Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 58, Sunday 6 July 2025, Third Sunday after Trinity (Trinity III)

‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you’ (Luke 10: 11) … collecting shoes for refugee children from Syria (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and today is the Third Sunday after Trinity (Trinity III, 6 July 2025). Later this morning, I am involved in the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, leading the intercessions. Later in the afternoon, two of us hope to attend Choral Evensong in Southwark Cathedral.

But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you’ (Luke 10: 11) … about to put my big foot in it, again, in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20 (NRSVA):

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”

16 ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’

17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ 18 He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

Sending out the 70 … the speed limit leaving Venice and crossing the Lagoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem, and a Samaritan village has refused to welcome his messengers in the previous Sunday’s reading where the provisions for Trinity II were used (Luke 9: 51-62).

But Christ has rebuked James and John for their response to this rejection, and in this reading he now sends out 70 disciples on a mission of healing and proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God. They are to go ahead of Christ, to the places he is about to travel through on his way to Jerusalem, preparing the way for Jesus’ own mission, and tells them how to respond to both acceptance and rejection.

They are sent out with the understanding that the ‘harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few’ (verse 2).

The 70 are sent out ‘like lambs into the midst of wolves’ (verse 3), defenceless before hostile people. But the image hold within it the promise that Christ is to usher in an era of peace and reconciliation, in which ‘the wolf and the lamb shall feed together’ (see Isaiah 65: 25).

The 70 are to head out immediately and without delay (‘carry no purse …,’ verse 4) and concentrate on the mission (‘greet no one …’). They are to bring peace with them, and when they meet a person of peace, God’s peace will be with that person (verse 6).

They should accept whatever hospitality and food they are offered, and to show by their action, healing people and sharing the promise of the kingdom of God.

Verses 12-15, which are omitted here, tell the Seventy how to handle hostile situations, and to leave rejection to God’s own judgment and God’s own time.

The 70 return, and if they had any misgivings when they were sent out, they now come back surprised and filled with joy. Christ has seen their victory over evil forces, and gives them authority ‘snakes and scorpions,’ then regarded culturally as sources of evil.

But if they have returned with joy, they are not to be joyful in the face of evil. Instead, they are to rejoice in the coming of the kingdom.

We might ask this morning, what is the symbolism of the Seventy?

Naaman is told to wash seven times, and Seventy disciples are sent on a mission into Gentile territory.

The number 70 is assigned to the families of Noah’s descendants (see Genesis 10: 1-32). In Jewish tradition, 70 is the number of nations of the world, and this is repeated in the Book of Jubilees (44: 34), although is not regarded as Biblical in almost every tradition. The Septuagint lists 72 names, and some translations of Saint Luke’s Gospel enumerates the 70 as 72. Do the 70 – or the 72 – represent a future mission to all nations?

In the wilderness, Moses was aided by 70 elders (see Exodus 24: 1, 9; Numbers 11: 16, 24-25).

The Septuagint or Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, takes its Latin name, abbreviated to LXX, the Roman numeral 70, from the Greek name for the translation, Ἡ τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα μετάφρασις (ton evdomekonta metaphrasis), ‘The Translation of the Seventy.’

The Letter of Aristeas in the Second Century BCE says the Septuagint was translated in Alexandria at the command of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247 BCE) by 70 Jewish scholars (or, according to later tradition, 72 – six scholars from each of the Twelve Tribes) who independently produced identical translations.

Once again, we can see the confusion between the numbers 70 and 72. Is Saint Luke saying the 70 (or 72) represent the true words of God? That they represent the 12 Tribes of Israel, six each?

The Great Sanhedrin is described in rabbinic texts as the Court of 71, although no Old Testament text ever refers to such an institution. It was regarded as the supreme authority in matters religious and civil, including the appointment of kings, authorising offensive wars, punishing idolatry and teaching Torah.

Do Jesus and the 70 represent the new 71, the new Sanhedrin?

However, despite the Gospel references to the Sanhedrin, it is worth pointing out that there are very few rabbinic references that locate a Sanhedrin in the late Second Temple period, the time of Christ and Saint Paul.

Meanwhile, what were the difficulties and the evils the 70 were to face on the way? Where were they going?

We hear more about this in the following passage in this chapter, which is the reading next Sunday (Luke 10: 25-37). This is the story of a man who is attacked on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem, and who finds that the one person who comes to assistance is a Samaritan.

The very threats we may face may not be the ones who fear, and those who offer us comfort and support on the way may be those we least expect to offer it. But more about that next Sunday.

‘See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes’ (Luke 10: 19) … a Moroccan snake charmer in Tangier (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 6 July 2025, Trinity III):

The theme this week (6 to 12 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Following in the Footsteps of Saint Thomas.’ This theme is introduced today with a programme update from the Revd Mark Woodrow, USPG Bishop’s Nominee for St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and Parish Priest and Rural Dean in Suffolk. He writes:

Read John 11:1-16

It might seem strange that at the end of this passage Thomas replies: ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’. As someone whose call to ordained ministry was shaped by an extended period of living and working in India prior to ordination, I have been constantly struck by Saint Thomas’ willingness to join Jesus in returning to the dangers of Judea, to put his own life on the line and to follow Jesus even if it meant dying with him.

You may know that Saint Thomas died for his faith in Mylapore, near modern-day Chennai, India, in AD 72, around 40 years after the events in Judea. Tradition holds that he brought Christianity to India 30 years earlier.

For a number of years now, I have led small group trips across India. It has been a great privilege to share with many from the UK an insight into the Christian faith that was being lived out in India long before it arrived in the UK. This was (and in many ways, still is) a faith forced to exist as a minority within a pluralistic society. It is also a place where many Christians, particularly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, worship in communities that can trace their own faith back through their ancestors to Saint Thomas himself.

