COMERFORD WAY: Patrick Comerford’s online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim (John 2: 7) … two large jars or pithoi at the Minoan palace in Knossos, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Let us pray:
‘Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens and your faithfulness to the clouds’ (Psalm 36: 5):
Heavenly Father,
we pray for the nations of the world and for own country…
that ‘the nations shall see your vindication’ (Isaiah 62: 2)
This morning, we pray especially for the family, friends and pupils of Ashling Murphy,
for women who fear to be on their own,
for an end to gender-based violence,
and for the safety of all.
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.
‘Jesus did this, the first of his signs … and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him’ (John 2: 11):
Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank you for your presence among us,
in word and sacrament, in one another,
we thank you for inviting us to the banquet.
We pray for the Church,
that we may do what you tell us (see John 2: 5) …
In the Church of Ireland this month,
we pray for the Diocese of Armagh and Archbishop John McDowell.
We pray too for the Diocese of Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe,
the Bishop-Elect, Bishop Michael Burrows,
and we give thanks for the work of the Archbishop’s Commissaries,
Archdeacon Stephen McWhirter and Dean Niall Sloane,
and for the Episcopal Electoral College called to fill the vacant see.
In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer,
we pray this week for the Church of England,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby,
and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.
In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer,
we pray for the Birr Group of parishes,
the newly-appointed rector, Canon Arthur Minion,
the Priest-in-Charge, the Revd Denis Sandes,
and the congregations of Saint Brendan’s Birr,
Saint Ruadhan’s, Lorrha, and Lougheen and Dorra churches.
In our community,
we pray for our schools,
we pray for our parishes and people …
we pray for our neighbouring churches and parishes …
and people of faith everywhere,
that we may be blessed in our variety and diversity.
Christ have mercy, Christ have mercy.
‘There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit’ (I Corinthians 12: 4):
Holy Spirit, we pray for one another …
We pray for all who are sick or isolated,
at home, in hospital …
Ruby … Daphne … Sylvia … Ajay …
Cecil … Pat … Mary … Ann … Vanessa …
We pray for those who feel pain and loss …
for those who are bewildered and without answers …
for those we love and those who love us …
for our families, friends and neighbours …
We remember those who are remembered and mourned by parishioners,
those who have died recently, including Louise Corbett …
and those whose anniversaries are at this time,
including Cathy Casey-Byrne, Dorothy Bracken, and Kathleen Shire …
May their memories be a blessing to us.
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.
The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (16 January 2022, the Second Sunday after the Epiphany) invites us to pray:
God of all things,
help us to discern our gifts
and to use them for the common good.
Let us rejoice in the diversity of creation.
Merciful Father …
Empty tables waiting for the wedding banquet … the miracle at Cana is the third great Epiphany theme (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
‘The Wedding at Cana’ (John 2: 1-11) … one of 20 white porcelain ceramic panels by Helena Brennan at the Oblate Church in Inchicore, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)
May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen
I was surprised that the Christmas lights were still up in the city centre in Limerick all last week. But, of course, we are still in the Season of Christmas and Epiphany until 2 February. The Greek word ἐπιφάνεια (epipháneia) means ‘manifestation,’ or ‘striking appearance.’ It is an experience of sudden and striking realisation, and in the classics it often describes the visit of a god to earth.
This morning’s Gospel reading, the story of the Wedding at Cana (John 2: 1-11), is one of the three great Epiphany themes, along with the Visit of the Magi (Matthew 2: 1-12, 6 January 2022, The Epiphany), and last Sunday’s story of the Baptism of Christ by Saint John the Baptist (Luke 3: 17-17, 21-22, 9 January 2022). These three themes at Epiphany tell us who Christ truly is: truly God and truly human.
In each of these three events, Christ is manifest as God-incarnate at a point that marks the beginning of his ministry or his presence among us. It is the moment when we are caught off guard as we realise that this seemingly helpless new-born child, or this one among many in the team of visitors to John the Baptist at the Jordan, or this anonymous guest among many at a provincial wedding, is in fact the omnipotent God, the King and Ruler of the universe.
The star of the Epiphany, the light the three wise men have the courage to follow on a hazardous journey, is the same light that enlightens us at the Epiphany so that we realise who Christ is – for us and for the world.
The water in which Christ is baptised is the very same as the water that becomes wine at Cana, and the water that flows from Christ’s side when his life comes to an end on the Cross.
But the Epiphany stories also have a built-in thread or reminder of journey and return:
● The three kings return to their own country, albeit by another road, yet carrying their new revelation to all they return to (see Matthew 2: 12).
● After his Baptism, Christ goes into wilderness (see Matthew 4: 1) and then withdraws to Galilee to begin his ministry (see Matthew 4: 12; Mark 1: 14; Luke 3: 23; John 1: 43).
