14 June 2020

Sunday intercessions on
14 June 2020 (Trinity I)

A modern version of Andrei Rublev’s icon, the Visitation of Abraham, in Saint Thomas’s Church, the Anglican church in in Kefalas, on the Greek island of Crete

These intercessions were prepared for the First Sunday after Trinity, 14 June 2020, in the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes. However, the churches have been closed temporarily because of the Covid-19 pandemic:

Let us pray:

Loving Father, you ask us:
‘Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? (Genesis 18: 14).

Comfort all who are victims of racism;
challenge us when we become too comfortable; give us hope for all that is wonderful.

Comfort those who are isolated and alone;
sustain and protect frontline workers;

Give hope to schools and places of education,
give wisdom to our government,
guide all who make difficult decisions,
help us to protect our communities and ourselves.

Give wisdom to all people
crying for justice,
condemning racism,
seeking peace.

Lord have mercy,
Lord have mercy.

Lord Jesus Christ:
you send us out to proclaim the good news,
‘The kingdom of heaven has come near’ (Matthew 10: 7):

We pray for the Church,
that we may share that life generously and in abundance.

We pray for churches that are closed this morning,
that the hearts of the people may remain open
to the love of God, and to the love of others.

In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, we pray this week
for the (Anglican) Church of the Province of Myanmar,
and the Most Revd Stephen Than Myint Oo,
Archbishop of Myanmar and Bishop of Yangon.

In the Church of Ireland, we pray this month for
the Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh,
and for Bishop Ferran Glenfield.

We pray for our Bishop Kenneth;

In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer,
we pray for the Tubercurry Group of Parishes
in the Diocese of Tuam,
the priest-in-charge, the Revd Peter Norman,
and the congregations of Saint George’s, Tubbercurry, and Killoran (Rathbarron).

Christ have mercy,
Christ have mercy.

Holy Spirit,
‘God’s love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us’ (Romans 5: 5):

We pray for ourselves and for our needs,
for healing, restoration and health,
in body, mind and spirit.

We give thanks for new life …
We give thanks for the birth of baby Matilda Dorothy Caroline, born on 4 May, weighing 8 lb 13 oz …
and ask for your blessings on her parents, William and Karen Langford …
her sister Chloe Dorothy …
her cousins, uncles and aunts …

We pray for one another,
for those who are alone and lonely …
for those who are sick, at home or in hospital …
Alan ... Ajay … Charles … Tom …
Lorraine … James … Terry … Maria …
Niall … Linda ... Basil … Simon …

We pray for those who have broken hearts …
for those who live with disappointment …
We pray for all who are to be baptised,
We pray for all preparing to be married,
We pray for those who are about to die …

We pray for those who mourn and grieve…
we remember those who have died recently …
may their memories be a blessing …

We pray for those who have asked for our prayers …
and for those we have offered to pray for …

Lord have mercy,
Lord have mercy.

A reflection on the First Sunday after Trinity
in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG,
United Society Partners in the Gospel:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present
help in trouble (Psalm 46: 1, NRSV).

Merciful Father, …

When God visits us in
extraordinary times and
ordinary circumstances

The Visitation of Abraham or the ‘Old Testament Trinity’ … a fresco in the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights, Essex, interprets a Trinitarian and Eucharistic theme (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday, 14 June 2020,

The First Sunday after Trinity


The Readings: Genesis 18: 1-15; Psalm 116: 1, 10-17; Romans 5: 1-8; Matthew 9: 35 to 10: 8.

There is a link to the readings HERE.

‘The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee’ … the great East Window in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth. depicting the Twelve Apostles (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

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

The Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions we are all living with means the extraordinary has become almost ordinary in our everyday lives.

In the Calendar of the Church, we have moved into Ordinary Time, the time between Trinity Sunday and the beginning of Advent.

The Gospel story this morning begins with an image of Christ in ordinary, everyday situations, going ‘about all the cities and villages’ (Matthew 9: 35), mixing with ordinary people. These are people who need hope, people who are sick, sore and sorry, people who are distressed, marginalised and suffering, and Christ has compassion for them, because they are harassed and helpless, ‘like sheep without a shepherd’ [Matthew 9: 36].

They are ordinary people, indeed, in ordinary places, in ordinary time, but suffering and often isolated and marginalised in their everyday lives.

And to answer their plight, to carry out his mission, he chooses 12 disciples, 12 ordinary people, with ordinary backgrounds and careers: Peter, who denies him three times; Andrew his brother, a fisherman; James and John, ‘Mammy’s boys’ who jockey for position, unsure of what the Kingdom of God is about; Philip, who could easily turn away Greek-speaking Gentiles; Matthew, despised as a tax collector; Thomas who doubts him; Judas who betrays him … (see Matthew 10: 2-4).

In our ordinary everyday lives, Christ calls us to follow him, not for our own self-satisfying feeling of being good, but to proclaim the Good News; not for our own advantage and enrichment, but because that is what the suffering world needs.

