02 April 2020

Praying through Lent with
USPG (37): 2 April 2020

‘Stolpersteine’ or ‘Stumbling Stones’ on the streets of Prague remember members of the Bergmann family deported to Terezín during the Holocaust (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

This week is traditionally known as Passion Week or the first week of Passiontide, and we are in the last two weeks of Lent.

Throughout Lent this year, I am using the USPG Prayer Diary, Pray with the World Church, for my morning prayers and reflections. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the end of the Holocaust, so I am illustrating my reflections each morning with images that emphasise this theme.

USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice. It was founded in 1701.

This week (29 March to 4 April 2020), the USPG Prayer Diary takes as its theme: ‘It is our duty to protect God’s Creation’ – Anglican Province of the Indian Ocean. This theme is introduced in the Prayer Diary on Sunday morning.

Thursday 2 April 2020 (World Autism Awareness Day):

Lord, help us make our churches welcoming, inclusive spaces for people with autism.

Readings: Genesis 17: 3-9; Psalm 105: 4-9; John 8: 51-59.

The Collect:

Most merciful God,
who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ
delivered and saved the world:
Grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross,
we may triumph in the power of his victory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Lenten 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 our Lord.

Continued tomorrow

Yesterday’s reflection

Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin
Group parish notes in
‘Newslink’ April 2020

An empty church in Askeaton on a Sunday morning in Lent during the Corona Virus pandemic (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes

Rathkeale, Askeaton, Castletown and Kilnaughtin

Priest-in-Charge: Revd Canon Patrick Comerford

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RathkealeGroup/

We have moved from Ash Wednesday through Lent into Passiontide and Holy Week, and are looking forward to the hope of Resurrection and Easter Day.

But in the in-between time, the Corona Virus or Covid-19 pandemic first closed the school gates and then shut the church doors.

As we prepare in hope for Easter, it is worth reminding ourselves of Christ’s promise that he has come so that we may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10: 10).

The present restrictions are so that all may look forward to sharing an abundant life when this pandemic has passed.

Meanwhile, Patrick is available on his mobile ’phone, and continues to pray – in an empty church in Askeaton on Sunday mornings – for parishioners, the parish, the Church and this land.

The services and Easter Vestry meetings listed here are tentative – and hopeful – but are subject to change given present circumstances. The parish Facebook page is being kept up-to-date with any changes.

Ministry, Mission and Hospitality

The Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) had to call off Patrick’s planned to visit Myanmar to represent USPG at the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Anglican Church in the country once known as Burma.

But the Rectory in Askeaton is the venue for another Ministry Training Day on 19 May.

Easter and April services (subject to change):

Saturday 11 April (Easter Eve):
7 pm:
The Easter Eucharist (HC 2), Kilnaughtin (Tarbert)
9 pm: The Easter Eucharist (HC 2), Askeaton

Sunday 12 April (Easter Day):
9.30 am:
the Easter Eucharist (HC 2), Castletown;
11.30 am: the Easter Eucharist (HC 2), Rathkeale.

Sunday 19 April (Easter II, ‘Low Sunday’):
9.30 am: Morning Prayer, Askeaton;
11.30 am: The Parish Eucharist (HC 2), Kilnaughtin (Tarbert).

Sunday 26 April (Easter III):
9.30 am:
Morning Prayer, Castletown;
11.30 am: The Parish Eucharist (HC 2), Rathkeale.

Easter Vestry meetings (subject to change):

● Castletown and Askeaton: 29 April, 8 pm, the Rectory.
● Kilnaughtin (Tarbert): 19 April (after the Parish Eucharist).
● Rathkeale: to be arranged.

It is sad to see these notices outside empty churches on Sunday mornings in Lent (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This is an edited version of the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes parish notes in the April 2020 edition of ‘Newslink,’ the Limerick and Killaloe diocesan magazine, p 23.