Patrick Comerford
Lent began over a month ago on Ash Wednesday (14 February 2024), and Passiontide begins tomorrow with the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent V), also known as Passion Sunday. But it is also Saint Patrick’s Day (17 March 2024).
Throughout Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated in the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship.
I plan to spend much of this afternoon watching the international rugby matches in the Sux Nations Championship, particularly the crucial fixture between Ireland and Scotland at 4:45. But, before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning 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: 32, Saint Wulfstan of Worcester
Saint Wulfstan (1095), Bishop of Worcester, is remembered in Common Worship with a lesser festival on 19 January.
Wulfstan was born ca 1009, at Itchington in Warwickshire. His maternal uncle, also called Wulfstan, was the second Archbishop of York. Wulfstan was educated in the monastery of Peterborough and spent the first 25 years after his ordination in the Benedictine monastery in Worcester. He was elected Bishop of Worcester against his will in 1062. But he went on to prove an able administrator and pastor.
After the Norman conquest of England, Wulfstan was the only English-born bishop to retain his diocese for any significant time after. He carefully and gently nurtured both church and state through the transition from Saxon to Norman rule. He struggled to alleviate the suffering of the poor, was a strong opponent of the slave trade, and together with Lanfranc, was mainly responsible for ending the 11th century slave trade between Bristol and Ireland.
He died at Worcester on 19 January 1095, at the age of 87, after washing the feet of a dozen poor men, a humble ritual he performed daily. He was canonised by Pope Innocent III in 1203 on the testimony of Archbishop John Comyn of Dublin. He is the patron saint of peasants, vegetarians and dieters.
John 7: 40-52 (NRSVA):
40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ 41 Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’ But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? 42 Has not the scripture said that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ 43 So there was a division in the crowd because of him. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ 46 The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’ 47 Then the Pharisees replied, ‘Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? 48 Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 But this crowd, which does not know the law – they are accursed.’ 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, 51 ‘Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?’ 52 They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’
Today’s Prayers (Saturday 16 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), has been ‘Lent Reflection: JustMoney Movement.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Matt Ceaser, Movement Builder, JustMoney Movement.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (16 March 2024) invites us to pray in these words:
Let us pray for us all to receive the freedom we have in Christ.
The Collect:
Merciful Lord,
absolve your people from their offences,
that through your bountiful goodness
we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins
which by our frailty we have committed;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour,
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 God,
whose blessed Son our Saviour
gave his back to the smiters
and did not hide his face from shame:
give us grace to endure the sufferings of this present time
with sure confidence in the glory that shall be revealed;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Merciful Lord,
you know our struggle to serve you:
when sin spoils our lives
and overshadows our hearts,
come to our aid
and turn us back to you again;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of Lent V:
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 your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday: Lanfranc of Canterbury
Tomorrow: Saint Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury
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
No comments:
Post a Comment