‘The rain falls down on last year’s man, … And all the rain falls down Amen On the works of last year’s man’

‘Last Year’s Man’ is the second track on Leonard Cohen’s album, ‘Songs of Love and Hate,’ released in 1971

Patrick Comerford

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day have come and gone. But on these days, two poems I turn to unfailingly at this time are TS Eliot’s ‘Little Gidding’ , and one of the songs of Leonard Cohen, ‘Last Year’s Man’.

‘Little Gidding’ is the last poem in TS Eliot’s Four Quartets. Moving from last year’s words and language to the voice of this new year provides an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of time, the past, the present and the future. In ‘Little Gidding’, he writes:

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
…

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree

Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.

‘… in the stillness / Between two waves of the sea’ (TS Eliot, Little Gidding’) … by the waves at Pavlos Beach in Platanias, east of Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Leonard Cohen’s ‘Last Year’s Man’ is a poem and a song that is a reminder that whatever we did last year, good or bad, is already in the past. That was then and this is now.

Leonard Cohen released his third studio album, Songs of Love and Hate, 55 years ago on 19 March 1971. He recorded the album the previous September, and all eight songs are written by Cohen: Avalanche, Last Year’s Man, Dress Rehearsal Rag, Diamonds in the Mine, Love Calls You by Your Name, Famous Blue Raincoat, Sing Another Song, Boys, and Joan of Arc. There is a bonus track on the 2007 remastered edition: Dress Rehearsal Rag.

I had already become an avid reader of Leonard Cohen’s poems by my late teens, and I listened to this album throughout the summer of 1971. It was a summer that became nothing less than life-changing in terms of my spiritual growth and maturity.

In my Friday evening reflections this evening, I find myself listening once again to the album Songs of Love and Hate, especially the second track, ‘Last Year’s Man.’

This song has remained on the periphery of Cohen’s classic songs, and is often interpreted as a song about an obsessive love that Cohen has experienced, still seeking this unrequited love.

But the song is filled with Biblical images, and like many of Cohen’s songs it can has its parallels with the songs of many of the Biblical prophets, who see God as faithful to the people, keeps on loving them, and yearns for their return, and see the people as a wayward, unfaithful spouse or lover.

‘Last Year’s Man’ is no-one less than God, who is the great architect, the Creator, who is dismissed too easily in today’s, modern culture as no longer relevant or credible.

In our wars, violence and lifestyles today, that spill over from one year into the next, year after year, we frustrate God’s plans, we spoil and sully his plans for humanity, and we dismiss him as ‘last year’s man.’

We make new gods of power, wealth and war, we invent our own new superstitions. But God still has plans and hopes for his wayward people, and waits like a faithful husband for the return of the lover who has turned away.

There is an echo here of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah and other prophets in the promise:

And we read from pleasant Bibles that are bound in blood and skin
that the wilderness is gathering
all its children back again.

The relevant passages include Isaiah 64 and 65, Jeremiah 31, Hosea 1 and 2, and Micah 7.

At first hearing, there may be a Jewish reference in the description of ‘a Jew’s harp on the table.’ But a Jew’s harp is not Jewish at all, and we have to search deeper in this song to draw water from the well of Jewish mysticism in which Cohen so often found refreshment.

In Jewish mysticism, it is God the Creator who breaks through the cracks – whether they are in skylights or in unmended drums – to pour his light into the world. ‘There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in,’ as Leonard Cohen sings in his song ‘Anthem’ (The Future, 1992).

Through their writings, both Leonard Cohen and the late Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks have introduced me to the writings of the 16th century Jewish mystic, Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572), whose teachings are known as Lurianic Kabbalah.

According to Isaac Luria, God created vessels into which he poured his holy light. These vessels were not strong enough to contain such a powerful force and they shattered. The sparks of divine light were carried down to earth along with the broken shards.

The Kabbalah of Rav Yitzhak Luria had a notably strong effect on Cohen, and his key ideas are reflected in that line, ‘There is a crack in everything, it’s how the light gets in.’

This divine brokenness is a key to many of Cohen’s poems and songs, according to his rabbi, Mordecai Finley, who says Lurianic Kabbalah gives voice to the impossible brokenness of the human condition. ‘The pain of the Divine breakage permeates reality. We inherit it; it inhabits us. We can deny it. Or we can study and teach it, write it and sing its mournful songs.’

Cohen hints in his songs that redemption – the tikkun olam (תִּיקּוּן עוֹלָם‎) that will repair the broken world – remains possible.

