no matter how we behave, no matter what our circumstances may be.
Christ’s words are addressed not to the Disciples, who later on are going to find his teachings difficult (see John 6: 60, Sunday 26 August), but to the crowds, the multitude, the many, those who are on the margins and the outside, the very people the disciples first thought of sending away.
First, as we heard last Sunday (John 6: 1-21, Sunday 29 July), Christ feeds the many, the crowds, the 5,000, with bread on the mountainside that is multiplied for the multitude .
And then, in this passage, even though they took their eyes off him, Christ now continues to promise to feed them with real food.
He promises them ‘the true bread from heaven’ (verse 33) and he tells them:
‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’ (verse 35).
Care for the body and care for the soul go together to the point that they are inseparable.
Here in verse 35, we hear the first of the seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings in Saint John’s Gospel, ‘I am the Bread of Life,’ and it is repeated in the Gospel reading next Sunday (John 6: 35, 41-51, 12 August 2018, see verse 48).
These seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings are traditionally listed as:
1, I am the Bread of Life (John 6: 35, 48);
2, I am the Light of the World (John 8: 12);
3, I am the gate (or the door) (John 10: 7);
4, I am the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11 and 14);
5, I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11: 25);
6, I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14: 6);
7, I am the true vine (John 15: 1, 5).
These ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings are statements that give us a form of the divine name as revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai (see Exodus 3: 14).
Jesus is the Bread of Life, the Living Water, the best wine, the true vine.
So often Christ talks about himself in Saint John’s Gospel in terms of food and drink, bread and water and wine. We are invited to the banquet that follows the harvest, we are invited to the wedding with the Bridegroom.
But so often too, he emphasises that his invitation is to the outsider: those in the highways and the byways who are invited to the wedding banquet (see Matthew 22: 1-14; Luke 14: 15-24).
The Gospel message is especially for those in the wilderness.
Where do you think the wilderness places are today in our society, on our island, in the world?
For it is there that God seeks to provide the blessings that come with his manna from heaven, and seeks to give life, not just to us but to the world: ‘For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’ (John 6: 33).
How do we, as those who have been baptised and invited to the Eucharistic banquet, show that those who are invited to come to him, that the whole world which is invited into the Kingdom of God, ‘will never be hungry, and … will never be thirsty’?
Would it make any difference if the world was truly called into the kingdom?
If we believe that it would make, literally, a world of difference, then how do we show it?
Or would things just go on as they are going on?
As the Church, we seek not new members, but new disciples.
Perhaps there was no point in the people crossing the water from Tiberias to Capernaum, there was no point in them asking to continue to be fed on the bread that Christ offers, there was no point in them listening to what Christ had to tell them, unless they believed in it all to the point of putting it into practice.
Christ is the bread of life and the life of the world, and we must see this bread not as some arcane, insiders-only rite. We must also offer the life that he offers us to the world.
Would it make any difference if the Church not only preached what it believes, but worked actively to see these beliefs put into practice?
Our response to the love we receive from God – a risky outpouring that is beyond all human understanding of generosity – can only be to love. In the Epistle reading the Apostle Paul begs us to lead a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called, bearing with one another in love (verse 2).
That call to love is not just to love those who are easy to love. It is a call to love those who are difficult to love too, to love all in the world … and to love beyond words.
And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ (John 6: 25) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
John 6: 24-35:
24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ 26 Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ 28 Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ 29 Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ 30 So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat”.’ 32 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ 34 They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’
35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’
‘Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness’ (John 6: 31) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Liturgical Colour: Green
The Collect:
Let your merciful ears, O Lord,
be open to the prayers of your humble servants;
and that they may obtain their petitions,
make them to ask such things as shall please you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hymns:
652, Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
438, O thou who at thy eucharist didst pray
403, Bread of the world in mercy broken (Askeaton)
425, Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts (Tarbert)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
They found him on the other side of the lake (John 6: 25) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
05 August 2018
‘I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me
will never be hungry’
‘I am the Bread of Life’ (John 6: 35) ... an image from Saint Luke’s Episcopal Cathedral, Orlando (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
Sunday, 5 August 2018
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 13B).
