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.

Daily prayer in Lent 2025: 26, Sunday 30 March 2025, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Mothering Sunday

‘Mother and Child’ … a sculpture by Anna Raynoch in Auschwitz (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Lent (Lent IV) and Mothering Sunday or Mothers’ Day. Later this morning, I am reading one of the lessons at the Mothering Sunday Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford.

This Sunday is also known as Laetare Sunday. Traditionally, this has been a day of celebration within Lent, and the name Laetare Sunday comes from the incipit of the Introit for the Mass, Laetare Jerusalem, ‘Rejoice, O Jerusalem’ (Isaiah 66: 10).

This Sunday is also known as Rose Sunday because rose-coloured rather than violet vestments are worn in many churches on this day.

The clocks went forward an hour during the night, and I may have to catch up on that lost hour of sleep later today. 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.

The distress of refugee Syrian mothers and fathers seen by the artist Kaiti Hsu

Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32 (NRSVA):

15 Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

3 So he told them this parable:

11b … ‘There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’” 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” 22 But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe – the best one – and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.

25 ‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” 28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” 31 Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found”.’

‘Woman, here is your son … Here is your mother’ (John 19: 26, 27) … a Pieta image in the Chapel in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

I grew up on a solid diet of English boys’ comics, graduating from the Beano and the Dandy in the 1950s to the Victor, the Valiant and the Hotspur in the early 1960s, and books and films set in places like Stalag Luft III, such as The Wooden Horse and The Great Escape.

There were limited storylines, and the characters never had any great depth to them.

In those decades immediately after World War II, Germans were caricatures rather characters, portrayed as Huns who had a limited vocabulary.

And I remember how they always referred to the Vaterland. Somehow, seeing your country as the Father-land made you harsh, unforgiving, demanding and violent. While those who saw their country as a mother, whether it was Britannia or Marianne, or perhaps even Hibernia, were supposed to be more caring, empathetic and ethical, endowed with justice and mercy.

These images somehow played on, pandered to, the images a previous generation had of the different roles of a father and a mother.

So, culturally it may come as a surprise, perhaps even a cultural challenge, to many this morning, that one of the other Gospel readings provided for Mothering Sunday this year is a Parable that tells us what it is to be a good father, the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Culturally we are predisposed to thinking of this parable as the story of the Prodigal Son. But this is not a story teaching us how to be wayward children. The emphasis is three-way: the wayward son, the unforgiving or begrudging son, and the loving Father.

The missing person in this story is the Mother of these two sons.

The people who first heard that parable – eager tax collectors and sinners, grumbling Pharisees and Scribes – may well have been mindful of the Biblical saying: ‘A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a mother’s grief’ (Proverbs 10:1).

Or inwardly they may have been critical of the father, recalling another saying in the Book of Proverbs: ‘Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray’ (Proverbs 22: 6).

We all know what bad parenting is like. I know myself. I know what it is to have two sets of parents, and four sets of grandparents, who came with different gifts and different deficiencies. But I am also aware of my own many failings as a parent too, and on this Mothering Sunday I hope that in time I am forgiven for the many times I have failed as a father.

In the story of the Prodigal Son, Christ rejects all the dysfunctional models of parenting we have inherited and received.

Those first listeners to this parable may well have had wayward sons and jealous sons, and the story, initially, would have been no surprise, would have been one they knew only too well.

But they no longer need to be challenged as adult children. The challenge they need is about their own parenting skills. And they may well have been distressed as they hear a story about a man who behaves not like a father would be expected to behave but like a mother.

Where was the mother of the Prodigal Son? Did she have a role in this family drama?

Had she been praying ever since her wayward son left home, asking God to keep him safe, to bring him home?

Perhaps it was her prayers that reached him in some way and reminded her son of home.

But the Father in the parable is also both Father and Mother to the Son.

He behaves just like a mother would in these circumstances.

He is constantly looking and waiting and watching for him until the day he sees him.