It was to these communities I returned as part of my recent extended study leave or sabbatical. Through my conversations and observations with many Priests and lay ministers, I want to share with you some aspects of the ongoing ministry and community challenges and that I commend to you to join with me in prayer.

The USPG prayer diary today (Sunday 6 July 2025, Trinity III) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, we thank you for all your faithful servants in India's churches. Bless those who are willing to put aside self, to hear and respond to your call.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts
whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought
to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
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:

O God, whose beauty is beyond our imagining
and whose power we cannot comprehend:
show us your glory as far as we can grasp it,
and shield us from knowing more than we can bear
until we may look upon you without fear;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Additional Collect:

God our saviour,
look on this wounded world
in pity and in power;
hold us fast to your promises of peace
won for us by your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘… whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets …’ (Luke 10: 10) … exit onto the street is possible but no entrance is permitted at Preaching Lane in Athlone (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

‘After the Winter’ by Peter Randall-Page has recovered from the weather in Milton Keynes Hospital

‘After the Winter’ by Peter Randall-Page … a sculpture in a small courtyard in Milton Keynes University Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I was recalling on Thursday ‘The One and The Many’, a large sculpture by Peter Randall-Page beside the recently-restored Fitzrovia Chapel in Pearson Square, London. He sculpted ‘The One and The Many’ ten years ago (2015) from a naturally eroded Bavarian granite boulder, and it is a reminder of humanity’s shared search for the meaning of creation and our origins, a celebration of human ingenuity and imagination.

The one work in Milton Keynes by Peter Randall-Page with which I am familiar is his sculpture ‘After the Winter’. It was bought in 1981 by the Milton Keynes NHS Trust in anticipation of the opening of the new hospital.

I cannot count the number of times over the past three years or more I have walked past this striking work in a small courtyard space near the Eaglestone Restaurant, one of many that offer a quiet oasis to people on the hospital site.

Peter Randall-Page is inspired by organic forms, and the impact his work can have on our emotions, with their allusions to growth and development, resonate especially well within a health care setting.

‘After the Winter’ is made from Carrara marble. It has a delicate ribbed texture and detailing across the entire surface, evidencing the artist’s handiwork. The form appears to twist and ‘grow’ up towards the light that infiltrates the surrounding architecture.

However, life weather outside took its toll on ‘After the Winter’ over the years. With the passage of time, It had become weathered, the original colour had darkened, and the brick foundation within the courtyard had become unstable.

With financial support from Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Milton Keynes Hospital Charity in 2021-2022, Arts for Health MK engaged specialist museum standard conservators Taylor Pearce Ltd to extensively clean the artwork.

A new foundation pad was also made to elevate the sculpture within the courtyard, so it can be seen to its best effect. And the Creative Courtyard volunteers have been given support to help keep it looking at its best.

Peter Randall-Page has an international reputation for his large-scale sculptures, drawings, and prints inspired by geometric forms and patterns from nature. He has undertaken numerous large-scale commissions and exhibited widely. He was elected a Royal Academician in 2015. His work is in public collections world-wide, including the Tate Gallery, British Museum and the Eden Project, and, of course, beside the Fitzrovia Chapel in Pearson Square, London.

Commenting on the recent restoration of ‘After the Winter’, Peter Randall-Page said: ‘I can hardly believe that its 40 years since I made this work for MK Hospital! I’m delighted to see it looking so pristine after its recent expert cleaning. I hope it has benefitted many staff, patients and visitors over the years, offering a sculptural focal point for reflection and contemplation, and that it continues to do so in future.’

Arts for Health MK supports people’s health and wellbeing in Milton Keynes, both through the care and curation of the hospital’s Art Collection and through its creative programmes. Meanwhile, work continues on an extensive cleaning and conservation programme for the sculptures within the hospital’s Art Collection to ensure they can be enjoyed by the public for generations to come.

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 57, Saturday 5 July 2025

‘Neither is new wine put into old wineskins’ (Matthew 9: 17) … old wine in old barrels in a winery in Vryses in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Third Sunday after Trinity (Trinity III, 6 July 2025).

Later today, the Greek community in Stony Stratford is opening its pop-up café at Swinfen Harris Church Hall, London Road. Το Στεκι Μας, Our Place, takes place every first Saturday of the month from 10:30 to 5 pm.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak’ (Matthew 9: 16) … an exhibit in the Patch Work Collective exhibition in Liberty, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Matthew 9: 14-17 (NRSVA):

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ 15 And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.’

‘Neither is new wine put into old wineskins’ (Matthew 9: 17) … an old wine at sunset at the Sunset Taverna in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading in the Lectionary for the celebration of the Eucharist today (Matthew 9: 14-17) follows yesterday’s account of the calling of Saint Matthew, and is set at the banquet in Matthew’s house, to which Jesus goes, despite the criticism of local religious leaders (see Matthew 9: 9-13).

Quite often in the Gospels we find Jesus facing criticism from the Pharisees, the Scribes or both groups working together. But we seldom find Jesus facing criticism from the disciples of John the Baptist, still less from the disciples of John seemingly on the same side of the Pharisees.

The critics yesterday asked why Jesus was eating with sinners and outcasts. Today they go one step further and ask why he is eating at all. They point to the example of John the Baptist and his disciples who fasted regularly.

In Jewish practice, the only day of the year when fasting is expected is Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement. However, John’s disciples and perhaps also some Pharisees, may have observed additional fasts that were not prescribed by the Law in the hope that their extra piety would help hasten an early coming of the Kingdom.