9.30 a.m.: The Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2), Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick.
Readings: II Samuel 11: 26 to 12: 13a; Psalm 51: 1-13; Ephesians 4: 1-16; and John 6: 24-35.
‘The bread of God ... gives life to the world’ (John 6: 33) ... fresh bread in the window of Hindley’s Bakery in Tamworth Street, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
This morning’s Gospel reading (John 6: 24-35) is set on the shores of the Lake of Galilee, and this reading opens with an interesting question from the crowd on the lake shore: ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ (verse 25).
In between all the rowing backwards and forwards, between Tiberias and Capernaum, the people in the crowd were so busy with eating their fill, with their own small world, that they have missed out on the bigger picture – they have taken their eyes off Jesus.
The question they now put to him is very similar in its thrust, in its phrasing, in its direction, to another set of questions in another Gospel story. In the parable of the Goats and the Sheep, or the Judgment of the Nations, in Saint Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 25: 31-46), the righteous ask:
‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry, and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you to drink. And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ (Matthew 25: 44).
And again, the condemned ask:
‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ (Matthew 25: 37-39).
Sometimes we can be so focussed on our own agenda, our own practices of religion, that we can be in danger of losing sight of who Christ should be for us.
Those questions in this morning’s Gospel reading and in that parable of the Goats and the Sheep are very disturbing.
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
When did I last see Christ among the strangers and the unwelcome, among the ragged children and refugees, among the sick who are without medical cards, among those isolated in rural poverty or loneliness, in the prisoners in their own homes? When did I last see you drowning in the sea off the coasts of the Mediterranean?
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
When did I see to it that they not only received the crumbs from my table, but received the Bread of Life?
In this morning’s Gospel reading, we hear how God still wants to provide for us, no matter how we behave, no matter what our circumstances may be.
Christ’s words are addressed not to the Disciples, who later on are going to find his teachings difficult (see John 6: 60, Sunday 26 August), but to the crowds, the multitude, the many, those who are on the margins and the outside, the very people the disciples first thought of sending away.
First, as we heard last Sunday (John 6: 1-21, Sunday 29 July), Christ feeds the many, the crowds, the 5,000, with bread on the mountainside that is multiplied for the multitude .
And then, in this passage, even though they took their eyes off him, Christ now continues to promise to feed them with real food.
He promises them ‘the true bread from heaven’ (verse 33) and he tells them:
‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’ (verse 35).
Care for the body and care for the soul go together to the point that they are inseparable.
Here in verse 35, we hear the first of the seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings in Saint John’s Gospel, ‘I am the Bread of Life,’ and it is repeated in the Gospel reading next Sunday (John 6: 35, 41-51, 12 August 2018, see verse 48).
These seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings are traditionally listed as:
1, I am the Bread of Life (John 6: 35, 48);
2, I am the Light of the World (John 8: 12);
3, I am the gate (or the door) (John 10: 7);
4, I am the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11 and 14);
5, I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11: 25);
6, I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14: 6);
7, I am the true vine (John 15: 1, 5).
These ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings are statements that give us a form of the divine name as revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai (see Exodus 3: 14).
Jesus is the Bread of Life, the Living Water, the best wine, the true vine.
So often Christ talks about himself in Saint John’s Gospel in terms of food and drink, bread and water and wine. We are invited to the banquet that follows the harvest, we are invited to the wedding with the Bridegroom.
But so often too, he emphasises that his invitation is to the outsider: those in the highways and the byways who are invited to the wedding banquet (see Matthew 22: 1-14; Luke 14: 15-24).
The Gospel message is especially for those in the wilderness.
Where do you think the wilderness places are today in our society, on our island, in the world?
For it is there that God seeks to provide the blessings that come with his manna from heaven, and seeks to give life, not just to us but to the world: ‘For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’ (John 6: 33).