And when he sees him, instead of being the perfectly-behaved gentleman, he is filled up with emotions, he runs, he hugs, he kisses. He finds him clean clothes, he finds clean shoes, he feeds him. And like a good mother, he probably also tells him his room is made up, it has always been there for him.

The father of the Prodigal Son bucks all the images of parenting we have inherited: he is both mother and father to his children.

The sufferings and compassion of three images in recent years illustrate for me how loving parents can be reflections of divine majesty and grace.

I think of the pregnant mother, a qualified solicitor who had been homeless, told Valerie Cox on RTÉ radio some years ago how she was forced to walk the streets of Dublin because the hostel where she was staying would not allow her in until 7.30 in the evening.

Like the Prodigal Son, no one gave her anything and she had no proper bed at night. She was 6½ months pregnant, had an eight-year-old daughter, and Mother Ireland has betrayed her.

Or I think of mothers as refugees crossing the Channel nd seeing their children drown just before they reach the shores of England.

We see it as our problem rather than seeing it as a problem for the people fleeing war and savage violence.

Or I think of Nuala Creane, who spoke movingly at the funeral of her son Sebastian, who was murdered in Bray in 2009. In a well-sculpted eulogy, carved with all the beauty, precision, delicacy and impact of a Pieta being sculpted by a Michelangelo, she told all present that ‘my story, my God is the God of Small Things. I see God’s presence in the little details.’

She spoke of the heartbreak and the choice that faces everyone confronted with the deepest personal tragedies, admitting, ‘Our hearts are broken but maybe our hearts needed to be broken so that they could expand.’

Broken hearts, expanding hearts, souls that have been pierced, rising to the challenge with unconditional love … this is how I hope I understand the majesty and the glory of Christ, at the best of times and at the worst of times.

How as a society – whether it is our local community, this land, or in Europe – are we mothers to mothers in need?

How, as a Church, so often spoken of lovingly as ‘Mother Church,’ do we speak up for God’s children in their time of need and despair?

Dr Samuel Johnson’s ‘Last Letter to his Aged Mother,’ written on 20 January 1769, reads:

Dear Honoured Mother:

Neither your condition nor your character make it fit for me to say much. You have been the best mother, and I believe the best woman, in the world. I thank you for your indulgence to me, and beg forgiveness of all that I have done ill, and all that I have omitted to do well. God grant you his Holy Spirit, and receive you to everlasting happiness, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen. Lord Jesus receive your spirit. Amen.

I suppose, on this Mothering Sunday, that Christ had good experiences of mothering as he was growing up. Just a few verses before the parable of the Prodigal Son, he uses a most maternal image as he laments over Jerusalem and declares: ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem … How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings …’ (Luke 13: 34).

The Christ Child, when he was born, was cradled in the lap of a loving mother who at the time could never know that when he died and was taken down from the cross she would cradle him once again in her lap.

But the experience of a mother’s loss and grief that come to mind in Lent is given new hope at Easter.

On Mothering Sunday, we move through Lent towards Good Friday and Easter Day, How do we, like Christ, and like so many suffering mothers, grow to understand those who suffer, those who grieve, those who forgive?

‘A well-sculpted eulogy, carved with all the beauty, precision, delicacy and impact of a Pieta being sculpted by a Michelangelo’ … a copy of Michelangelo’s Pieta in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Athlone (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 30 March 2025, Lent IV, Mothering Sunday):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Inspiration of the Holy Spirit.’ This theme is introduced today with Reflections from the Revd Rock Higgins, Rector of Saint James the Less Episcopal Church, Ashland, Virginia, and the Triangle of Hope Youth Pilgrimage Lead for the Diocese of Virginia:

As we continue to journey through Lent we share an extract from USPG’s 2025 Lent Course focused on the Nicene Creed.

Our work with the Triangle of Hope is a ministry of reconciliation. One of the greatest gifts of my life has been the opportunity to work with sisters and brothers on three continents to overcome the nightmares of the transatlantic slave trade. This is something that none of us can do in isolation, but in and through the humility that comes from being transformed by the Holy Spirit working in and through as ‘new creations.’