● After the wedding at Cana, Jesus goes down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples (see John 2: 12).
So, the feast of the Epiphany is linked with the call to return to the world with the message of the kingdom of God.
The wise men represent not only the three Magi adoring the Christ Child over 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, but they also represent the Gentile world hurrying to the wedding feast at the end of time, when humanity’s wedding with the divine Bridegroom is celebrated. The gold, frankincense and myrrh they bring are not only presents for the Child-King, but royal wedding gifts for the mystical marriage feast of heaven.
The lectionary readings take a diversion this morning, away from this year’s cycle of readings in Saint Luke’s Gospel, to tell us the story of the Wedding at Cana (John 2: 1-11), a story unique to Saint John’s Gospel.
In the beginning, Saint John’s Gospel introduces us to a new creation, a new creation that is in Christ. After the Prologue, there are six days in this new creation, and now we come to Day Seven.
What did God do on the Seventh Day in the account of creation in Genesis? God rested. And now that we have arrived at Day Seven in the opening week of Saint John’s Gospel, we come to the Day that Christ rests with his disciples, and to a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet, which is the completion of God’s creation. ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’ (Revelation 19: 9).
Seven has a symbolic meaning or significance in this Gospel. This is the first of the seven miraculous signs by which Saint John attests to Christ’s divine status. This Gospel is structured around these signs, and the word used by John is unique.
Turning Water into Wine at Cana is the first of the Seven Signs in Saint John’s Gospel, followed by healing a royal official’s son at Cana (4: 46-54), healing the paralysed man at Bethesda (5: 1-9), feeding the 5,000 (6: 1-14); walking on water (6: 15-24); healing the blind man (9: 1-7); and raising Lazarus from the dead (11: 17-45).
These are completed then by the Greatest Sign, the Resurrection (see 2:18-22).
So, the first of the seven signs comes on the seventh of the seven days that introduce the Gospel.
And it seems so right that this Epiphany moment this morning takes place in a very divine and a very human moment: at a family weekend wedding, which is as earthy as you can get, I suppose; and on the seventh day, when God rests in the creation story, when Christ rests in his grave after his passion.
We are now invited into the eighth day. We are invited to be God’s partner in creation after the creation story in Genesis; we are invited by Christ to the heavenly banquet; we are invited in the Eucharist, at Holy Communion, to eat and drink with him. He offers us food and drink that shall never run out.
Throughout the Bible, we have promises that there will be an abundance of wine in the time of the Messiah (Genesis 27: 27-28; 49: 10-12; Amos 9: 13-14), especially at the wedding feasts (see Isaiah 62: 4-5).
The six stone jars at Cana contain water for rites of purification. These are ceremonial rites, not hygienic rites. But each jar contains 20 or 30 gallons, so we are talking about 180 gallons of wine – roughly speaking, in today’s terms, 1,091 bottles of wine. And because the wine was so good (see 9-10) in those days, water was added to it. This may have double the amount – so perhaps up to 1,500 or 2,000 bottles of wine by today’s reckoning. It is enough to ensure they party for days. It is a joyful and generous miracle.
The wine in this story represents the overflowing and abundant blessings of God coming to fruition, to fulfilment.
Of course, I imagine the Kingdom of God is just like a big wedding. Those who are invited are going to include people I at first may be uncomfortable to sit with at the same table. But I am not the host, I am the guest. As it says in the Book of Revelation, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’ (Revelation 19: 9).
I cannot choose who is invited to the wedding, but I can accept the invitation to the meal, and the invitation to be part of the new family, the kingdom.
And if we accept the invitation, we have no right to pick and choose, to discriminate against my fellow guests, to cheat them out of their place at the table, to refuse to eat and drink with them.
We don’t know who the bride and groom were at the wedding in Cana. But we know we are invited to the banquet, not as spectators but as family members, as members of Christ’s own family, as full members of God’s family. We are loved abundantly, we are loved generously, we are loved truly, and there is a place for each and every one of at God’s banquet of love.
And so, may all we think say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen
Waiting for the banquet at sunset on the beach in Rethymnon in Crete … in the Kingdom of God, ‘the best is yet to come’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
John 2: 1-11 (NRSVA):
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ 4 And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ 5 His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ 6 Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Finding good wine to serve at the end of the meal (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Liturgical Colour: White
The Penitential Kyries:
God be merciful to us and bless us,
and make his face to shine on us.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
May your ways be known on earth,
your saving power to all nations.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
You, Lord, have made known your salvation,
and reveal your justice in the sight of the nations.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
Transform the poverty of our nature
by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Collect of the Word:
Bountiful God,
whose Son revealed his glory at Cana of Galilee:
help us to believe and obey,
so that, as our Saviour promised,
we may be filled with the wine of new life
and show forth his joy and love;
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Introduction to the Peace:
Our Saviour Christ is the Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there shall be no end. (cf Isaiah 9: 6, 7)
Preface:
For Jesus Christ our Lord
who in human likeness revealed your glory,
to bring us out of darkness
into the splendour of his light:
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God of glory,
you nourish us with bread from heaven.