How do we, as those who have been baptised and invited to the Eucharistic banquet, show that those who are invited to come to him, that the whole world which is invited into the Kingdom of God, ‘will never be hungry, and … will never be thirsty’?
Would it make any difference if the world was truly called into the kingdom?
If we believe that it would make, literally, a world of difference, then how do we show it?
Or would things just go on as they are going on?
As the Church, we seek not new members, but new disciples.
Perhaps there was no point in the people crossing the water from Tiberias to Capernaum, there was no point in them asking to continue to be fed on the bread that Christ offers, there was no point in them listening to what Christ had to tell them, unless they believed in it all to the point of putting it into practice.
Christ is the bread of life and the life of the world, and we must see this bread not as some arcane, insiders-only rite. We must also offer the life that he offers us to the world.
Would it make any difference if the Church not only preached what it believes, but worked actively to see these beliefs put into practice?
Our response to the love we receive from God – a risky outpouring that is beyond all human understanding of generosity – can only be to love. In the Epistle reading the Apostle Paul begs us to lead a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called, bearing with one another in love (verse 2).
That call to love is not just to love those who are easy to love. It is a call to love those who are difficult to love too, to love all in the world … and to love beyond words.
And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ (John 6: 25) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
John 6: 24-35:
24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ 26 Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ 28 Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ 29 Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ 30 So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat”.’ 32 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ 34 They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’
35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’
‘Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness’ (John 6: 31) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Liturgical Colour: Green
The Collect:
Let your merciful ears, O Lord,
be open to the prayers of your humble servants;
and that they may obtain their petitions,
make them to ask such things as shall please you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
O God,
as we are strengthened by these holy mysteries,
so may our lives be a continual offering,
holy and acceptable in your sight;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hymns:
652, Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
438, O thou who at thy eucharist didst pray
403, Bread of the world in mercy broken (Askeaton)
425, Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts (Tarbert)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
They found him on the other side of the lake (John 6: 25) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Patrick Comerford
Sunday, 5 August 2018
The Tenth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 13B).
9.30 a.m.: The Parish Eucharist (Holy Communion 2), Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick.
Readings: II Samuel 11: 26 to 12: 13a; Psalm 51: 1-13; Ephesians 4: 1-16; and John 6: 24-35.
‘The bread of God ... gives life to the world’ (John 6: 33) ... fresh bread in the window of Hindley’s Bakery in Tamworth Street, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
This morning’s Gospel reading (John 6: 24-35) is set on the shores of the Lake of Galilee, and this reading opens with an interesting question from the crowd on the lake shore: ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ (verse 25).
In between all the rowing backwards and forwards, between Tiberias and Capernaum, the people in the crowd were so busy with eating their fill, with their own small world, that they have missed out on the bigger picture – they have taken their eyes off Jesus.
The question they now put to him is very similar in its thrust, in its phrasing, in its direction, to another set of questions in another Gospel story. In the parable of the Goats and the Sheep, or the Judgment of the Nations, in Saint Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 25: 31-46), the righteous ask:
‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry, and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you to drink. And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ (Matthew 25: 44).
And again, the condemned ask:
‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ (Matthew 25: 37-39).
Sometimes we can be so focussed on our own agenda, our own practices of religion, that we can be in danger of losing sight of who Christ should be for us.
Those questions in this morning’s Gospel reading and in that parable of the Goats and the Sheep are very disturbing.
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
When did I last see Christ among the strangers and the unwelcome, among the ragged children and refugees, among the sick who are without medical cards, among those isolated in rural poverty or loneliness, in the prisoners in their own homes? When did I last see you drowning in the sea off the coasts of the Mediterranean?
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
When did I see to it that they not only received the crumbs from my table, but received the Bread of Life?
In this morning’s Gospel reading, we hear how God still wants to provide for us, no matter how we behave, no matter what our circumstances may be.
Christ’s words are addressed not to the Disciples, who later on are going to find his teachings difficult (see John 6: 60, Sunday 26 August), but to the crowds, the multitude, the many, those who are on the margins and the outside, the very people the disciples first thought of sending away.