He returns to the Judaism of his childhood and youth, wraps the tefillin around his upper arm, and finds new insights in the Torah: ‘And we read from pleasant Bibles that are bound in blood and skin.’

Cohen regularly ended his concerts with the Priestly Blessing (ברכת כהנים‎; birkat Cohanim). It is also known in rabbinic literature as raising the hands or rising to the platform because the blessing is given from a raised rostrum.

The Jewish Sages stressed that although the Cohanim or priests pronounce the blessing, it is not them or the ceremonial practice of raising their hands that results in the blessing, but rather it is God’s desire that his blessing should be symbolised by the hands of the Cohanim.

Lord Sacks says the Torah explicitly says that though the Cohanim say the words, it is God who sends the blessing: ‘When the Cohanim bless the people, they are not doing anything in and of themselves. Instead, they are acting as channels through which God’s blessing flows into the world and into our lives.’

In many communities, it is customary for men in the congregation to spread their tallitot or prayer shawls over their own heads during the blessing and not look at the Cohanim. If a man has children, they come under his tallit to be blessed.

A tradition among Ashkenazim says that during this blessing, the Shekhinah becomes present where the Cohanim have their hands in the shin (ש) gesture, so that gazing there would be harmful.

An understanding of how the God’s light is thought to be present through the outstretched fingers of the Cohanim may lie behind Leonard Cohen’s lines in ‘Anthem’:

There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.

The light of God breaks through in the crack in the skylight, and the rains fall like a blessing on all God’s creation.

Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום‎

Last Year’s Man by Leonard Cohen:

The rain falls down on last year’s man,
That’s a Jew’s harp on the table,
That’s a crayon in his hand.
And the corners of the blueprint are ruined since they rolled
Far past the stems of thumbtacks
That still throw shadows on the wood.
And the skylight is like skin for a drum I’ll never mend
And all the rain falls down Amen
On the works of last year’s man.

I met a lady, she was playing with her soldiers in the dark
Oh one by one she had to tell them
That her name was Joan of Arc.
I was in that army, yes I stayed a little while;
I want to thank you, Joan of Arc,
For treating me so well.

And though I wear a uniform I was not born to fight;
All these wounded boys you lie beside,
Goodnight, my friends, goodnight.

I came upon a wedding that old families had contrived;
Bethlehem the bridegroom,
Babylon the bride.
Great Babylon was naked, oh she stood there trembling for me,
And Bethlehem inflamed us both
Like the shy one at some orgy.
And when we fell together all our flesh was like a veil
That I had to draw aside to see
The serpent eat its tail.

Some women wait for Jesus, and some women wait for Cain,
So I hang upon my altar
And I hoist my axe again.
And I take the one who finds me back to where it all began,
When Jesus was the honeymoon
And Cain was just the man.
And we read from pleasant Bibles that are bound in blood and skin
That the wilderness is gathering
All its children back again.

The rain falls down on last year’s man,
An hour has gone by
And he has not moved his hand.
But everything will happen if he only gives the word;
The lovers will rise up
And the mountains touch the ground.
But the skylight is like skin for a drum I’ll never mend
And all the rain falls down Amen
On the works of last year’s man.



‘Last Year’s Man’ by Leonard Cohen, Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Christmas Cards from Patrick Comerford: 9, 2 January 2026

The Nativity scene in the frieze on the north wall was designed by Butterfield, painted by Alexander Gibbs, and fired by Henry Poole (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I sent out very few Christmas cards this year. Instead, at noon each day throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas, I am offering an image or two as my virtual Christmas cards, without comment.

My images for my Christmas Card at noon today (2 January 2026), are of the Nativity scene in a frieze in All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street, London, designed in 1850 by William Butterfield (1814-1900).

The north wall of the church is dominated by this large ceramic tile frieze with a central Nativity scene, designed by Butterfield, painted by Alexander Gibbs, fired by Henry Poole and Sons, and installed in 1873.


Inside All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street, London (Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 9, Friday 2 January 2026

‘Nine Ladies (and men) Dancing’ in Uçhisar in the Nevşehir District in Cappadocia … traditionally the nine ladies dancing in the Christmas song represent the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me … ‘nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree’.

I recently heard these days after Christmas as ‘Betwixtmas’, but we are still in the season of Christmas. The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (2 January) remembers Saint Basil the Great (379) and Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (389), Bishops and Teachers of the Faith; Saint Seraphim (1833), Monk of Sarov and Spiritual Guide; and Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (1945), Bishop in South India and Evangelist.