We are called as ordinary people to do that; our Baptism is our commission to do that; our Confirmation is our ‘Amen’ to that.

In our reading from the Book of Genesis, Abraham and Sarah, in the extraordinary circumstances of the time, being childless and now going to old age, must still have thought they were living through a very ordinary day when they were visited that day at the oaks of Mamre.

God visits us in very extraordinary circumstances in the midst of our very ordinary, everyday lives.

At first, Abraham sees ‘three men’ standing near him, and they seem to be human in appearance. But he addresses them as ‘my lord’ and offers them courtesy and hospitality, washing their feet, providing shelter from the mid-day heat, bringing ‘a little bread’ and then preparing a full meal.

As they accept this hospitality, it becomes clearer who they are. One of them speaks, promises to return and promises that Sarah will have a son.

In the second part of this reading, which provides an optional ending to this story next Sunday, we hear how God keeps his promise.

This reading has often been read as an early understanding in the Bible of the Trinity, and so is an appropriate reading on the First Sunday after Trinity.

In the Gospel reading, Christ sends the 12 out in mission to the marginalised and the outcast. They are to proclaim the ‘good news,’ as Saint John the Baptist announced, that the kingdom of heaven has come near’ is at hand.

We might ask, as we prepare to open our church buildings in the next few weeks, whether we are preparing to welcome back the regular worshippers, churchgoers and parishioners.

And, we might also ask whether we are ready to delight in meeting strangers in our midst and bringing them into our tent, to share the kindness, friendship and hospitality found within. For the kingdom of God is at hand.

I find myself thinking about a well-known prayer by Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711):

O God, make the door of this house
wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship,
and a heavenly Father’s care;
and narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and hate.
Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children,
nor to straying feet,
but rugged enough to turn back the tempter’s power:
make it a gateway to thine eternal kingdom.


And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Christ and the Twelve Apostles in statues on Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 9: 35 to 10: 8 [9-23] (NRSVA):

35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’

1 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.’

The Twelve Apostles on the High Cross at Moone Abbey, Co Kildare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical Colour: Green (Year A, Ordinary Time)

The Collect of the Day:

God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you:
Mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you, both in will and deed;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Eternal Father,
we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts.
May our communion strengthen us in faith,
build us up in hope,
and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

A panel on the Royal or MacMahon tomb in the Franciscan Friary in Ennis, Co Clare, depicting Christ and the Twelve Apostles (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Hymns:

662, He who would valiant be
456, Lord, you give the great commission
491, We have a gospel to proclaim
492, Ye servants of God, your master proclaim

Figures of the 12 Apostles surround the 16th century tomb of a knight and lady in the churchyard at Saint Mary’s Church, Thurles, Co Tipperary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

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

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).

The Apostles and Evangelists in two sets of icons in the tiny Church of the Twelve Apostles on the island of Gramvousa off the north-west coast of Crete (Photographs: Patrick Comerford; click on images for full-screen view)

A roadside monument is
a reminder of the great
house at Mountshannon

The Fitzgibbon Memorial and fountain, erected by Lady Louisa Fitzgibbon at Lisnagry, near Castleconnell (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

Two of us went to Castleconnell for an hour or two this afternoon, to walk along the banks of the River Shannon, to enjoy the unexpected sunshine, to walk through the woods and to cross the bridge that spans the river between Co Limerick and Co Clare.

On the way, we stopped at Lisnagry, to see the Fitzgibbon Fountain, a Victorian memorial that is reminder of the Fitzgibbon family and their Mountshannon estate.

Mountshannon House was once the largest and most impressive house in the Castleconnell area, standing on a 13,000-acre estate, including 900 acres of parkland, about 3 km from Castleconnell, on the road to Limerick. The Mountshannon estate was bounded on the west by the River Shannon and on the south by the River Mulcair, and extended from Newgarden to Annacotty.

Mountshannon House had a seven-bay, two-storey portico with four large Ionic columns. It is said that the house had 365 windows, one for each day of the year, and that the entrance hall was so wide that a coach and four could easily be driven through it. The gardens and parklands were laid out and landscaped by John Sutherland.

Mountshannon House was built by Silver Oliver of Kilfinane in 1750. Soon after, the White family bought the estate and it came into the Fitzgibbon family around 1765 when it was bought by John Fitzgibbon (1708-1780). When he died in 1780, Mountshannon was inherited by his son John Fitzgibbon (1748-1802), known as ‘Black Jack.’

This John Fitzgibbon entered politics in 1780, soon became Attorney General, was appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1789, and became the first Earl of Clare. He opposed to Catholic Emancipation, was involved in putting down the 1798 Rising, and supported the Act of Union.

He once fought a duel with John Philpot Curran, when Fitzgibbon, but, although he was a crack shot, he fired wide to spare his opponent’s life, and it is said he was instrumental in saving the lives of many United Irishmen after 1798.

Fitzgibbon retired to Mountshannon, and there are many tales of his cruel treatment of the workers and tenants.

