Patrick Comerford
We have come to the end of the month as we continue in Ordinary Time in the Church, and the week began with the Ninth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity IX). Today (31 July), the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers Ignatius of Loyola (1556), founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
I expect to spend some hours later today engaged in a local arts project in Stony Stratford. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Matthew 13: 44-46 (NRSVA):
[Jesus said:] 44 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.’
This morning’s reflection:
Have you ever found yourself lost for words when it comes to describing a beautiful place you have visited?
If you have ever been to the Bay of Naples or Sorrento, how would you describe what you have seen to someone who has never travelled beyond these islands?
For someone who has been to Dublin, and been on the DART, you might want to compare the Bay of Naples with the vista in Dalkey or Killiney … but that hardly catches the majestic scope of the view.
You might want to compare the church domes with the great copper dome in Rathmines … but that goes nowhere near describing the intricate artwork on those Italian domes.
You might compare the inside of the duomo in Amalfi with the inside of your favourite parish church … but you know you are getting nowhere near what you want to say.
And as for Capri … you are hardly going to write a romantic song about Dalkey Island, or even Howth Head.
Comparisons never match the beauty of any place that offers us a snatch or a glimpse of heaven.
And yet, we know that the photographs on our phones, no matter how good they seem to be when we are taking them, never do justice to the places we have been to once we get back home.
We risk becoming bores either by trying to use inadequate words or inadequate images to describe experiences that we can never truly share with people unless they go there, unless they have been there too.
I suppose that helps to a degree to understand why Jesus keeps on trying to grasp at images that might help the Disciples and help us to understand what the Kingdom of God is like.
He tries to offer us a taste of the kingdom with a number of parables in this chapter in Saint Matthew’s Gospel:
• The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed … (verse 31).
• The kingdom of heaven is like yeast … (verse 33).
• The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field … (verse 44).
• The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls … (verse 45).
• The kingdom of heaven is like a net in the sea … (verse 47).
In the verses that follow, he asks: ‘Do they understand?’ They answer, ‘Yes.’ But how can they really understand, fully understand?
Many years ago, after a late Sunday lunch at the café in Mount Usher in Co Wicklow, I posted some photographs of the gardens on my blog. An American reader I have never met commented: ‘A little piece of heaven.’
We have a romantic imagination that confuses gardens with Paradise, and Paradise with the Kingdom of Heaven. But perhaps that is a good starting point, because I have a number of places where I find myself saying constantly: ‘This is a little snatch of heaven.’ They include:
• The road from Cappoquin out to my grandmother’s farm in West Waterford.
• The journey along the banks of the River Slaney between Ferns and Wexford.
• The view from the east end of Stowe Pool across to Lichfield Cathedral at sunset on a Spring evening.
• The Backs in Cambridge.
• Sunset behind at the Fortezza in Rethymnon on the Greek island of Crete.
• The sights and sounds on some of the many beaches I like to walk on regularly … beaches in Achill, Kerry, Clare, north Dublin, Crete … I could go on.
Already this year, I have managed to get back to many of these places.
At times, I imagine the Kingdom of Heaven must be so like so many of these places where I find myself constantly praising God and thanking God for creation and for re-creation.
But … but it’s not just that. And I start thinking that Christ does more than just paint a scene when he describes the kingdom of heaven. Looking at this morning’s Gospel reading again, I realise he is doing more than offering holiday snapshots or painting the scenery.
In this chapter, Jesus tries to describe the Kingdom of Heaven in terms of doing, and not just in terms of being:
• Sowing a seed (verse 31);
• Giving a nest to the birds of the air (verse 32);
• Mixing yeast (verse 33);
• Turning small amounts of flour into generous portions of bread (verse 34);
• Finding hidden treasure (verse 44);
• Rushing out in joy (verse 44);
• Selling all that I have because something I have found is worth more – much, much more, again and again (verse 44, 46);
• Searching for pearls (verse 45);
• Finding just one pearl (verse 46);
• Casting a net into the sea (verse 47);
• Catching an abundance of fish (verse 47);
• Drawing the abundance of fish ashore, and realising there is too much there for personal needs (verse 48);
• Writing about it so that others can enjoy the benefit and rewards of treasures new and old (verse 52).
So there are, perhaps, four or five times as many active images of the kingdom than there are passive images.
One of my favourite T-shirts, one I bought in Athens some years ago, said: ‘To do is to be, Socrates. To be is to do, Plato. Do-be-do-be-do, Sinatra.’
The kingdom is more about doing than being.
Over the years, at the annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG, I have heard about a number of activities that, for me, offer snatches of what the kingdom is like:
• Working with refugees and asylum seekers who continue to arrive in inhospitable and strange places in desperate and heart-breaking circumstances;
• Listening to how the Bible relates to the work of the Church with victims of gender-based violence and people trafficking;
• the commitment of people in the church to challenging violence and working for peace;
• stories of people who work at lobbying politicians and empowering churches in the whole area of climate change;
• hearing how God creates out of chaos, how God’s pattern for growing the Church is about entering chaos and bringing about something creative, something new.
Throughout those conferences, I have regularly been offered fresh and engaging signs of the ministry of Christ as he invites us to the banquet, as he invites us into the Kingdom – works that are little glimpses or snatches of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
This morning, could I challenge you to think of three places, three gifts in God’s creation, that offer you glimpses of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to think of three actions that for you symbolise Christ’s invitation into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Give thanks for these pearls beyond price, and share them with someone you love and cherish.
Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 31 July 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 ‘Fighting and Preventing Human Trafficking in Durgapur.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by the Revd Davidson Solanki, Regional Manager for Asia and Middle East, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 31 July 2024) invites us to pray:
Lord, we pray for welcome, understanding and comfort for survivors back in their communities, when all too often there can be lingering stigma. Ensure they are not isolated from their loved ones even after they’re freed.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who sent your Holy Spirit
to be the life and light of your Church:
open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit
in love and joy and peace;
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.
Post Communion Prayer:
Holy Father,
who gathered us here around the table of your Son
to share this meal with the whole household of God:
in that new world where you reveal the fullness of your peace,
gather people of every race and language
to share in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Gracious Father,
revive your Church in our day,
and make her holy, strong and faithful,
for your glory’s sake
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s reflection
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
A snatch of heaven? … sunset behind the Fortezza in Rethymnon (Patrick Comerford, 2024)
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