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, 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.

‘On the Ninth Day of Christmas … Nine Ladies Dancing’… traditionally they represent the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit

John 1: 19-28 (NRSVA):

19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ 21 And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ 22 Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ 23 He said,

‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
“Make straight the way of the Lord”,’

as the prophet Isaiah said.

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ 26 John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ 28 This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

The nine fruits of the Holy Spirit … traditionally represented by the ‘nine ladies dancing’

Today’s Reflections:

The Christian interpretation of the song ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ often sees the nine ladies dancing as figurative representations of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit:

• Love,
• Joy,
• Peace,
• Patience,
• Kindness,
• Goodness,
• Faithfulness,
• Gentleness,
• Self-control
(see Galatians 5: 19-23).

In a sermon in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, many years ago, my late friend the Revd Robert Lawson listed the ten most popular New Year’s resolutions as:

1, Stop smoking.
2, Get fit.
3, Lose weight.
4, Enjoy life more.
5, Quit drinking.
6, Organise myself.
7, Learn something new.
8, Get out of debt.
9, Spend more time with family.
10, Help people.

Which of these gifts of the Holy Spirit do you value most? Which of these gifts of the Holy Spirit do I feel most lacking in me at this stage in my life? Which of these New Year’s resolutions did you make this year?

And how many of these New Year’s resolutions have I made in the past and never managed to keep – even beyond this first week in January?

If you were a speech writer for Saint John the Baptist, what words would you like to hear from ‘the voice of one crying out in the wilderness’ in the face of the many, complex problems the world faces in the coming year?

In the opening verses of his Gospel, Saint John tells us, that the Word, the logos – in other words, what God says, God in action, creating, revealing and redeeming – exists before all time. He is the force behind all that exists; he causes physical and spiritual life to be; life, goodness, light, overcomes all evil. Jesus, the ‘light’ (John 1: 7), took on being human through God, and is the force for goodness, light, godliness, for all people.

He tells too of John the Baptist, who is sent or commissioned by God to point to Christ, to ‘testify to the light’ (verse 7). John is the lamp that illumines the way, but Christ is the light (verse 8). When the religious authorities (verse 19) send their representatives, priests and Levites, to assess John’s authenticity as a religious figure, John tells them that he is neither of the two figures they are expecting to come to earth: he is neither ‘the Messiah’ (verse 20) nor the returned ‘Elijah’ (verse 21). At the time, pious Jews believed that one or both would establish a kingdom on earth that would be free of Roman domination.

Neither is John the prophet some expected would be instrumental in establishing the Messiah’s kingdom. Saint John says simply that he is the one who prepares ‘the way of the Lord’ (verse 23), who announces the Messiah’s coming, fulfilling the promise in Isaiah 40: 3.

The representatives of the Pharisees ask John (verse 25) why he is performing an official rite without official status. John tells them that the one to whom he points is already on earth. He is so great that for his part John protests he is not even worthy to be his slave.

Have you noticed the interesting setting for all this story?

It all takes place outside Israel (see verse 28).

Many years ago, when I was recording a television programme for Joe Duffy’s Spirit Level for RTÉ in 2014, I was part of a panel of four, and in the test run beforehand, each of us was asked how to be addressed, and for titles for the on-screen captions.

We can become very precious about our titles in the Church … ‘Reverend’ … ‘Very Reverend’ … ‘Right Revd’ … Canon … Professor … Dr … Dean … Archdeacon … Your Grace … My Lord … and so on.

I suppose, in terms of respect for the office, or in terms of shorthand descriptions of someone’s function in the Church, they serve a purpose. But respect is not a right, it must be earned, and when we start standing on our dignity, taking ourselves too seriously, something has gone wrong.

I figure if I am known to God by the name I was baptised with, Patrick, then all Christians should feel perfectly comfortable in calling me that.

And in terms of office, I should never forget that I too am one of the laos, the People of God, by virtue of my baptism, and that I remain a deacon, someone who was first ordained to serve.

Meanwhile, as the Orthodox Church commemorated Saint Basil yesterday (1 January) and the Church of England remembers him today, I am reminded that Saint Basil the Great was one of the three Great Cappadocian Fathers, alongside his brother Saint Gregory of Nyssa and the their close friend Gregory of Nazianzus.

And as I think of both Saint Basil and of those nine dancers in Cappadocia who illustrate this posting, and of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, I am reminded of how the values of Saint Basil challenge the priorities expressed in any of the New Year’s resolutions we may make: ‘The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.’