First, as we heard last Sunday (John 6: 1-21, Sunday 29 July), Christ feeds the many, the crowds, the 5,000, with bread on the mountainside that is multiplied for the multitude .
And then, in this passage, even though they took their eyes off him, Christ now continues to promise to feed them with real food.
He promises them ‘the true bread from heaven’ (verse 33) and he tells them:
‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’ (verse 35).
Care for the body and care for the soul go together to the point that they are inseparable.
Here in verse 35, we hear the first of the seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings in Saint John’s Gospel, ‘I am the Bread of Life,’ and it is repeated in the Gospel reading next Sunday (John 6: 35, 41-51, 12 August 2018, see verse 48).
These seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings are traditionally listed as:
1, I am the Bread of Life (John 6: 35, 48);
2, I am the Light of the World (John 8: 12);
3, I am the gate (or the door) (John 10: 7);
4, I am the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11 and 14);
5, I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11: 25);
6, I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14: 6);
7, I am the true vine (John 15: 1, 5).
These ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings are statements that give us a form of the divine name as revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai (see Exodus 3: 14).
Jesus is the Bread of Life, the Living Water, the best wine, the true vine.
So often Christ talks about himself in Saint John’s Gospel in terms of food and drink, bread and water and wine. We are invited to the banquet that follows the harvest, we are invited to the wedding with the Bridegroom.
But so often too, he emphasises that his invitation is to the outsider: those in the highways and the byways who are invited to the wedding banquet (see Matthew 22: 1-14; Luke 14: 15-24).
The Gospel message is especially for those in the wilderness.
Where do you think the wilderness places are today in our society, on our island, in the world?
For it is there that God seeks to provide the blessings that come with his manna from heaven, and seeks to give life, not just to us but to the world: ‘For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’ (John 6: 33).
How do we, as those who have been baptised and invited to the Eucharistic banquet, show that those who are invited to come to him, that the whole world which is invited into the Kingdom of God, ‘will never be hungry, and … will never be thirsty’?
Would it make any difference if the world was truly called into the kingdom?
If we believe that it would make, literally, a world of difference, then how do we show it?
Or would things just go on as they are going on?
As the Church, we seek not new members, but new disciples.
Perhaps there was no point in the people crossing the water from Tiberias to Capernaum, there was no point in them asking to continue to be fed on the bread that Christ offers, there was no point in them listening to what Christ had to tell them, unless they believed in it all to the point of putting it into practice.
Christ is the bread of life and the life of the world, and we must see this bread not as some arcane, insiders-only rite. We must also offer the life that he offers us to the world.
Would it make any difference if the Church not only preached what it believes, but worked actively to see these beliefs put into practice?
Our response to the love we receive from God – a risky outpouring that is beyond all human understanding of generosity – can only be to love. In the Epistle reading the Apostle Paul begs us to lead a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called, bearing with one another in love (verse 2).
That call to love is not just to love those who are easy to love. It is a call to love those who are difficult to love too, to love all in the world … and to love beyond words.
And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ (John 6: 25) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
John 6: 24-35:
24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ 26 Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ 28 Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ 29 Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ 30 So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat”.’ 32 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ 34 They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’
35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’
‘Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness’ (John 6: 31) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Liturgical Colour: Green
The Collect:
Let your merciful ears, O Lord,
be open to the prayers of your humble servants;
and that they may obtain their petitions,
make them to ask such things as shall please you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
O God,
as we are strengthened by these holy mysteries,
so may our lives be a continual offering,
holy and acceptable in your sight;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hymns:
652, Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
438, O thou who at thy eucharist didst pray
403, Bread of the world in mercy broken (Askeaton)
425, Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts (Tarbert)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
They found him on the other side of the lake (John 6: 25) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
A restored royal tomb
is now the glory of
the friary in Ennis
The Royal or MacMahon tomb once stood against the north wall of the chancel in the Franciscan Friary in Ennis, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Patrick Comerford
I was writing this morning [4 August 2018] about my visit earlier this week to the Franciscan Friary in the heart of Ennis, Co Clare. The friary dates from the 13th century, but its attractions include its unique late mediaeval sculpted monuments, tombs and statues, many dating from the 15th century.