Lord Clare was badly injured when he fell from his horse at Mountshannon at Christmas 1801. He died in Dublin on 28 January 1802 and was buried at Saint Peter’s Church. Clare Street in Limerick and Clare Street, Fitzgibbon Street and Mountshannon Road in Dublin recall his name.

Black Jack’s son, also John Fitzgibbon (1792-1851), succeeded as the 2nd Earl of Clare and to Mountshannon estate at the age of 10. The poet Lord Byron had a schoolboy crush on him, and later declared he could never hear the name ‘Clare’ without ‘a murmur of the heart.’ Byron wrote of him:

Friend of my youth! When young we rov’d,
Like striplings, much belov’d,
With Friendship’s purest glow;
The bliss, which wing’d those rosy hours,
Was such as Pleasure seldom showers
On mortals here below.


The Bishop of Limerick once commented that this Lord Clare had not ‘a particle of the fiery enterprising genius of his father.’

Mountshannon House was remodelled by the English architect Lewis Wyatt … an image beside the Fitzgibbon memorial (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

During his life, Mountshannon House was remodelled by the English architect Lewis Wyatt, who added the imposing two-storey portico. The second earl later became Governor of Bombay. When he died, the titles and estate passed to his youngest brother, Richard Hobart Fitzgibbon (1763-1864), 3rd Earl of Clare. He also contributed handsomely on several occasions to the building of the Saint Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Castleconnell.

His son, John Charles Henry Fitzgibbon (1829-1854), Viscount Fitzgibbon, died at Ballaclava in 1854 while leading the Royal Irish Hussars in the charge of the Light Brigade. A statue to his memory was erected on the Wellesley Bridge (now Sarsfield Bridge) in Limerick city but was destroyed in an explosion in 1930. The monument was replaced by the 1916 Memorial.

Lady Louisa Isabella Georgina Fitzgibbon (1826-1898), a daughter of the 3rd Lord Clare, inherited Mountshannon when her father died. She was an extravagant and generous woman who gave lavish banquets and balls at the house, but she frittered away the Fitzgibbon fortune and ran up huge debts to maintain her lifestyle.

Her first husband, the Hon Gerald Normanby Dillon (1823-1880), was the sixth son of Henry Augustus Dillon-Lee, 13th Viscount Dillon, and changed his name to Fitzgibbon when they married.

Following his death in 1880, Lady Louisa became engaged to a Sicilian noble, General Carmelo Ascene Spadafora, Marchese della Rochella, son of the Duke of Santa Rosalia, thinking his wealth would rescue her from financial ruin, only to discover that he too was almost penniless and was marrying her for the same reason.

At the party in Mountshannon to announce their engagement, the Italian marquis discovered that Lady Louisa was a near bankrupt. But, in the spirit of noblesse oblige, he went ahead with the marriage in 1882.

It is said the Irish climate ruined his health and he died a few years later, still pining for sunny Sicily. Lady Louisa was forced to sell much of the contents of the house, including the books in the library. Her former friends left her to the mercy of her creditors and she was forced to sell the house and the estate.

Lady Louisa left Mountshannon in 1887 and went to live in the Isle of Wight at Saint Dominic’s Convent, where she spent the rest of her life. When she died some years later, she was buried in the convent grounds.

A public water fountain at Lisnagry was erected by Lady Louisa Fitzgibbon and her first husband, Gerald Dillon, in 1875 in memory of their eldest son, Charles Richard George Dillon (1849-1870), who died of blood poisoning at the age of 20. It originally stood by a water pump, erected by her uncle, the second earl.

The memorial is a gabled, gothic arch of dressed limestone. Above the white marble memorial stone is the quartered Dillon and Fitzgibbon coat of arms and the motto Nil Admirari, ‘To be astonished at nothing.’ The arch was once surrounded by railings, and was a well-known landmark on the Limerick-Nenagh road.

The marble memorial stone is inscribed: ‘The pump placed on this spot by John, Earl of Clare, KP, was renovated in 1875 & this memorial erected by his niece, Lady Louisa Fitz-Gibbon, of Mountshannon, and by her husband, the Honble Gerald N Fitzgibbon, in memory of their eldest son, Charles Richard George, who died on the 30th of July 1870, in his 21st year. ‘The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; as it has pleased the Lord so it is done, blessed be the name of the Lord.’ Job 1. 21 v. Requiescat in Pace.’

Lord Clare’s pump continued in use until the 1960s. Limerick County Council dismantled the memorial in 2001 to make way for the Limerick South Ring road. It was restored in 2011 and re-erected in Richhill after the construction of the M7.

As for Mountshannon, it was bought by Thomas Nevins, and then by Dermot O’Hannigan, who was the last owner of Mountshannon. The house was destroyed by fire in 1921 during the War of Independence, the estate was divided up and sold off by the Land Commission and little remains of Mountshannon House apart from the ivy-clad shell.

The quartered Dillon and Fitzgibbon coat of arms on the Fitzgibbon Memorial at Lisnagry, near Castleconnell (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)