Patrick Comerford
This the last week of Lent, and today is Wednesday in Holy Week (27 March 2024). This Wednesday in Holy Week is known in many places as Spy Wednesday.
Throughout Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated in Common Worship.
We got back from Norwich last night, and later this morning I am meeting a friend from India in Oxford. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;
2, today’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Early English pre-Reformation saints: 43, William of Ockham
William of Ockham is remembered in Common Worship on 10 April as a Friar, Philosopher and Teacher of the Faith. He is known as the ‘Invincible Doctor’ (Doctor Invincibilis) and the ‘Venerable Initiator’ (Venerabilis Inceptor). He is considered to be one of the major figures of mediaeval thought and was at the centre of the major intellectual and political controversies in the 14th century.
William was born at Ockham in Surrey ca 1285. He entered the Franciscan Order and studied at London house of the Greyfriars and then studied theology at the University of Oxford. At a time when heresy was suspected everywhere, his writings were the subject of close scrutiny, but he never received any formal condemnation. Later in life, he entered the controversy between the rival popes and had to flee for his life.
His much-used principle of economy – often referred to as ‘Occam’s Razor’ – stated that only individual things exist and that they are directly understood by the thinking mind and that this intuitive knowledge is caused naturally.
His doctrine of God led him to destroy the 13th century concept of the relationship between theology and philosophy and took the study of the philosophy of religion onto a new level.
Having fled the Papal court in Avignon, he died in exile in Munich on 10 April 1347.
John 13: 21-32 (NRSVA):
21 After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. 23 One of his disciples – the one whom Jesus loved – was reclining next to him; 24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ 26 Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. 27 After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.’
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 27 March 2024):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Holy Week Reflection.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Canon Dr Peniel Rajkumar, Theologian and Director of Global Mission, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (27 March 2024) invites us to pray in these words:
Father God, we pray for peacemakers who work tirelessly and at great risk in places where others have withdrawn or dare not venture.
The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race
sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh
and to suffer death upon the cross:
grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility,
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ,
you humbled yourself in taking the form of a servant,
and in obedience died on the cross for our salvation:
give us the mind to follow you
and to proclaim you as Lord and King,
to the glory of God the Father.
Additional Collect:
True and humble king,
hailed by the crowd as Messiah:
grant us the faith to know you and love you,
that we may be found beside you
on the way of the cross,
which is the path of glory.
Yesterday: Saint Robert of Lincoln
Tomorrow: Richard Rolle of Hampole
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
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