Jesus answers their question in two ways. First, he says that people do not fast when they are in the company of the bridegroom. That is a time for celebration. By implication, of course, Jesus is the groom. As long as he is around, it would be inappropriate for his disciples to fast. However, he says a time will come when the groom is no longer with them, and then there will be reason enough then to fast.

His second answer is more profound and it takes the form of two examples.

In the first example, Jesus says It does not make sense to repair an old piece of clothing with a patch of new cloth. The new cloth, being much tougher, will, under stress, only cause the older cloth to tear.

In the second example, Jesus says it is not wise to put new wine into old wineskins. Wine was kept in containers made of leather. Because new wine was still fermenting and expanding, it was put in new leather bags that could expand with the wine. The old bags would be stretched already, and new wine would only cause them to burst. Then both the wine would be lost and the bags ruined.

What does Jesus mean by these images?

What message is Jesus giving to his critics?

Are his ideas like new wine or new cloth to you?

People like the Pharisees tried to fit Jesus’ teaching and his ideas into their ways of thinking, but that did not seem to work.

The new cloth and the new wine, then, are the spirit of the Kingdom as proclaimed by Jesus, a radically new understanding of how God is to be loved, and how God loves us.

Jesus does not measure religion by external actions like fasting or other demands and expectation such as washing hands before eating. Instead, religion is a matter of the inner spirit and how we reflect that in the way we live our lives, as he teaches in the Sermon on the Mount.

How do I try to squeeze new wine into old wineskins?

What prejudices and hang-ups that were external and extraneous expressions of Church life in the past am I still clinging onto in my interior life, and that hinder my acceptance of other people today?

Who are today’s equivalent of Matthew, an outsider called to be part of the inner circle with Jesus yet I am uncomfortable to find beside me in Church and at the Eucharist?

‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak’ (Matthew 9: 16) … a patchwork hanging in Wade Street Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 5 July 2025):

I was sorry to miss the USPG Annual Conference which took place at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire, this week. The theme of the conference this year was ‘We Believe, We Belong?’ and centred around the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed (AD 325).

‘We Believe, We Belong?’ was also the theme this week (29 June to 5 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced last Sunday with reflections by Rachael Anderson, former Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Saturday 5 July 2025) invites us to pray:

We give thanks for the dedication and hard work of the USPG staff in planning, preparing, and running the conference. Grant them rest and strength, to support USPG’s mission throughout the year.

The Collect:

Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity III:

Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts
whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought
to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
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’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘Neither is new wine put into old wineskins’ (Matthew 9: 17) … new wine at lunchtime in the Captain’s House in Panormos, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Jewish community in Luton, its synagogues and former synagogues, including a former cinema

Luton United Synagogue on Dunstable Road, Luton … the first service there was held on 5 September 2009, and the synagogue dedicated on 27 June 2010 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I have been through Luton and Luton Airport a number of times – including one memorable occasion when I missed a flight to Dublin because I had left my passport back in Stony Stratford. But I had never stopped to look at Luton or to walk around the town, until this week.

It was a short visit, with only a few hours between buses, and I never got to see some of the important sites in Luton, such as Saint Mary’s Church, built in the 12th century and one of the largest churches in Bedfordshire, Luton Hoo, or the Kenilworth Road grounds of Luton Town, the Hatters.

Luton is known for the former Vauxhall factory and for its cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, with large Irish, South Asia and Black African communities, and a large presence of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. Out of a total population of 225,262 in 2021, the Jewish community in Luton is relatively tiny, with only 246 or 0.1 per cent of the population.

Jewish services were held in a room above a factory on 51 John Street (right, now demolished) from 1924 to 1929 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Over the years, the Jewish community in Luton has seen significant transformation, with many rises and falls in the number of Jews living in the town. The first Jewish family to settle in Luton moved there around 1880, and there were about five families living in the town by 1912.

The first organised Jewish community meeting in Luton took place in Duke Street on 23 September 1923, when it was resolved to form what became known as the Luton Hebrew Congregation. Nine local residents were present at that meeting. A week later, a general meeting of the newly formed Luton Hebrew Congregation was held on 30 September 1923, when the first president was elected.

It was agreed to apply to the United Synagogue for affiliation for burial rights. A later affiliation with the Federation of Synagogues was subsequently reversed, and the Luton Synagogue, although independent in its administration, was affiliated to the United Synagogue for burial purposes.

The first services, including High Holyday Services and religion classes, were held from 1924 to 1929 at 51 John Street above a factory that has since been demolished, and these were served by various visiting teachers.

The house at 5 Moor Path was the first-ever synagogue in Luton, from 1929 to 1953 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Revd Harry David Ritvo was appointed as a minister in 1929. A house at 5 Moor Path was bought that year and was rebuilt as a synagogue that could hold about 90 people. It became the first-ever synagogue in Luton.

At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, there were about 25 Jewish families in Luton. But this number increased rapidly to over 2,000 people when families were evacuated from London during the Blitz.

With this growth in numbers, High Holiday services were held in at least three different places, and a house in Cheapside was bought to provide shelter for refugees from London.

The former Empire Cinema at 116 Bury Park Road was bought in 1949 and was Luton’s synagogue from 1953 until it was sold in 2001 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

These war-time changes became a turning point in the history of the Luton Jewish community and a new synagogue and communal centre were needed. The Empire Cinema on Bury Park Road, which had opened as an independent cinema on 29 November 1921, was bought by the Jewish community in 1949.