This work comes with much sweat and tears, often stretching us in uncomfortable ways. But like all things worth having, we must work to make it a reality. In our pilgrimages in each of our dioceses, we see the evidence of the legacy of the work done in the past. We cannot wish it away, nor can we ignore it. As we follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can honestly ‘worship and glorify’ which we promise to do in the Creed.

This season, where can you be about a ‘ministry of reconciliation’? Where can you put in your sweat and tears to help fulfil God’s dream for our hurting and sin-ravaged world? While the Triangle of Hope stretches across continents, your ministry might be with a neighbour or a family member. Begin where you are and let the Holy Spirit guide you to wholeness and healing.

[For the full reflection and others from USPG’s partner churches around the world, you can order or download the course at www.uspg.org.uk].

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 30 March 2025, Lent IV, Mothering Sunday) invites us to pray:

Lord, we thank you for the gift of motherhood. Today, we celebrate the loving sacrifice of mothers, both biological and spiritual, who nurture and guide us in your ways. Bless all who mother with joy, strength, and love. May they feel deeply appreciated and honoured today and every day.

The Collect:

Merciful Lord,
absolve your people from their offences,
that through your bountiful goodness
we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins
which by our frailty we have committed;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Lord God,
whose blessed Son our Saviour
gave his back to the smiters
and did not hide his face from shame:
give us grace to endure the sufferings of this present time
with sure confidence in the glory that shall be revealed;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Merciful Lord,
you know our struggle to serve you:
when sin spoils our lives
and overshadows our hearts,
come to our aid
and turn us back to you again;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The grave of Samuel Johnson’s mother and father in Saint Michael’s Church, Lichfield (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

Daily prayer in Lent 2025: 23, Thursday 27 March 2025

‘If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?’ (Luke 11: 18) … a gargoyle at Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We have reached the half-way point in Lent, which began three weeks ago on Ash Wednesday (5 March 2025). This week began with the Third Sunday in Lent (Lent III).

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 Temptation of Job in the Purgatory Window by Richard King of the Harry Clarke Studios in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Athlone (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 11: 14-23 (NRSVA):

14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.’ 16 Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? – for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. 22 But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.’

Giovanni da Modena’s fresco of the Last Judgment in the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna was inspired by Dante’s descriptions of the Devil and Hell (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist this morning (Luke 11: 14-23) is laden with images of demons, Beelzebul, Satan, more demons, exorcists and still more demons. And we read of a kingdom divided against itself that becomes a desert, houses falling on houses, castles being plundered, and strong men abusing their strength.

What is your image of the Devil?

For many people today, he is old hat and the stuff of superstition. For others he is a figure of fun: the gargoyles gushing out rainwater from gutters on cathedrals and churches; the logo for Manchester United; or the impish black-and-red costumes of children at Hallowe’en or some adults at Carnival in Continental European cities in the days before Lent.

Many of our cultural images of the Devil come not from the Bible but from Dante’s Inferno, which influenced John Milton’s Paradise Lost, other poets, including TS Eliot’s The Waste Land, as well as frescoes, paintings, and stained-glass windows throughout the world.

But the Devil appears in many forms throughout the Bible.

The word satan in its original original Hebrew term sâtan (שָּׂטָן‎) means an ‘accuser’ or ‘adversary,’ and refers to both human adversaries and a supernatural entity. The word is derived from a verb meaning primarily to obstruct or to oppose. When it is used without the definite article (satan), the word can refer to any accuser; when it is used with the definite article (ha-satan), it refers specifically to the heavenly accuser: the Satan.

Ha-Satan with the definite article occurs 13 times in two books of the Hebrew Bible: Job 1 and 2 (10 times) and Zechariah 3: 1-2 (three times); satan without the definite article is used in 10 instances.

These occurrences without a definite article include the Angel of the Lord who confronts Balaam on his donkey (Numbers 22: 22); and the Angel of the Lord who brings a plague against Israel for three days after David takes a census (II Samuel 24).