A beautifully executed series of carvings was added to the church in the 15th century as part of a devotional cycle that introduced the laity to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Saint Francis, displaying his stigmata or the marks of the wounds of Christ on the cross, was placed to the left of the great rood screen while to the right was a small carving of Ecce Homo. A broken statue of a Pietà shows the sorrowful Virgin Mary with her dead son lying across her lap.
The small carving of ‘Ecce Homo’ was placed to the right of the rood screen that originally separated the chancel and the nave (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The small carving of Ecce Homo is set in a tablet with an ogee-shaped recess. It shows Christ as the Man of Sorrows surrounded by the Instruments of the Passions. The half-figure of the naked Christ is shown with his hands bound, his head bearing the Crown of Thorns, and a halo with a cross behind his head.
The tablet is filled with symbols of the Passion. Behind Christ’s head we can see the spear that pieced his side and the cup holding vinegar that was offered to him on a sponge on a pole. At the tip of the spearhead are three dice, rolled by the soldiers as they gambled for his clothes. Below the dice is this seamless garment.
In the bottom of the panel, a cock rises from a cooking pot, a reminder of Peter’s betrayal.
To Christ’s right, on the left of the panel, we see the pillar and the ropes used at his scourging during his trial. On each side of him is a birch bundle with which he was beaten. On either side of Christ we can also see mouths with protruding tongues, representing those who mocked and spat at Christ.
In the left spandrel are the three nails used to crucify Christ: two for each hand, and one for his two feet. In the right spandrel is a lock of hair, representing how his beard was pulled at as he was mocked (see Isaiah 50: 6).
In the left side, below the hood moulding, is the ladder used to take his body down from the cross. On the right are the hammer and pincers used to hammer in and to pull out the nails of the Crucifixion.
A sword at the bottom of the composition is typical of 16th century Irish swords.
Inside the canopy of the Royal or MacMahon tomb (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The Royal or MacMahon tomb is said to have been commissioned around 1470 by Máire O’Brien MacMahon, the wife of Terence MacMahon of Corcovaskin.
The canopy once had pride of place over the Royal or MacMahon tomb, built against the north wall of the chancel.
Above the central arch of the canopy, an alabaster dish measuring 14 cm displays an image of the head of Saint John the Baptist on a platter, showing the influence of English religious art at this time, and, perhaps, pointing to a trade in objects like this between Limerick and Bristol.
The sequence of images on the tomb suggests that this was an Easter sepulchre, a representation of Christ’s tomb that would have been placed to the left of the main altar and would have been a focus of the Easter ceremonie,s when the general laity were given the rare opportunity to pass through the rood screen from the nave to the chancel.
The panels on the tomb narrate the scenes of the Passion: the Arrest of Christ, his Flagellation, his Crucifixion, his Entombment and the Resurrection. All are modelled on English alabaster tables.
The panel depicting the betrayal and arrest of Christ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The panel depicting the betrayal and arrest of Christ consists of two parts. To the left, an archbishop is dressed in an alb and Gothic chasuble with a pallium and holding his archiepiscopal staff.
The main part of the panel shows Christ in the centre being kissed and embraced by Judas. Peter is to one side holding the sword he uses to cut off the servant’s ear. Malchus is on the ground, holding his severed left ear in his right hand. Four soldiers are also in the scene, including one armed with an axe.
The panel depicting the Flagellation of Christ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The panel depicting the Flagellation shows Christ stripped down to a short loincloth and bound by his hands to the pillar. His four torturers, two on each side, are dressed in the uniforms of Roman soldiers, wielding scourges of three knotted lashes.
The panel depicting the Crucifixion of Christ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The central position in the Crucifixion panel shows the cross mounted on a small base, bearing the figure of Christ with a large halo. On either side of his feet kneels an angel with outspread wings, holding between them a chalice to collect the blood that streams from his wounds. Two more angels hold chalices to collect the blood pouring from his pierced hands.