Would I be recognised as a Christian not for the titles, honours and names the church and society give me but for living showing the fruits of the Spirit by living out values such as these?

The bell above the Church of Aghios Vassilios (Saint Basil) in Koutouloufári, a mountain village in Crete … Saint Basil the Great is remembered in church calendars yesterday and today (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 2 January 2026):

The theme this week (28 December 2025 to 3 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Mother and Child’ (pp 14-15). This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Programme Update by Imran Englefield, Individual Giving Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 2 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Merciful God, we pray for those who are struggling with loss, illness, or fear. Surround them with your comfort, and help them look forward with hope, trusting in your care.

The Collect:

Lord God, whose servants Basil and Gregory
proclaimed the mystery of your Word made flesh,
to build up your Church in wisdom and strength:
grant that we may rejoice in his presence among us,
and so be brought with them to know the power
of your unending love;
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:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Basil and Gregory to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Aghios Vassilios (Saint Basil) in traditional icon-style on a studio door in Koutouloufári in Crete … ‘Common Worship’ today remembers Saint Basil the Great (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

21 million years of kissing, 21 million lies about migrants, 21 million people with allergies and reaching 21 million blog readers

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt … a new study at Oxford University suggests that kissing began more than 21 million years ago

Patrick Comerford

Once again, this blog continues to reach more and more readers, reaching yet another overwhelming landmark at the end of 2025, with 21 million hits shortly after 1 pm yesterday afternoon (31 December 2025), more than 615,000 readers in the last week in December and almost 2.5 million visitors to this blog throughout last month (2,423,018), an average of 75,000 to 80,000 hits each day in December.

This was the fifth time in one month alone that this site passed the half million mark, having hit the 20.5 million mark on Christmas Day (25 December 2025), the 20 million mark a week earlier (18 December 2025), 19.5 million the previous Sunday (14 December 2025), and the 19 million mark less than a week before that (9 December).

I began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. It more than another year before this figure rose to 1 million by September 2013. This blog reached the 10 million mark early in 2025 (12 January), almost 15 years later.

Throughout last year, the daily figures have been overwhelming on many occasions. Eight of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog were in December alone and four were in January:

• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 261,422 (13 January 2025)
• 166,155 (15 December 2025)
• 146,944 (14 December 2025)
• 140,417 (16 December 2025)

• 122,398 (17 December 2025)
• 116,911 (30 December 2025)
• 112,221 (13 December 2025)
• 106,475 (27 December 2025)
• 100,291 (10 January 2025)
• 94,824 (12 December 2025)

The latest figure of 21 million is all the more staggering as more than half of those hits (10.5 million) have been within this year, since 12 January 2025. The rise in the number of readers has continued to be phenomenal throughout this year, and the daily figures have been overwhelming at times. With this latest landmark figure of 21 million readers, I once again find myself asking questions such as:

• What do 21 million people look like?

• Where do we find 21 million people?

• What does £21 million, €21 million or $21 million mean?

• What would it buy, how far would it stretch, how much of a difference would that much make to people’s lives?

Royal Mail has been fined £21 million for missed delivery targets over the course of the 2024/2025 year … a post box in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Researchers looking at the evolutionary origins of kissing have concluded that the mouth-on-mouth kiss evolved more than 21 million years ago. Their findings, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, suggest the common ancestor of humans and other great apes probably indulged in kissing. ‘Humans, chimps, and bonobos all kiss,’ according to the lead researcher, Dr Matilda Brindle, of the University of Oxford. From that, she concludes, ‘it’s likely that their most recent common ancestor kissed.’

Chad, Kazakhstan, Malawi and Zambia each has a population of 21 million – depending on who does the counting, and how.

The UK is committing a further £21 million package of urgent support to communities on the brink in Sudan, providing food, clean water, health care, and protection for women and children in areas hardest hit by violence.

Over 21 million people in England are aged 50 or over in England – this is 38% of the population.

A recent study by Cancer Research UK estimates that more than 21 million adults in the UK will be obese by the year 2040.

AllergyUK estimates suggest allergies affect the lives of up to 21 million people in the UK, and the World Health Organisation describes allergic disease as a ‘modern epidemic’. Between 5 and 8 per cent of children in the UK live with a food allergy.

Around 21 million people are struggling to keep up with bills and credit commitments – that’s two in five people.