The satan who appears in the Book of Job is one of the ‘sons of God’ (Job 1: 6-8) who has been roaming around the earth and who tortures Job physically, mentally and spiritually, to see whether Job will abandon his faith. But Job remains faithful and righteous, and satan is shamed in his defeat.

The English word devil, used as a synonym for Satan, can be traced through Middle English, Old English and Latin to the Greek διάβολος (diabolos), ‘slanderer,’ from a verb (diaballein) meaning to slander, but originally meaning ‘to hurl across’ or ‘to back bite.’ In the New Testament, the words Satan and diabolos are used interchangeably.

Another name in today’s Gospel reading, Beelzebub, means ‘Lord of Flies,’ and is also a contemptuous name for a Philistine god and a pun on his name meaning ‘Baal the Prince.’ Some critics in today’s reading accuse Jesus of exorcising demons through the power of Beelzebub.

Satan plays a role in some of the Gospel parables, including the Parables of the Sower, the Weeds, the Sheep and the Goats, and the Strong Man.

In Saint Luke’s Gospel, Judas betrays Christ because ‘Satan entered into’ him (see Luke 22: 3-6; cf John 12: 13: 2) and Christ implies Satan has authority to test Peter and the other apostles (see Luke 22: 31).

In Saint John’s Gospel, Satan is identified as ‘the Archon of the Cosmos’ (ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου), who is to be overthrown through Christ’s death and resurrection (John 12: 31-32).

The Letter to the Hebrews describes the devil as ‘the one who has the power of death’ (Hebrews 2: 14).

In the Book of Revelation, Satan is first the supernatural ruler of the Empire. In that book, we also come across Abaddon, whose name in Greek is Apollyon, meaning ‘the destroyer,’ an angel who rules the Abyss (Revelation 9: 11).

The vision of a Great Red Dragon with seven heads, 10 horns, seven crowns, and a sweeping tail (Revelation 12: 3-4) is an image inspired by the apocalyptic visions in the Book of Daniel. A war then breaks out in heaven, and Michael and his angels defeat the Dragon who is thrown down. This dragon is identified with ‘that ancient serpent, who is called Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12: 9) and the accuser.

This identifies him with all the images of satan in the Hebrew Bible, from the serpent in Eden, to Job’s tempters. Later, the chained and imprisoned Satan breaks loose from his chains in the abyss and wages war against the righteous. But he is defeated and cast into a lake of fire (see Revelation 20: 1-10).

The three synoptic Gospels describe the temptation of Christ by Satan in the wilderness (see Matthew 4: 1-11, Mark 1: 12-13, and Luke 4: 1-13), and, each time, Christ rebukes Satan.

Too often we reduce temptation to small things in life. The one real temptation facing Jeff Difford, the slick pastor in the television series Young Sheldon, is greed in the form of wanting a new combined toaster and microwave oven. He resists that temptation for a day or so, and when he gives in, he asks for forgiveness.

But this is a fatuous and fraudulent presentation of temptation. True temptation can come in small ways, but it can also come in dramatic ways, leading to the abuse of privilege, position and power, in the church, in business, in politics.

There is real evil in the world. This year marks the 80h anniversary of the end of the Holocaust and World War II. Yet racism is rampant, open Islamophobia and antisemitism are on the rise, Europe is close to war yet again, peace seems impossible in the Middle East, and the rule of law is being undermined in the US, moment by the moment.

As I watch the daily rantings of the kleptocracy that is taking a grip of the institutions of democracy and justice in the US, I cannot but help find parallels in the parable contained within today’s Gospel reading: ‘When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters’ (verses 21-23).

Yet there is hope too: demons are cast out, those who were once silent finally find the power to speak out, the strong and the mighty are exposed as plunderers and despoilers, kingdoms find they are divided against themselves and become desert, and houses fall on house.

And when these things happen, as they shall happen, we must hope for signs that the kingdom of God is to come among us.