Work on converting the cinema began in 1952, and it was consecrated as a synagogue by the Chief Rabbi the Very Revd Dr Israel Brodie, on Lag Ba’Omer 5713, 7 May 1953. At the time, the congregation had about 200 members and there were regular services as well as religious classes and social functions, and a youth club, young marrieds’ group, ladies’ guild, a parent teacher association and a friendship club for older members.

The Belfast-born Jewish historian Steven Jaffe has researched notable Jewish connections with Luton, including Marty Feldman (1934-1982), actor, comedian and comedy writer, who spent his childhood in Luton after being evacuated from London during the war.

The journalist and biographer Michael Freedland (1934-2018), who presented the long-running radio programme, ‘You Don’t have to be Jewish’, grew up in Luton. Others include David Pleat has been a player and later manager of Luton Town Football Club.

The late Chief Rabbi, Lord (Jonathan) Sacks (1948-2020), was appointed head of the Luton Hebrew Congregation’s Hebrew and Religious Classes in June 1977, his first congregational post, and he conducted his first Shabbat services there as an occasional visiting rabbi.

Rabbi Yossi Schwei was inducted as minister of the Luton Hebrew Congregation on 10 May 1992, by Dr Jonathan Sacks, by then the Chief Rabbi, at a service led by the Revd Maurice Schwartz.

Mid-day prayers this week in the former synagogue on Bury Park Road, Luton, bought in 2001 by the Islamic Cultural Centre (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

But from the late 1980s it was apparent that new premises were needed. The membership was falling in numbers and rising in age, and few members lived near Bury Park.

A protracted search began for a new building or site and to sell the former cinema. Eventually, the synagogue in Bury Park Road was sold at the end of 2001, when it was bought by the Islamic Cultural Centre.

In the eight years that followed, the Jewish community had a series of temporary homes in Luton, from Luton Town Hall to various community centres and a variety of houses. Eventually, a disused medical surgery on Dunstable Road was bought in 2009 and work began on converting it into a synagogue.

Jewish services were held in Luton Town Hall occasionally from 2001 to 2009 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The first service in the new synagogue was held on 5 September 2009 and it was consecrated 15 years ago, on 27 June 2010, by Lord Sacks. The Luton Hebrew Congregation became a constituent member of the United Synagogues on 12 July 2010, and the community changed its name to Luton United Synagogue.

The synagogue was extensively refurbished in 2017. The building serves as a synagogue and as a community centre, and there are regular services and social and cultural events.

Today the congregation has about 130 members and is part of the 5+1 group, consisting of six small United Synagogue communities, five in Hertfordshire and one in Bedfordshire.

The Ten Commandments on a plaque at the synagogue on Dunstable Road, Luton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The 5+1 group has an intercommunal social programme that tries to match those provided by large synagogues while retaining the closeness of smaller communities. The other five congregations are in: Potters Bar, St Albans, Shenley, Watford and Welwyn Garden City.

In addition, Bedfordshire Progressive Synagogue (Rodef Shalom) is a progressive Jewish Congregation based in Luton and Bedford, with members throughout Bedfordshire and in Buckinghamshire and North Hertfordshire. It has been based in Luton since 1982. Although it does not have a permanent building, services are held in both Luton and Bedford.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום

St George’s Square, a new central plaza space and part of the regeneration of Luton’s town centre, has become the heart of the town since it opened in 2008 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 56, Friday 4 July 2025

Saint Matthew … a sculpture on the west façade of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity II, 29 June 2025) and the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, while yesterday the Church Calendar celebrated Saint Thomas the Apostle.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Saint Matthew depicted in a window in Saint Peter’s Church, Kuching … the church was officially opened last Sunday, on the Feast of Saint Peter (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Matthew 9: 9-13 (NRSVA):

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 12 But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

‘Scenes from the Life of the Apostle Matthew’, an icon by Georgios Kastrophylakas (1742) in old Saint Minas Church, Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading in the Lectionary for the celebration of the Eucharist today tells of the calling of Saint Matthew, a tax-collector or publican who is called to be one of the Twelve, and the response of the religious leaders of the day, who air their criticism of this decision to the other disciples of Jesus.

Saint Matthew the Evangelist (מתי/מתתיהו, Gift of Yahweh; Ματθαίος) is one of the Twelve and is identified with both the author of the first of the four gospels and with Levi the publican or tax collector in the Gospels according to Saint Mark and Saint Luke.

According to tradition, Saint Matthew was the son of Alpheus, a publican or a tax collector by profession. He was the Levi in the Gospels according to Saint Mark and Saint Luke, and was called to be a disciple while he was sitting in the tax collectors’ place at Capernaum.

We know little about Saint Matthew’s subsequent career – what we do know is little more than speculation and legend. Saint Irenaeus says Matthew preached the Gospel among the Hebrews, Saint Clement of Alexandria claimed that he did this for 15 years, and Eusebius maintains that, before going into other countries, he gave them his Gospel in his mother tongue.

Some ancient writers say Matthew later worked in Ethiopia to the south of the Caspian Sea – not Ethiopia in Africa; others say he worked in Persia, Parthia, Macedonia or Syria. According to Heracleon, who is quoted by Clement of Alexandria, Matthew did not die a martyr, but other accounts, including the Roman Martyrology, say he died a martyr’s death in Ethiopia.

Like the other evangelists, Matthew is often depicted in Christian art as one of the four living creatures of Revelation (4: 7) – in Matthew’s case the winged man, carrying a lance in his hand. There are three paintings of Matthew by Carravagio in the church of San Luigi del Francesci in Rome. Those three paintings, which are among the landmarks of Western art, depict Saint Matthew and the Angel, Matthew being called by Christ, and the Martyrdom of Matthew.