21 million km is a vast distance, equivalent to about 13 million miles, roughly the distance from Earth to the Moon and back more than 26 times, or about 518 trips around the Earth’s equator. That says something about the massive scales in astronomy or long-haul travel.

The Earth’s circumference is about 40,007 km, so 21,000,000 km / 40,007 km ≈ 525 times around the Earth. The average distance to the Moon is about 384,400 km, meaning 21 million km is roughly 55 one-way trips to the Moon. The Earth-Sun distance is ~149 million km, so 21 million km is about one-seventh the distance to the Sun.

Tom Stuker became the world’s most frequent flyer in 2019 when it was revealed he who had flown 21 million miles – the last million took him only six months. He paid out of his own pocket for every one of his trips, saving his miles to give to family members, charities and others.

Ripley Castle in North Yorkshire has been the family home of the Ingilbys since the early 1300s. It was put for sale recently with an asking price of £21 million.

The world’s largest shopping centre is in Tehran and has 21 million sq ft in total leasable area across seven floors. The huge centre features a traditional bazaar, lush gardens, a grand library, an 18-storey hotel, a theme park, a massive cinema complex, a musical water fountain, and an ice rink.

The Iran Mall also has landscaped Persian-style gardens, several grand mosques, and architectural elements inspired by historic Iranian design with ornate domes, mosaic tilework, intricate tapestries, and vaulted ceilings that reflect centuries of craftsmanship and artistry.

Royal Mail has been fined £21 million by regulator Ofcom over missed delivery targets over the course of the 2024/2025 year. The fine represents the third-largest fine ever imposed by the communications watchdog. Royal Mail only delivered 77% of First Class mail and 92.5% of Second Class mail on time – a figure that fell short of 93% and 98.5% target.

The Central Bank of Ireland fined Coinbase Europe in November over €21 million for major breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist-financing (AML/CTF) rules, marking the first enforcement action of its kind against a crypto-asset service provider in Ireland.

During the 2024 presidential debate, Donald Trump claimed 21 million immigrants are flooding into the US each month. But this fiction was challenged in a report two weeks ago (18 December 2025) by Tom Edgington, Jake Horton and Lucy Gilder of BBC Verify.

The investigation came after Trump installed new plaques appeared under the portraits of former US presidents on his so-called ‘Walk of Fame’ at the West Wing in the White House.

The plaques represent Trump’s attempt to shape any long-term views of past presidents. Each former president has a portrait or photo except for Biden, who is instead represented by a photo of an autopen – a reference to Trump’s claim that Biden’s staff used an automated signature machine to sign off decisions without his knowledge.

The plaque beneath claims Biden took office in January 2021 ‘as a result of the most corrupt election ever seen in the US’ and that Biden ‘let 21 million people from all over the World pour into the US.’

The plaque does not say how these people allegedly entered the US under Biden, but Trump has used variations of the 21 million figure several times when talking about the Biden administration’s record, and earlier this year he claimed Biden allowed 21 million ‘illegal aliens to invade our country.’ Needless to say, Trump has never provided a source for any of these claims.

‘The Meeting Place’ by Paul Day at St Pancras Station … a new study at Oxford suggests kissing began more than 21 million years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

And 21 million minutes is approximately 40 years or 14,583.33 days. If this blog was getting one hit a minute, it would have taken about 40 years to reach this 21 million mark.

So, yet again, this blog has reached another humbling statistic and a sobering figure, and once more I am left with a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.

Once again, a continuing and warming figure in the midst of all these statistics is the one that shows my morning prayer diary continues to reach up to 90-100 people each day, with similar figures for my daily Advent Calendar postings and Christmas Card postings.

It is almost four 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 totalled 600 to 700 people twice a week.

Today, I am very grateful to all the 21 million readers of this blog to date, and in particular I am grateful for the small and faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

‘Reflections of Bedford’, a sculpture by Rick Kirby on Silver Street, Bedford … a new study at Oxford suggests that kissing began more than 21 million years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Christmas Cards from Patrick Comerford: 8, 1 January 2026

A crib in the front window of a family home on the High Street in Stony Stratford … (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I sent out very few Christmas cards this year. Instead, at noon each day throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas, I am offering an image or two as my virtual Christmas cards, without comment.

My images for my Christmas Card at noon today this New Year’s Day (1 January 2026), are of a crib in the front window of a family home on the High Street in Stony Stratford … with the three Wise Men or Magi waiting to arrive at the crib at Epiphany.