Saint Michael and the Devil … a statue by Jacob Epstein at Coventry Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 27 March 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Towards Reconciliation and Renewal’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by the Revd Canon Dr Carlton J Turner, Anglican Tutor in Contextual Theology and Mission Studies and Deputy Director of Research at the Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 27 March 2025) invites us to pray:

God, we pray for good governance and stronger relationships in contexts of conflict. May your peace guide leaders as they seek repair and reconciliation.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain,
and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,
may find it none other than the way of life and peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Merciful Lord,
grant your people grace to withstand the temptations
of the world, the flesh and the devil,
and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Eternal God,
give us insight
to discern your will for us,
to give up what harms us,
and to seek the perfection we are promised
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘When the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed …’ (Luke 11: 14) … a sculpture in the Llotja de la Seda or Silk Exchange in Valencia (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

Daily prayer in Advent 2024: 18, Wednesday 18 December 2024

‘When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him’ (Matthew 1: 24) … a mosaic in the Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar, Co Westmeath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in the final days of the Season of Advent, and Christmas Day is just a week away. The week began with the Third Sunday of Advent (Advent III, 15 December 2024), also known as Gaudete Sunday.

I am back in Stony Stratford this morning after my pre-Christmas family visit to Dublin, having caught a flight back to Birmingham late yesterday. 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.

The betrothal of Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary … a panel in the Saint Joseph Window by the Harry Clarke studios in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Kilmallock, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 1: 18-24 (NRSVA):

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 22 All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,

which means, ‘God is with us.’ 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife.

The icon of the Nativity in the new iconostasis in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford … Joseph is in the bottom right corner (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 1: 18-24), we continue in a series of readings before Christmas that draw on the two nativity narratives found in Matthew 1: 1-24 and Luke 1: 5-79.

During the week before Christmas, the great canticle Magnificat at Evensong traditionally has a refrain or antiphon attached to it proclaiming the ascriptions or ‘names’ given to God through the Old Testament. Each name develops into a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah.

The Advent carol O come, O come, Emmanuel (New English Hymnal, No 11; Irish Church Hymnal, No 135) is a popular reworking of the seven ‘O Antiphons’.

O Sapientia, or O Wisdom, is the first of these days, and was marked yesterday (17 December). It is followed today (18 December) by O Adonai, O Root of Jesse tomorrow (19 December), and then O Key of David, O Dayspring, O King of the Nations, and, finally on 23 December, O Emmanuel.

In the old Sarum rite, these were sung one day earlier, beginning on 16 December, requiring another ascription for 23 December, this being O Virgin of Virgins. Since this was clearly apposite to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and not a ‘title’ of God, it was not adopted much beyond Sarum and, with the revision of the Calendar, Anglicans have adopted the more widely-used formulæ and dating.

The seven majestic Messianic titles for Christ are based on Biblical prophecies, and they help the Church to recall the variety of the ills of humanity before the coming of the Redeemer as each antiphon in turn pleads with mounting impatience for Christ to save his people.

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 1: 18-24), continues the Nativity narrative in the first Gospel. This is a reading about choices, about obedience to God’s plans, and about the fulfilment of God’s plans for all nations.

So often we talk about the Virgin Mary and her obedience, about Mary’s ‘Yes’ to the birth of Christ But it means Joseph is often pushed to the side of the stage. Joseph says ‘Yes’ too, but he says it silently; he has no scripted lines; he has no dramatic part or role; he is mute; but he is obedient.

And, like the earlier Joseph, his Biblical namesake, he too is dreamer of dreams and a doer of deeds.

Saint Matthew’s nativity story lacks the romantic imagery of Saint Luke’s account, whose heady mixture of heavenly angels with earthy shepherds is missing here. Instead, the hope of all the earth takes shape under the sign of arrangements being made for a betrothal that is apparently violated. The gifts of God’s grace and the promise of God’s reign are hidden, are to be searched for and to be found in the midst of what appears be a tawdry story.

The Virgin Mary may have been a mere teenager at the time, just 14 or 15. And, like so many other teenage brides, she turns up for her wedding – pregnant! Joseph knows he could not possibly be the father. He decides to do the right thing and take off, quietly dropping out of the arrangement.