Fill us with your Holy Spirit
that through us the light of your glory
may shine in all the world.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Blessing:
Christ the Son be manifest to you,
that your lives may be a light to the world:
The Wedding at Cana … a modern icon
Hymns:
553, Jesu, lover of my soul (CD 32) 52, Christ whose glory fills the skies (CD 4) 445, Soul, array thyself with gladness (CD 26)
‘On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee’ (John 2: 1) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Fursey’s Church in Banteer, Co Cork, dates from 1828 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Patrick Comerford
Today is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany (22 January 2022). This looks like being a busy Sunday, and later this morning I am preaching at Morning Prayer in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick, and preaching and presiding at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Brendan’s Church, Tarbert, Co Kerry.
But, before this day gets busy, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.
I have been continuing my Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, reflecting in these ways:
1, Reflections on a saint remembered in the calendars of the Church during the Season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February);
2, the day’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
This morning (16 January 2022), I am reflecting on the life of Saint Fursey, a seventh century Irish monk who was involved in establishing Christianity throughout these islands, particularly in East Anglia, and later in France. Saint Fursey is known as one of the ‘Four Comely Saints,’ and he reportedly experienced angelic visions of the afterlife.
James Joyce mentions Saint Fursa in Ulysses in a list of mostly Irish heroes and heroines. The Unfortunate Fursey, a popular comic novel by Mervyn Wall describes the saint as a hapless poor soul tormented by visions of buxom women and bargaining with demons to escape the torments of religion.
Saint Fursey was born in present-day Connacht supposedly the son of Fintan and grandson of Finlog, pagan kings of the area. His mother was Gelges, the Christian daughter of Aed-Finn, king of Connacht. He was born probably amongst the Hy-Bruin, and was baptised by Saint Brendan the Traveller, his father’s uncle, who was then the abbot of a monastery in the Island of Oirbsen, now called Inisquin in Lough Corrib.
He was educated by Saint Brendan’s monks, and joined the monastery at Inisquin, near Galway, under the Abbot, Saint Meldan, his soul-friend or anam chara.
He became known for his great sanctity, and legend says that through his prayers, twin children of a chieftain related to King Brendinus were raised from the dead. He built his own monastery at Killursa outside the town of Headford in modern Co Galway and he became the patron saint of the Parish of Headford.
He was an ascetic who wearing thin clothing year round. He set out with some monks for Munster, but when he came near his father’s home he became ill, fell into a trance and had the first of the ecstatic visions that have made him famous in mediaeval literature.
This was a vision of the state of sin and the beauty of virtue. He heard the angelic choirs singing ‘the saints shall go from virtue to virtue, the God of Gods will appear in Sion.’ It is said he was taken to the heavens by three angels who contended six times with demons for his soul. He saw the fires of hell, the strife of demons, and then heard the angel hosts sing in four choirs ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.’ Among the spirits of those just made perfect he recognized Saints Meldan and Beoan.
From that day, the saint’s body was marked by fire.
Then, 12 months later, he had a third vision. This time, the angel remained with him a whole day, instructed him for his preaching, and prescribed for him 12 years of apostolic labour. He moved for some years to a small island in the ocean, and later founded a monastery at Rathmat on the shore of Lough Corrib. His brothers Foillan and Ultan joined the community at Rathmat, but Saint Fursey seems to have renounced the administration of the monastery and to have devoted himself to preaching throughout Ireland.
Saint Fursey is the first recorded Irish missionary to Anglo-Saxon England. He arrived in East Anglia with his brothers, Foillan and Ultan, during the 630s, shortly before Saint Aidan founded his monastery on Holy Island.
The conversion of the Kingdom of East Anglia to Christianity began under Raedwald, but halted with the martyrdom of Raedwald’s successor, his son Eorpwald. Sigeberht of East Anglia was already a Christian when he took the throne around 630. By 633, Sigeberht of East Anglia had established the first East Anglian bishopric at Dommoc and appointed a Burgundian Bishop named Felix.
When Saint Fursey arrived with his brothers Foillan and Ultan, with other monks, carrying the relics of Saint Meldan and Saint Beoan, the king gave him land to establish an abbey at Cnobheresburg, where there was an abandoned Roman fort, traditionally identified with Burgh Castle in Norfolk.