There are four figures in the corner, including the Virgin Mary supported by two of the other women who are present at the Crucifixion. The fourth figure, Saint John the Evangelist, approaches from the rear.
On the opposite side, a group of armed soldiers gather around a centurion, who points towards the cross and the scroll that reads: Vere hic est Filius Dei, ‘Truly this is the Son of God’ (Matthew 27: 54).
The panel depicting the burial or entombment of Christ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The carving that shows the entombment of Christ is ornamented with a moulding down its length. Christ’s body lays on the tomb, wrapped in a shroud that is folded back from the upper part of his body.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus stand at the head and foot, in long belted gowns, the one with a headdress in the shape of a mitre, the other with a pointed cap that indicates he is a pious Jew. The three Marys and Saint John the Evangelist stand behind the tomb, while Mary Magdalene kneels in front, holding the extended arm of Christ in one hand and in the other the myrrh that that she would bring to the tomb for his anointment on Easter morning.
The panel depicting the Resurrection of Christ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The panel showing the Resurrection of Christ is divided into two parts. One panel shows the resurrection, with Christ holding a cross and staff, and flanked by sensing angels as he steps from the tomb onto four soldiers sleeping below.
On the second panel, a woman holds an open book in her hands. She is dressed in contemporary, closely-fitting clothing, with an impressive heat-shaped headdress, a full skirt, and a gown full sleeves and turned-back cuffs. This is generally taken to be a depiction of the donor, Máire O’Brien, holding a prayer book or a Book of Hours.
The panel depicting Christ and the Twelve Apostles (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018; click on image for full-screen view)
The panel showing Christ and the Twelve Apostles was incorporated into the Creagh tomb. It was built against the wall at the back of the original tomb in rectangular, unornamented compartments, separated by plain, double chamfered uprights.
There appears to be no precedent for a sculpture like this in such a position on a tomb. The stones on which the figures were carved were cut to fit them into place. They may have formed the frontal for another tomb chest, perhaps the tomb that belonged to the tracery screen under the south arch of the tower.
On each side of the figure of Christ the Judge there are six apostles, to the left and right, and they can be identified with various symbols associated with each apostle, such as the cross saltire or X-shaped cross for Saint Andrew, the keys for Saint Peter, the palm with Saint John, the sword with Saint Paul, the saw with Saint Simon, and the knife with Saint Bartholomew.
The Creagh family tomb, erected in the former chancel in 1843 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018; click on image for full-screen view)
By 1843, the MacMahon or Royal tomb was reduced to a mere heap of carved stones, with the principal carvings rebuilt into the family tomb of the Creaghs of Dangan.
The tomb was erected by the Creagh family incorporating fragments from two separate tombs dating from around the same time in the late 15th century.
After years of exposure to frost and rain, the canopy was also in a state of hopeless ruin, and was replaced by a modern structure.
About 50 years later, many pieces of the ancient canopy were found scattered about the church, which had been abandoned by the Church of Ireland in 1871. One fragment of the façade stopped a hole for a bell rope in the tower. The pier was found outside the south wall of the chancel, and other pieces were found nearby.
The drawings prepared by TJ Westropp in 1893 for a proposed restoration of the tomb (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
TJ Westropp prepared drawings for a proposed restoration in 1893, showing sufficient pieces of the canopy had survived. It was reconstructed by the Office of Public Works in 1952, and stood just west of the Creagh Tomb.
The rebuilt canopy was taken down for conservation work in 1998. A few more original pieces were found on the site, and missing pieces were restored to the work. Guided by Westropp’s drawings, craft workers from Office of Public Works reassembled the fragments from the royal tomb, resulting in the present reconstruction that has pride of place in the centre of the nave of the former friary church today.