Caravaggio, in depicting the calling of Matthew, shows Levi the tax collector sitting at a table with four assistants, counting the day’s proceeds. This group is lighted from a source at the upper right of the painting. Christ, his eyes veiled, with his halo the only indication of his divinity, enters with Saint Peter. A gesture of Christ’s right hand – all the more powerful and compelling because of its languor – summons Levi.

Surprised by the intrusion and perhaps dazzled by the sudden light from the just-opened door, Levi draws back and gestures toward himself with his left hand as if to say: ‘Who, me?’ His right hand is still on the coin he had been counting before Christ’s entrance.

Today, Saint Matthew is regarded as the patron saint of accountants and bankers. Given the unsaintly performance of many bankers in recent years, I do not know that I would be particularly happy with the prospect of being the patron saint of bankers being put to me as a good career move in heaven. But then Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to salvation.

Perhaps Matthew should be the patron saint of those who answer the call to ministry. I hope none of us will be worried about how we are remembered, whether people get it right about where we worked in ministry and mission, or whether they even get my name right. As long as I answered that call when it came, and abandoned everything else, including career prospects and the possibility of wealth, to answer that call faithfully and fully.

Saint Matthew depicted in a spandrel beneath the dome of the Analipsi Church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 4 July 2025):

I was sorry to miss the USPG Annual Conference which took place over three days this week at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. The theme of the conference this year was ‘We Believe, We Belong?’ and centred around the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed (AD 325).

‘We Believe, We Belong?’ is also the theme this week (29 June to 5 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Rachael Anderson, former Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Friday 4 July 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord, may the profound words of the Nicene Creed continue to uplift and guide us, reminding us that, despite our differences, we are united as one in the sacred communion of faith.

The Collect:

Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Saint Matthew depicted in the iconostasis in the Greek Orthodoc Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

‘The One and The Many’: a sculptor’s exploration of creation and imagination in the heart of Fitzrovia

‘The One and The Many’ is a large sculpture by Peter Randall-Page beside the recently-restored Fitzrovia Chapel in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I was recalling earlier this week my visit to the recently-restored Fitzrovia Chapel in Pearson Square, off Mortimer Street in London. In a sunny corner, beside the chapel and beneath the tall blocks of a new development, ‘The One and The Many’ is a large sculpture by Peter Randall-Page reminding us of humanity’s shared search for the meaning of creation and our origins.

Peter Randall-Page sculpted ‘The One and The Many’ ten years ago (2015) from a naturally eroded Bavarian granite boulder, weighing 25 tonnes and measuring 3519 x 2240 x 2065 mm and inscribed over its entire surface with marks carved in low relief.

‘The One and The Many’ is primarily a celebration of human ingenuity and imagination. ‘Our ability to convey meaning to one another, through time and space, by making marks has revolutionised human culture and society,’ Peter Randall-Page has said. ‘The human desire to make the world meaningful seems to be ubiquitous and intrinsic to our very nature.’

Embracing many cultures, his sculpture is in the heart of Fitzrovia, an area with a rich and vibrant cultural history and thriving creative community.

It is inscribed with many of the world’s scripts and symbols, from the writings of ancient Babylonia to Mongolian ‘ornamental’ seal script. They recount stories of the creation in poetic musings, sacred scriptures and epic tales of our origins.

Almost all cultures and languages across time have creation myths and narratives that seek to explain how our world came into being, and this leap of imagination illustrates the essence of creativity across many cultures and languages. One of the earliest uses of written language was almost certainly to set down these stories by making marks on clay, papyrus and vellum.

Based on scholarly advice and artistic preferences, Peter Randall-Page chose over 30 variations on the creation myth from around the world. He included writing systems from the earliest cuneiform script in ancient Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago to modern languages. The selected texts from ancient and modern writings were then arranged and inscribed onto the vast boulder, in effect the earth itself.

The texts themselves are creation stories from various cultures, each conveyed in their own writing systems, and the chosen lines speak of cosmology and the material and poetical formation of the universe in a variety of cultures.

There are quotations and texts in Minoan Linear A from Crete, Sanskrit, Japanese, Cyrillic, Ogham Irish Script, Korean, Mongolian, Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Lycian and Arabic, to name but a few.

He tried to avoid pictograms and hieroglyphics, preferring to concentrate on writing as abstract mark making. He has included Braille and Morse Code, but not musical notation or mathematical symbols. A quotation from Samuel Beckett’s play Endgame is represented in Morse Code, and a quotation from Jorge Luis Borges’s short story ‘God’s Script’ is written in Braille.

In this way, ‘The One and The Many’ is an exploration of the ways we have contemplated, through a wealth of poetic musings and epic narratives, the theme of ‘In the beginning’, and it is also a celebration of human ingenuity and imagination.

Our human ability to convey meaning to one another through time and space, by making marks has revolutionised human culture. In Peter Randall-Page’s own words, ‘These myths and legends have been distilled by a kind of “cultural natural selection” over countless generations and as such they often tell us more about the human condition; our hopes and fears, than about literal cosmology.’

The naturally eroded boulder chosen for the sculpture is a fragment of solidified magma, the material the planet is made of. Its overall form is the result of innumerable chance events over a geological timescale stretching back to the creation of the Earth itself.

Peter Randall-Page has and international reputation for his large-scale sculptures, drawings and prints inspired by geometric forms and patterns from nature. He has undertaken numerous large-scale commissions and exhibited widely. He was elected a Royal Academician in 2015. His work is held in public collections world-wide, including the Tate Gallery, the British Museum and the Eden Project.