If Joseph goes ahead, then this child is going to be known in his family, among his neighbours, perhaps by everyone who needs to know, as illegitimate for the rest of his life. His critics indelicately remind him of this in Saint John’s Gospel: ‘You are indeed doing what your father does.’ They said to him, ‘We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself’ (John 8: 41). The original Greek is more direct, crude and blunt: they taunt him that they were not conceived through illicit intercourse.

These fears and sneers, those social judgments and wagging fingers, must have been confronting Joseph like a nightmare. Yet the angel of Joseph’s dream makes a startling suggestion. He tells him to marry Mary, and then he is to name the child. To take on naming the child means becoming his father. And this is suggested not as a nice thing to do, a courteous thing to do, a gallant or gentlemanly sort of thing to do. Joseph is told why: ‘You are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’ (verse 21).

It is not a promise of immediate reward. Joseph is not promised that if he does this he is going to earn points towards the forgiveness of his own sins; that God will see him as a nice guy; or even that if he lives long enough, this child may grow up, be apprenticed to him, take over the family business, and act as a future pension plan.

If Joseph is not the father of the Child Jesus, he must have wondered what the angel meant by ‘his people’ and ‘their sins.’ But the forgiveness here is spoken of in apocalyptic terms. It is the declaration of a new future. To be forgiven is to receive a future. Forgiveness breaks the simple link between cause and effect, action and reaction, failure and disaster, rebellion and recrimination.

Advent is a time of repentance, forgiveness and expectation. It is a time of preparation, anticipation and hope. It is a time for dreaming dreams, and putting behind us all our nightmares.

Joseph dreams something wonderful. God would enter the world; God would be born to his new, young wife, Mary. But to believe this, Joseph had to trust not only his dream, but to trust Mary, to trust the future child, to trust God.

Do you love the people you trust and trust the people you love?

To trust the Virgin Mary, Joseph must have truly loved her. But trust in this predicament must have gone beyond trust. Joseph must have truly glimpsed what it is to trust God, to have hope in God, to love God, to have faith in God.

Joseph dreams a dream not of his own salvation, but of the salvation of the world.

Sometimes, like Joseph, we are supposed to trust God and then get out of the way. Do you trust that God is working through the people you love? Do you trust that God is working through people you find it difficult not to love but merely to like … working through God’s people for their salvation?

Too often we forget about poor Joseph. Every year, we tend to focus on the story of the Virgin Mary. But this year, Year A, the Lectionary asks us to focus on Saint Joseph. The annunciation occurs not just to Mary, but to Joseph too. And they both say ‘Yes.’

And Joseph says a second ‘Yes’ too later in this Gospel, when he agrees to the angel’s prompting to flee with Mary and the Christ Child to Egypt.

Joseph listens, God sends a messenger again, Joseph dreams again, and he remains true to God, he answers God’s call.

Joseph has no speaking part; he just has a walk-on part in this drama. But his actions, his obedience to God’s call, speak louder than words. Yes, God appears over and over again, to men, women, to ‘all sorts and conditions of people.’

Joseph’s ‘Yes’ is not only a ‘Yes’ to the Christ Child but a ‘Yes’ to all children who seem unwanted and who are easily pushed to one side. Joseph’s ‘Yes’ is not only a ‘Yes’ to the Christ Child but a ‘Yes’ to the promises the Coming Christ brings to all who are marginalised and in danger today, for because of his ‘Yes’ God is among us.

Advent is an opportunity to echo that yes.

Mary’s ‘husband Joseph [was] a righteous man’ (Matthew 1: 8-19) … the betrothal of Joseph and Mary, depicted in a window by Harry Clarke in Athlone (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (TWednesday 18 December 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Joy – Advent’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections by the Revd Sonja Hunter, Priest at All Saints’ Anglican Church in Samoa, Diocese of Polynesia.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 18 December 2024) invites us to pray:

Lord, we pray for The Revd Sonja and the wider ministry team at All Saints, Samoa. Thank you for their love and service of you. Give them rest over this busy period.