The drawings prepared by TJ Westropp in 1893 for a proposed restoration of the tomb panels (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
Patrick Comerford
I was writing this morning [4 August 2018] about my visit earlier this week to the Franciscan Friary in the heart of Ennis, Co Clare. The friary dates from the 13th century, but its attractions include its unique late mediaeval sculpted monuments, tombs and statues, many dating from the 15th century.
A beautifully executed series of carvings was added to the church in the 15th century as part of a devotional cycle that introduced the laity to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Saint Francis, displaying his stigmata or the marks of the wounds of Christ on the cross, was placed to the left of the great rood screen while to the right was a small carving of Ecce Homo. A broken statue of a Pietà shows the sorrowful Virgin Mary with her dead son lying across her lap.
The small carving of ‘Ecce Homo’ was placed to the right of the rood screen that originally separated the chancel and the nave (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The small carving of Ecce Homo is set in a tablet with an ogee-shaped recess. It shows Christ as the Man of Sorrows surrounded by the Instruments of the Passions. The half-figure of the naked Christ is shown with his hands bound, his head bearing the Crown of Thorns, and a halo with a cross behind his head.
The tablet is filled with symbols of the Passion. Behind Christ’s head we can see the spear that pieced his side and the cup holding vinegar that was offered to him on a sponge on a pole. At the tip of the spearhead are three dice, rolled by the soldiers as they gambled for his clothes. Below the dice is this seamless garment.
In the bottom of the panel, a cock rises from a cooking pot, a reminder of Peter’s betrayal.
To Christ’s right, on the left of the panel, we see the pillar and the ropes used at his scourging during his trial. On each side of him is a birch bundle with which he was beaten. On either side of Christ we can also see mouths with protruding tongues, representing those who mocked and spat at Christ.
In the left spandrel are the three nails used to crucify Christ: two for each hand, and one for his two feet. In the right spandrel is a lock of hair, representing how his beard was pulled at as he was mocked (see Isaiah 50: 6).
In the left side, below the hood moulding, is the ladder used to take his body down from the cross. On the right are the hammer and pincers used to hammer in and to pull out the nails of the Crucifixion.
A sword at the bottom of the composition is typical of 16th century Irish swords.
Inside the canopy of the Royal or MacMahon tomb (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The Royal or MacMahon tomb is said to have been commissioned around 1470 by Máire O’Brien MacMahon, the wife of Terence MacMahon of Corcovaskin.
The canopy once had pride of place over the Royal or MacMahon tomb, built against the north wall of the chancel.
Above the central arch of the canopy, an alabaster dish measuring 14 cm displays an image of the head of Saint John the Baptist on a platter, showing the influence of English religious art at this time, and, perhaps, pointing to a trade in objects like this between Limerick and Bristol.
The sequence of images on the tomb suggests that this was an Easter sepulchre, a representation of Christ’s tomb that would have been placed to the left of the main altar and would have been a focus of the Easter ceremonie,s when the general laity were given the rare opportunity to pass through the rood screen from the nave to the chancel.
The panels on the tomb narrate the scenes of the Passion: the Arrest of Christ, his Flagellation, his Crucifixion, his Entombment and the Resurrection. All are modelled on English alabaster tables.
The panel depicting the betrayal and arrest of Christ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The panel depicting the betrayal and arrest of Christ consists of two parts. To the left, an archbishop is dressed in an alb and Gothic chasuble with a pallium and holding his archiepiscopal staff.
The main part of the panel shows Christ in the centre being kissed and embraced by Judas. Peter is to one side holding the sword he uses to cut off the servant’s ear. Malchus is on the ground, holding his severed left ear in his right hand. Four soldiers are also in the scene, including one armed with an axe.
The panel depicting the Flagellation of Christ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The panel depicting the Flagellation shows Christ stripped down to a short loincloth and bound by his hands to the pillar. His four torturers, two on each side, are dressed in the uniforms of Roman soldiers, wielding scourges of three knotted lashes.