His sculpture ‘After the Winter’ was bought in 1981 by the Milton Keynes NHS Trust in anticipation of the opening of the new hospital. To this day, it is situated in a small courtyard space near the Eaglestone Restaurant, one of many that offer a quiet oasis at the hospital.

‘The One and The Many’ is permanently located at Fitzroy Place, Pearson Square, off Mortimer Street, London, and was commissioned by Exemplar and Aviva, developers of Fitzroy Place and project managed by Patrick Morey-Burrows of ArtSource.

• A dedicated website theoneandthemany.co.uk gives more background on the project as well as translations of the inscribed texts.

‘The One and The Many’ is a celebration of human ingenuity and imagination (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 55, Thursday 3 July 2025, Saint Thomas the Apostle

Saint Thomas the Apostle … a sculpture on the west façade of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity II, 29 June 2025) and the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Today, the Calendar of the Church of England celebrates Saint Thomas the Apostle.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

The icon of the Incredulity of Saint Thomas in the iconostasis in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

John 20: 24-29 (NRSVA):

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 27 Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ 28 Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 29 Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

A detail in the icon of the Incredulity of Saint Thomas in the iconostasis in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

The Calendar of the Church of England commemorates Saint Thomas today (3 July), while the Orthodox Church remembers the doubting of the Apostle Thomas on the first Sunday after Easter; this year Thomas Sunday was on Sunday 27 April 2025.

In the Gospels, Saint Thomas is named ‘Thomas, also called the Twin (Didymus).’ But the name ‘Thomas’ comes from the Aramaic word for twin, T'oma (תאומא), so there is a tautological wordplay going on here.

Syrian tradition says the apostle’s full name was Judas Thomas, or Jude Thomas. But, who was his twin brother – or sister?

I have often visited Didyma on the south coast of Anatolia. There, the Didymaion was one of the most important shrines and temples in the classical world to Apollo and his twin sister Artemis. Apollo was the sun-god, the son of Zeus; he was the patron of shepherds and the guardian of truth, and in Greek and Roman mythology he died and rose again.

Is the story of Saint Thomas’s doubts an invitation to the followers of the cult of Apollo to turn to Christ, the true Son of God the Father, who is the Good Shepherd, who is the way, the truth and the light, who has died and who is truly risen?

We can never be quite sure about Saint Thomas in Saint John’s Gospel. After the death of Lazarus, the disciples resist Christ’s decision to return to Judea, where there had been an attempt to stone Jesus. But Thomas shows he has no idea of the real meaning of death and resurrection when he suggests that the disciples should go to Bethany with Jesus: ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’ (John 11: 16).

And, while Thomas saw the raising of Lazarus, what did he believe in?

Could seeing ever be enough for a doubting Thomas to believe?

The Apostle Thomas also speaks at the Last Supper (John 14: 5). When Christ assures the disciples that they know where he is going, Thomas protests that they do not know at all. He has been with Christ for three years, and still he does not believe or understand. Seeing and explanations are not enough for him. Christ replies to his remarks and to Philip’s requests with a detailed exposition of his relationship to God the Father.

In the Resurrection story in Saint John’s Gospel, Saint Mary Magdalene – who is commemorated later this month on 22 July – does not recognise the Risen Christ at first. For her, appearances could be deceptive, and she thinks he is the gardener. But when he speaks to her, she recognises his voice, and then wants to hold on to him. From that moment of seeing and believing, she rushes off to tell the Disciples: ‘I have seen the Lord.’

Two of the disciples, John the Beloved and Simon Peter, have already seen the empty tomb, but they fail to make the vital connection between seeing and believing. When they hear Mary’s testimony, they still fail to believe fully. They only believe when they see the Risen Lord standing among them, when he greets them, ‘Peace be with you,’ and when he shows them his pierced hands and side.

They had to see and to hear, they had to have the Master stand over them in their presence, before they could believe.

On the first Easter Day, the Disciples locked themselves away out of fear. But where is Thomas? Is he fearless? Or is he foolish?

For a full week, Thomas is absent and does not join in the Easter experience of the remaining disciples. He has not seen and so he refuses to believe. When they tell him what has happened, Thomas refuses to accept their stories of the Resurrection. For him hearing, even seeing, are not enough.

Thomas wants to see, hear and touch. He wants to use all his learning faculties before he can believe this story. He has heard, but he wants to see. When he sees, he wants to touch … he demands not only to touch the Risen Christ, but to touch his wounds too before being convinced.

And so, for a second time within eight days, Christ comes and stands among his disciples, and says: ‘Peace be with you.’

The traditional icon depicting the event recalled in John 20: 19-31 emphasises the closed door, a significant part of the narrative: ‘the doors were locked’ (verse 19). After Christ’s arrest, the disciples tried to hide from the authorities out of fear. They returned to the last place where they had seen him alive, the upper room, around the same table where they had shared that last meal.

The young Thomas was not present the first time round and had said to the others: ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe’ (John 20: 25).

Christ appears within the disciples’ hiding place, where the door is firmly shut. His presence is real, and he invites Thomas: ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’ (John 20: 27).

In this icon, Christ’s right arm is raised not so much in blessing but revealing his right side with its open wound. Saint Thomas is raising his right hand, about to touch the wounded side, but not actually placing his finger in the open wound.

The wounds from the nails on the Cross can also be seen in Christ’s hand and feet. The traditional icons following Byzantine iconography and style show Christ standing in front of the closed door of a large domed building, with his right arm raised; we can see the signs of the nails on his hands. In many icons, Christ holds a scroll in his left hand.

The Apostles, divided in two groups, watch Thomas touch Christ’s side.

