Praying in Lent and Easter 2021: 1, Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick

The chapter and choir stalls in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick … installed as Precentor four years ago on 19 February 2017 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

During Lent and Easter this year, I am taking some time each morning to reflect in these ways:

1, a photograph of a church or place of worship that has been significant in my spiritual life;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society, Partners in the Gospel).

This week, as Lent begins, I am offering photographs of the four cathedrals where I have been a chapter member. This morning’s photograph is of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, where I was installed as the Precentor four years ago, on Sunday 19 March 2017. As a canon, I have presided at the Cathedral Eucharist, preached, chaired panel discussions, given mid-week lectures, and been a member of the Dean's Advisory Council.

Matthew 6: 1-6 (NRSVA):

Jesus said: 6 “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary at the beginning of this week invites us to pray:

Lord, you are our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in times of trouble.
Help us, when hope seems lost,
to keep our eyes fixed on you.

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