When Sigeberht was slain by an army led by Penda of Mercia, his successor, King Anna of East Anglia, further endowed the monastery at Cnobheresburg. Saint Fursey retired for a year to live the life of an anchorite. However, as great numbers continued to visit him, and as war threatened in East Anglia, he moved to Lagny in France in 648.
After a long journey, he founded a new monastery at Latiniacum (Lagny), near Chelles, outside Paris, on the banks of the River Marne. There he built a monastery and three chapels, one dedicated to Christ the Saviour, one to Saint Peter, and a third later dedicated to Saint Fursey himself.
His journeys continued and many churches in Picardy are dedicated to him. He died ca 650 at Mézerolles while on a journey. The village was for some time called Forsheim, which translated as the house of Fursey. He was buried in a church in Péronne, after 30 days.
John 2: 1-11 (NRSVA):
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ 4 And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ 5 His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ 6 Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (16 January 2022, the Second Sunday after the Epiphany) invites us to pray:
God of all things,
help us to discern our gifts
and to use them for the common good.
Let us rejoice in the diversity of creation.
A new certificate as a Fellow of the Fraternity of Saint Cecilia
Patrick Comerford
A new diploma arrived in the post this week, recognising my Fellowship in the Fraternity of Saint Cecilia.
The Fraternity of Saint Cecilia is a learned and social society for musicians, and I was first elected a fellow on 11 May 2019 soon after it was founded to continue the work of the Academy of Saint Cecilia.
Saint Cecilia is a Roman martyr who is the patron saint of music and musicians. It is said that, as the musicians played at her forced wedding, Saint Cecilia ‘sang in her heart to the Lord.’ Musical compositions are dedicated to her, and her feast, on 22 November, is the marked in many places with concerts and musical festivals.
The first record of a music festival in her honour is at Évreux in Normandy in 1570. The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world. It was founded by the papal bull, Ratione congruity, issued by Pope Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western musical history: Gregory the Great, after whom Gregorian chant is named, and Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music.
Her feast day became an occasion for musical concerts and festivals that occasioned well-known poems by John Dryden and Alexander Pope and music by Henry Purcell (Ode to Saint Cecilia); several oratorios by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (In honorem Caeciliae, Valeriani et Tiburtij canticum; and several versions of Caecilia virgo et martyr to libretti probably written by Philippe Goibaut); George Frideric Handel (Ode for Saint Cecilias Day); Charles Gounod (Saint Cecilia Mass); as well as Benjamin Britten, who was born on her feast day (Hymn to Saint Cecilia, based on a poem by WH Auden.
Herbert Howells’s A Hymn to Saint Cecilia has words by Ursula Vaughan Williams; Gerald Finzi’s For Saint Cecilia, Op 30, was set to verses written by Edmund Blunden; Michael Hurd’s A Hymn to Saint Cecilia (1966) is set to John Dryden’s poem; and Frederik Magle’s Cantata to Saint Cecilia is based on the story of Saint Cecilia.
‘The Heavenly Life,’ a poem from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, was used by Gustav Mahler in his Symphony No 4. It mentions that ‘Cecilia and all her relations make excellent court musicians.’
Saint Cecilia’s Abbey at Ryde on the Isle of Wight was founded in 1882. The nuns live a traditional monastic life of prayer, work, according to the Rule of Saint Benedict.
I was already a Fellow of the Academy of Saint Cecilia (FASC) when the Fraternity of Saint Cecilia was formed. When the Fraternity of Saint Cecilia was reconstituted last year, I was elected a fellow again on 9 August 2021, but the diploma only arrived in the post this week.
The Fraternity is not an examining body, but its members have a shared interest in church music, are found across the globe and come from many walks of life.
Membership is conferred by the Fraternity’s governing chapter in two categories: Fellow and Associate.
The chapter members are Christopher Maynard, Master; Richard Jobe, Secretary-General; the Revd Canon Dr Peter Thompson, Chaplain; Dr Ian Higginson and Dr Craig Paterson.
Ordinary members are admitted as associates of the fraternity (AFSC). People who meet specific criteria are admitted as fellows of the fraternity (FFSC). These requirement include holding a recognised qualification in music at diploma level or above; more than 20 years of service to the Church in a musical capacity; or being an associate of the fraternity for a period in excess of 10 years
When I was elected a fellow, it included my role as the Canon Precentor in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, and Saint Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe, and many years of teaching liturgy at master’s level in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute (CITI) and, before that, in the Church of Ireland Theological College (CITC).
The certificate of Fellowship of the Fraternity of Saint Cecilia which arrived this week is signed by both Christopher Maynard, Master, and Richard Jobe, Secretary-General.
