Patrick Comerford
Passiontide – the last two weeks of Lent – began yesterday, the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent V), also known as Passion Sunday. Today, the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the life of Saint Cyril (386), Bishop of Jerusalem, Teacher of the Faith.
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.
Today, I am remembering that it is two years today since I suffered a stroke in Milton Keynes on 18 March 2022. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks for life and love, 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: 34, Saint Anselm of Canterbury
Saint Anselm (1109) of Canterbury is remembered in Common Worship on 21 April as Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury and Teacher of the Faith, 1109.
Saint Anselm was born in Aosta, northern Italy, in 1033. As a young man, he left home and travelled north, visiting many monasteries and other centres of learning. One of his visits was to the abbey of Le Bec, where he met Lanfranc, who advised him to embrace monastic life.
Anselm had a powerful and original mind and, during his 34 years at Bec (as monk, prior and finally abbot), he taught many others and wrote theological, philosophical and devotional works.
When Lanfranc died Anselm was made Archbishop of Canterbury and had to subordinate his scholarly work to the needs of the diocese and nation. When Queen Matilda, wife of King Henry I, founded the Priory of the Holy Trinity, also known as Christchurch Aldgate, for the Austin canons or Black Canons ca 1108, she was advised and helped by Saint Anselm.
Twice he endured exile for championing the rights of the Church against the authority of the king. But, despite his stubbornness, intellectual rigour, and personal austerity, he was admired by the Norman nobility as well as much loved by his monks. He died in 1109.
John 8: 1-11 (NRSVA):
1 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ 11 She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’
Today’s Prayers (Monday 18 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 ‘Lent Reflection: True repentance is the key to Christian Freedom.’ This theme was introduced yesterday by the Revd Dr Simon Ro, Dean of Graduate School of Theology at Sungkonghoe (Anglican) University, Seoul, Korea.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (18 March 2024) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:
As yesterday was Saint Patrick’s Day, let us pray for the Church of Ireland and give thanks for the life and legacy of Saint Patrick.
The Collect:
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.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ,
you have taught us
that what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters
we do also for you:
give us the will to be the servant of others
as you were the servant of all,
and gave up your life and died for us,
but are alive and reign, now and for ever.
Additional Collect:
Gracious Father,
you gave up your Son
out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know eternal peace
through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of Joseph of Nazareth:
God our Father,
who from the family of your servant David
raised up Joseph the carpenter
to be the guardian of your incarnate Son
and husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
give us grace to follow him
in faithful obedience to your commands;
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: Saint Osmund of Salisbury
Tomorrow: Saint William of York
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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