The familiar term ‘doubting Thomas’, referring to the Apostle, is used to describe someone who unreasonably doubts someone’s word. Where Orthodox icons depicting this scene have inscriptions, they do not refer to the doubts of Saint Thomas. Instead, the usual Greek inscription reads Η ψηλάφηση του Θωμά (I Psilafisi tou Thoma), ‘the Assurance of Thomas.’ Often English icons are inscribed ‘The Belief of Thomas.’ The icons show not a ‘Doubting Thomas,’ but a reassured Thomas. This is the Thomas who bends before the Risen Christ to touch his wounds and exclaims: ‘My Lord and my God!’ (John 20: 28).

The Church Fathers recognised that although Saint Thomas doubted, his doubt was not unreasonable. Christ responded, spurring Saint Thomas to a confession of Christ’s Divinity that is more explicit than anywhere else in the Gospels.

Looking out from the scene, Christ’s response to Thomas is also for us: ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe’ (John 20: 29).

Mary was asked in the garden on Easter morning not to cling on to Christ. But Thomas is invited to touch him in the most intimate way. He is told to place his finger in Christ’s wounded hands and his hand in Christ’s pierced side.

Yet we are never told whether Thomas actually touches those wounds with his fingers. All we are told is that once he has seen the Risen Christ, Thomas simply professes his faith in Christ: ‘My Lord and my God!’

In that moment, we hear the first expression of faith in the two natures of Christ, that he is both divine and human. For all his doubts, Saint Thomas provides us with an exquisite summary of the apostolic faith, contained within the Nicene Creed, whose 1,700th anniversary we are commemorating this year.

Too often, perhaps, we talk about ‘Doubting Thomas,’ when we might better call him ‘Believing Thomas.’ His doubting leads him to questions. But his questioning leads to listening. And when he hears, he sees, perhaps he even touches. Whatever he does, he learns in his own way, and he comes not only to faith but to faith that for this first time is expressed in that eloquent yet succinct acknowledgment of Christ as both ‘My Lord and My God.’

In our society today, are we easily deceived by appearances?

Do we confuse what pleases me with beauty and with truth?

Do we allow those who have power to define the boundaries of trust and integrity merely to serve their own interests?

Too often, in this world, we are deceived easily by the words of others and deceived by what they want us to see. Seeing is not always believing today. Hearing does not always mean we have heard the truth, as we know in politics today. It is easy to deceive and to be deceived by a good presentation and by clever words.

Too often, we accept or judge people by their appearances, and we are easily deceived by the words of others because of their office or their privilege. But there are times when our faith, however simple or sophisticated, must lead us to ask appropriate questions, not to take everything for granted, and not to confuse what looks like being in our own interests with real beauty and truth.

A detail in the icon of the Incredulity of Saint Thomas in the iconostasis in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 3 July 2025, Saint Thomas the Apostle):

I am sorry to miss the USPG Annual Conference which is taking place over three days this week at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. The theme of the conference this year is ‘We Believe, We Belong?’ and centres around the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed (AD 325). Updates of the conference as it happens are available by following USPG on social media @USPGglobal.’

‘We Believe, We Belong?’ is the theme this week (29 June to 5 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Rachael Anderson, former Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Thursday 3 July 2025, Saint Thomas the Apostle) invites us to pray:

Lord God, on this Feast of St Thomas the Apostle, please deepen our faith and renew our calling to serve you. As the USPG conference concludes, may all go forth with courage, conviction, and a spirit of unity.

The Collect:

Almighty and eternal God,
who, for the firmer foundation of our faith,
allowed your holy apostle Thomas
to doubt the resurrection of your Son
till word and sight convinced him:
grant to us, who have not seen, that we also may believe
and so confess Christ as our Lord and our God;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

The Temple of Apollo in Didyma … one of the most important shrines and temples in the classical world to Apollo and his twin sister Artemis (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

14 million readers, 14 million residents, 14 million refugees and 14 million passports

A wall painting in a shelter in Budapest housing Ukrainian refugees … more than 14 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This blog reached yet another new peak last night (1 July 2025), totalling up 14 million hits since I first began blogging about 15 years ago, back in 2010.

Yet again, this is yet another humbling statistic and a sobering figure, and once again I am left not with a sense of achievement but with a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.

After I began blogging, it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. It was over a year before this figure rose to 1 million by September 2013. It climbed steadily to 2 million, June 2015; 3 million, October 2016; 4 million, November 2019; 5 million, March 2021; 6 million, July 2022; 7 million, 13 August 2023; 8 million, April 2024; and 9 million, October 2024.

But the rise in the number of readers has been phenomenal over the past few months, reaching 9.5 million on 4 January 2025, 10 million over a week later (12 January 2025), 10.5 million two days after that (14 January 2025), 11 million a month later (12 February 2025), 11.5 million a month after that (10 March 2025), 12 million early last month (3 May 2025), 12.5 million a month later (6 June 2025), 13 million less than two weeks later (17 June 2025), 13.5 million a week later (24 June 2025) and 14 million a week last night (1 July 2025).

Last month (June 2025) was the second month that this blog ever had more than 1 million hits in one single month, with 1,618,488 hits by the end of the month (30 June). This followed January’s record of 1 million hits by the early hours of 14 January, and a total of 1,420,383 by the end of that month (31 January 2025).