Happy New Year

… and the three Wise Men waiting to visit the crib in the front window of a family home on the High Street in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 8, Thursday 1 January 2026, New Year’s Day

‘Eight maids a-milking’ … milking maids among the decorations on the pillars and columns in Cahermoyle House, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me … ‘eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree’.

We have come to the beginning of January, the beginning of a New Year, the beginning of 2025. This is New Year’s Day, the eighth day of Christmas today the Calendar of the Church of England remembers the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus.

In many parts of the Roman Catholic tradition, 1 January is marked as the Feast of the Holy Family. In the Orthodox tradition, 1 January is the Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord. But this day is also the feast day of Saint Basil the Great, and so the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil is served on this day, and in Greece it is customary to bake a bread or cake called Vassilopita (βασιλόπιτα).

The Vintage Stony Car and Motorcycle Festival takes place on the streets of Stony Stratford today, including High Street, Market Square and Cofferidge Close. But, before today begins, before I even begin to look forward to this New Year or to start thinking of those New Year’s resolutions I have yet to make, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, 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.

Elijah’s Chair, used at the circumcision of a Jewish boy when he is eight days old (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 2: 15-21 (NRSVA):

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

21 After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

The instruments used by a mohel at circumcision … an exhibit in the Jewish Museum in Bratislava (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

The Christian interpretation of the song ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ often sees the eight maids a-milking as figurative representations of the eight Beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (see Matthew 5: 2-10).

The eighth day of Christmas is also the day we remember the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus as an eight-day old boy.

This feast has been observed in the Church since at least the sixth century, and the circumcision of Christ has been a common subject in Christian art since the tenth century. A popular 14th century work, the Golden Legend, explains the Circumcision as the first time the Blood of Christ is shed, and so the beginning of the process of the redemption, and a demonstration too that Christ is fully human.

This feast day is also a reminder that the Christ Child is born into a family of faith. He is truly God and truly human, and in his humanity he is also born a Jew, into a faithful and observant Jewish family.

Saint Luke does not say where the Christ Child was circumcised, although great artists – Rembrandt in particular – often place the ritual in the Temple, linking the Circumcision and the Presentation, so that Christ’s suffering begins and ends in Jerusalem.

A display in the Jewish Museum in Bratislava includes a typical example of Elijah’s Chair, used during the Circumcision of a new-born Jewish boy. The godfather (sandek) sits on the chair and holds the child on his knees.

Typically, the Hebrew text on the right-hand upper backrest reads: ‘This is the chair of Elijah, angel of the Covenant.’

The Hebrew text on the left-hand upper backrest reads: ‘Remembering the good (that he did), let him bring salvation quickly in our time.’

In a prayer that has been used at circumcisions since the 14th century but that may be much earlier, God is asked to ‘sustain this child, and let him be known in the house of Israel as … As he has entered into the Covenant of Abraham, so may he enter into the study of Torah, the blessing of marriage, and the practice of goodness.’

The prayer continues: ‘May he who blessed our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, bless this child who has been circumcised, and grant him a perfect healing. May his parents rear him to have a heart receptive to Torah, to learn and to teach, to keep and to observe your laws.’

The service concludes with the priestly blessing:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. (see Numbers 6: 23-26)

The festival of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus provides a much-needed opportunity to challenge antisemitism in the world today, remembering that Christ was born into a practicing, pious Jewish family, and that Holocaust Memorial Day later in January also marks the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Birkenau.

The railway tracks at Auschwitz-Birkenau … the Circumcision and Naming of Christ is a challenge to antisemitism (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 1 January 2026, New Year’s Day, the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus):

The theme this week (28 December 2025 to 3 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Mother and Child’ (pp 14-15). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Imran Englefield, Individual Giving Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 1 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, as we begin this new year, we place it in your hands. Guide our steps, bless our work, and fill every day with the hope and promise of new life.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose blessed Son was circumcised
in obedience to the law for our sake
and given the Name that is above every name:
give us grace faithfully to bear his Name,
to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit,
and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Eternal God,
whose incarnate Son was given the Name of Saviour:
grant that we who have shared
in this sacrament of our salvation
may live out our years in the power
of the Name above all other names,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Happy New Year

‘Circoncision’ (1740) … a painting by Marco Marcuola depicting Jewish life in Venice now in the Jewish Museum of Art and History (mahJ) in Paris (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

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

An icon of Saint Basil the Great on a door in the hillside village of Koutouloufari in Crete … he is celebrated in the Greek Orthodox calendar on 1 January (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)