The panel depicting the Crucifixion of Christ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The central position in the Crucifixion panel shows the cross mounted on a small base, bearing the figure of Christ with a large halo. On either side of his feet kneels an angel with outspread wings, holding between them a chalice to collect the blood that streams from his wounds. Two more angels hold chalices to collect the blood pouring from his pierced hands.
There are four figures in the corner, including the Virgin Mary supported by two of the other women who are present at the Crucifixion. The fourth figure, Saint John the Evangelist, approaches from the rear.
On the opposite side, a group of armed soldiers gather around a centurion, who points towards the cross and the scroll that reads: Vere hic est Filius Dei, ‘Truly this is the Son of God’ (Matthew 27: 54).
The panel depicting the burial or entombment of Christ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The carving that shows the entombment of Christ is ornamented with a moulding down its length. Christ’s body lays on the tomb, wrapped in a shroud that is folded back from the upper part of his body.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus stand at the head and foot, in long belted gowns, the one with a headdress in the shape of a mitre, the other with a pointed cap that indicates he is a pious Jew. The three Marys and Saint John the Evangelist stand behind the tomb, while Mary Magdalene kneels in front, holding the extended arm of Christ in one hand and in the other the myrrh that that she would bring to the tomb for his anointment on Easter morning.
The panel depicting the Resurrection of Christ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
The panel showing the Resurrection of Christ is divided into two parts. One panel shows the resurrection, with Christ holding a cross and staff, and flanked by sensing angels as he steps from the tomb onto four soldiers sleeping below.
On the second panel, a woman holds an open book in her hands. She is dressed in contemporary, closely-fitting clothing, with an impressive heat-shaped headdress, a full skirt, and a gown full sleeves and turned-back cuffs. This is generally taken to be a depiction of the donor, Máire O’Brien, holding a prayer book or a Book of Hours.
The panel depicting Christ and the Twelve Apostles (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018; click on image for full-screen view)
The panel showing Christ and the Twelve Apostles was incorporated into the Creagh tomb. It was built against the wall at the back of the original tomb in rectangular, unornamented compartments, separated by plain, double chamfered uprights.
There appears to be no precedent for a sculpture like this in such a position on a tomb. The stones on which the figures were carved were cut to fit them into place. They may have formed the frontal for another tomb chest, perhaps the tomb that belonged to the tracery screen under the south arch of the tower.
On each side of the figure of Christ the Judge there are six apostles, to the left and right, and they can be identified with various symbols associated with each apostle, such as the cross saltire or X-shaped cross for Saint Andrew, the keys for Saint Peter, the palm with Saint John, the sword with Saint Paul, the saw with Saint Simon, and the knife with Saint Bartholomew.
The Creagh family tomb, erected in the former chancel in 1843 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018; click on image for full-screen view)
By 1843, the MacMahon or Royal tomb was reduced to a mere heap of carved stones, with the principal carvings rebuilt into the family tomb of the Creaghs of Dangan.
The tomb was erected by the Creagh family incorporating fragments from two separate tombs dating from around the same time in the late 15th century.
After years of exposure to frost and rain, the canopy was also in a state of hopeless ruin, and was replaced by a modern structure.
About 50 years later, many pieces of the ancient canopy were found scattered about the church, which had been abandoned by the Church of Ireland in 1871. One fragment of the façade stopped a hole for a bell rope in the tower. The pier was found outside the south wall of the chancel, and other pieces were found nearby.
The drawings prepared by TJ Westropp in 1893 for a proposed restoration of the tomb (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
TJ Westropp prepared drawings for a proposed restoration in 1893, showing sufficient pieces of the canopy had survived. It was reconstructed by the Office of Public Works in 1952, and stood just west of the Creagh Tomb.
The rebuilt canopy was taken down for conservation work in 1998. A few more original pieces were found on the site, and missing pieces were restored to the work. Guided by Westropp’s drawings, craft workers from Office of Public Works reassembled the fragments from the royal tomb, resulting in the present reconstruction that has pride of place in the centre of the nave of the former friary church today.
The drawings prepared by TJ Westropp in 1893 for a proposed restoration of the tomb panels (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)
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