In recent months, the daily figures have been overwhelming on occasions. Seven of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog were in June alone, four were in January 2025, and one was in this month (1 July 2025):

• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 261,422 (13 January 2025)
• 100,291 (10 January 2025)
• 82,043 (23 June 2025)
• 81,037 (21 June 2025)

• 80,625 (22 June 2025)
• 79,981 (19 June 2025)
• 79,165 (20 June 2025)
• 69,722 (18 June 2025)
• 69,714 (30 June 2025)
• 69,657 (1 July 2025)

This blog has already had 4,466,445 hits in the first half of this year, over 31 per cent of all hits ever.

Joseph Heller wrote in Catch-22, ‘Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.’ It may only be a hunch, but it’s an educated hunch or a journalist’s experienced instinct when I say I have not failed to notice some patterns.

Some of these days were in the week before and after Trump’s inauguration, the others were in the days around his damp-squib military parade in Washington DC on 14 June and his hair-brained decision to attack Iran. Indeed, the overwhelming number of hits are not from Ireland, the UK and Greece, as I might expect, but from the US.

It’s not paranoid either to imagine how the bots at work in some ugly, dim basement in Washington are trawling far and wide for anyone critical of the Trump regime. The costs may be minimal, but it’s still money that could be better spent on healthcare, education, rehiring air traffic controllers or reinstating DEI programmes.

I doubt that my criticisms of Trump, Rubio, Vance, Hegseth and Musk are going to make it easy to get a visa to visit the US over the next four years, should I ever want to visit the place under the present dystopian regime. I’d prefer to boost my ego and convince myself that my popularity is growing and that I have become a ‘must-read’ writer for so many people every day. But, sadly, I don’t think that’s so.

On the other hand – and in this lies my greatest fear – if a minor critic of the Trump regime outside the US such as me is feeling watched and intimidated at this level, try to imagine how many critics inside of the Trump regime and ICE inside the US feel they really are being monitored, intimidated and bullied into silence.

More than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes since 2011 … collecting shoes for refugee children from Syria (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Putting all this aside, with this latest landmark figure of 14 million hits by today, 1,618,488 hits in June alone, and over 1.4 million hits in January, I once again find myself asking questions such as:

• What do 14 million people look like?
• Where do we find 14 million people?
• What does £14 million, €14 million or $14 million mean.
• What would it buy?

The film 14 Million Screams is so-called because 14 million young girls are forced to be married every year, and 700 million women have been married before the age of 15.

Several cities have populations of around 14 million people, including Istanbul, Karachi, Tokyo, Mumbai, Delhi, Shanghai and Cairo … although this figure depends on how specific metropolitan areas are defined, and who is doing the counting.

A sculpture of a kouros, an athletic youth, and valued at $14 million was among the antiquities recently returned to Greece after being stolen and illegally sent to the US. Dozens of stolen antiquities were repatriated to Greece including 47 antiquities seized from the collection of billionaire investor Michael Steinhardt in 2021 after a search that lasted many years across many countries.

Greece’s efforts to manage the challenges posed by the tourism industry, with extensive taxes and regulations targeting holiday homes, seem to have fallen short. Despite hefty fines and additional charges imposed by the government, the number of residential properties surged by nearly 10 per cent last year.

Figures show there were 14 million overnight stays by foreign tourists using short-term rentals like Airbnb for their holiday accommodation last year (2024), an increase of 2 million on the previous year (2023, prior to Greece implementing policies to address issues caused by over-tourism, such as sky-rocketing rents and deteriorating public services.

The Syrian crisis is one of the largest displacement crises globally. Since 2011, more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety. This includes both internally displaced people and refugees who have crossed borders.

The director-general of the International Organisation for Migration, Amy Pope, said last October that over 14 million people had also fled their homes in Sudan, either inside the country or over its borders. They include the 11 million people who have been internally displaced within the country, and the 3.1 million who have crossed borders.

As the frontline shifts and hostilities increase, more than 14 million Ukrainians are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War I. Over 6.3 million refugees have fled to neighbouring countries and 3.7 million people are internally displaced. This means nearly one-third of the population of Ukraine has been forced to flee their homes, including more than half of all Ukrainian children.

Up to 14 million UK tourists risk being turned away at airport gates, according to a recent report. Only half of recent British visitors to Europe knew that a passport must be issued less than 10 years before departure ,and only one in three British passport holders knew that a passport must be valid for at least three months after the return date.

This means around 13.9 million travellers could have made one of these mistakes on their trip. The report also found that only two in five UK adults do not knew they are not be covered by their insurance policy if they make one of these passport errors.

The way statistics like this are mangled in the red-top tabloids never ceases to irritate me. When any of those 14 million tourists are turned back from the their planned package holiday in Benidorm, the Balearics or Benitses, it becomes the fault not of Brexit but of some faceless European bureaucrats in Brussels.

Those forgetful tourists are never bemoaned as illegal migrants without legal papers. But when any miniscule proportion of those 14 million displaced people or refugees – from, say, Sudan, Syria or Ukraine – try to cross the channel, they become illegal migrants without papers, and the victims of tabloid bile and racist caricature.

When any of those 14 million passport holders go island hopping in Greece, it’s fun and pleasure – it ought to be; when any of those 14 people use boats between France and the English coast, they became the target of vitriol from the likes of Daily Mail columnists and Reform voters.

The world has a population of 8.2 billion people, and 14 million people represent only 0.17% of all those people. So 14 million hits on this blog is quite a modest number, I have to concede.

One of the most warming figures personally in the midst of all these statistics is the one that shows my morning prayer diary reaches an average of 80-85 people each day in the past month. It is over three years now since I retired from active parish ministry. But I think many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches averaged or totalled 560 to to 580 people a week.

Today, I am very grateful to all 14 million readers of this blog to date, and for the small and faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

Up to 14 million UK tourists could be travelling abroad on invalid passports (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)