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts;
kindle in us the fire of your Spirit
that when your Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

God for whom we watch and wait,
you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son:
give us courage to speak the truth,
to hunger for justice,
and to suffer for the cause of right,
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Saint Joseph and the Christ Child … a mosaic in the Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar, Co Westmeath (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

Daily prayer in Advent 2024: 17, Tuesday 17 December 2024

The Jesse Tree depicted in the West Window in Christ Church, Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are two-thirds of the way through the Season of Advent, and Christmas Eve is just a week away. The week began with the Third Sunday of Advent (Advent III, 15 December 2024), also known as Gaudete Sunday. Today, the Calendar of the Church of England remembers Eglantyne Jebb (1928), Social Reformer and Founder of Save the Children.

I have been in Dublin overnight, on pre-Christmas family visits. I am in Rathmines this morning, and hope to catch a flight back to Birmingham later in the day. 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, 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.

‘An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah’ (Matthew 1: 1) … the Jesse Tree in a window by Clayton and Bell in the North Transept in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 1: 1-17 (NRSVA):

1 An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, 4 and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

The west window in All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street, London, by Alexander Gibbs … inspired by the 14th-century Jesse Tree window in Wells Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 1: 1-17), we begin a series of readings drawing on the early stages of the two nativity narratives found in Matthew 1: 1-24 and Luke 1: 5-79.

Today (17 December) marks the start of the week before the celebration of Christmas, the birth of Christ. At evensong, the great Song of Mary, the canticle Magnificat, has a refrain or antiphon attached to it proclaiming the ascriptions or ‘names’ given to God through the Old Testament. Each name develops into a prophecy of the forthcoming and eagerly-anticipated Messiah, Jesus, the Son of God.

The Advent carol O come, O come, Emmanuel (New English Hymnal, No 11; Irish Church Hymnal, No 135) is a popular reworking of the seven ‘O Antiphons’.

O Sapientia, or O Wisdom, is the first of these days, followed tomorrow (18 December) by O Adonai, then O Root of Jesse, O Key of David, O Dayspring, O King of the Nations, and, finally on 23 December, O Emmanuel.

In the old Sarum rite, these were sung one day earlier, beginning on 16 December, requiring another ascription for 23 December, this being O Virgin of Virgins. Since this was clearly apposite to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and not a ‘title’ of God, it was not adopted much beyond Sarum and, with the revision of the Calendar, Anglicans have adopted the more widely-used formulæ and dating.

The seven majestic Messianic titles for Christ are based on Biblical prophecies, and they help the Church to recall the variety of the ills of humanity before the coming of the Redeemer as each antiphon in turn pleads with mounting impatience for Christ to save his people.

The Gospels offer us two different genealogies for Jesus, in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew (1: 1-17) and the Gospel according to Saint Luke (Luke 3: 23-38). Both genealogies are almost exclusively male listings, but they reflect different priorities distinguished by some interesting variation in Matthew’s genealogical approach.

While Saint Luke traces the line of ancestry back to Adam, emphasising the universalist nature of the incarnation, Saint Matthew traces the line back to Abraham, rooting Jesus in space and time, placing him in the context of Israel’s story.

He is not ashamed to name some of the more colourful men in this family tree, including Jacob, who lied and cheated his old blind father; Judah who slept with his own daughter-in-law, mistaking her for a cult prostitute; David the bandit-shepherd who becomes king; Rehoboam, who encouraged pagan cults and male cult prostitutes; Jehoram (or Joram), who married Ahab’s sister and followed the depraved lifestyle of his brother-in-law and his wife, Jezebel; Uzziah the leper; and Manasseh and Amon (Amos) who burned babies alive.

This is a colourful interpretation of the family history of Jesus as offered by Saint Matthew. But perhaps it is more interesting to note that, unlike Luke, Matthew includes five women among the ancestors of Jesus. The choice of these five women has particular significance in Saint Matthew’s genealogy; a reader knowing that Matthew was anxious to prove the royal ancestry and lineage of Jesus, might expect any women selected for special mention would be queens, or the daughters of important kings, mighty warriors, or great prophets. Instead, the writer selects five women who were on the margins of society. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary were not the sort of women one might want to boast about in some imaginary Biblical version of Burke’s Peerage or Burke’s Landed Gentry.

Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary are the sort of ancestors often overlooked by ancestor-searchers. But they challenged the Jewish restrictions on marriage to Gentiles and challenged the very definition of Jewish-ness which depends on a mother's authentic Jewish identity. By those rabbinical definitions of Jewish-ness, which perhaps were beginning to develop at the time the Gospels were written, we could not regard Perez, Boaz, or Solomon, or for that matter David and the whole line of kings of Israel and Judah as authentic, ethnic Jews.

Christ is coming, and he turns everything upside, removing our prejudices, calling in the outsiders and welcoming those who are on the marginalised and who are the victims of our prejudices.

Mary’s ‘husband Joseph [was] a righteous man’ (Matthew 1: 8-19) … the betrothal of Joseph and Mary, depicted in a window by Harry Clarke in Athlone (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 17 December 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Joy – Advent’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections by the Revd Sonja Hunter, Priest at All Saints’ Anglican Church in Samoa, Diocese of Polynesia.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 17 December 2024) invites us to pray:

Loving Father, we pray for our sisters and brothers in Samoa as families come together and prepare to celebrate Christ’s coming. Fill them with excitement and gratitude as they celebrate Jesus, your greatest gift.

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts;
kindle in us the fire of your Spirit
that when your Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

God for whom we watch and wait,
you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son:
give us courage to speak the truth,
to hunger for justice,
and to suffer for the cause of right,
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts’ (Post-Communion Prayer) … preparing for the Eucharist in Southwark Cathedral (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

How Emerald Hill in Singapore has links with the Cuppage family of Coleraine and Coolock

A December sunset at Clare Hall, Coolock … Clare Grove gave its name to Clare Grove in Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I was writing the other evening about my recent visit to Emerald Hill in Singapore with its colourful and carefully-restored low-rise heritage houses, its rich collection of Peranakan houses and shopfronts and its Perankan and Sino-Baroque architecture that make it a unique part of Singapore’s architectural heritage.

I thought initially that the name Emerald Hill referred to the past green and forested area the area may have been in the days before Stamford Raffles and William Farquhar, when Emerald Hill was covered in primary rainforest.

But now I am convinced that Emerald Hill, and three of the first houses built in the area by the Cuppage family – Erin Lodge, Fern Cottage and Clare Grove – were all named in a romantic harkening back to Ireland and the ancestral homes of William Cuppage (1807-1871), who first began to develop Emerald Hill almost 200 years ago.

The colourful shophouses on Emerald Hill, facing the original Singapore Chinese Girls School (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024; click on images for full-screen viewing)

William Cuppage was a descendant of an Irish family that included many prominent church and military figures in the 18th and 19th centuries. The family homes in Ireland included Clough Castle, near Ballymena, and Mount Edwards, near Cushendall, Co Antrim, and Clare Grove, later Clare Hall, in Coolock, north Dublin.

The Cuppage or Cuppaidge family may have been from Germany originally, and moved from Cumberland in England to Ireland in 1604 when Faustus Cuppaidge bought lands near Coleraine, Co Derry. His son, Stephen Cuppaidge, was MP for Coleraine in 1641 and 1664, and was the father of John Cuppaidge, who bought Clough Castle, Co Antrim.

In military life, at least five members of the Cuppage family were officers in the Madras army in colonial India. In Church life, the Very Revd George Cuppage was Dean of Connor (1739-1743) and Rector of Coleraine, Co Derry. He married a great-aunt of the orator Edmund Burke, bringing the names Edmund and Burke into the family, and his son, the Revd Burke Cuppage was also Rector of Coleraine (1743-1768).

The Revd Burke Cuppiage was the father of Lieut-Gen William Cuppage (1756-1832). He had a distinguished military career in Gibraltar before going to in India in 1808-1809 to lead an expedition to restore the Raja of Panna, Kishor Singh, to his territorial lands in Bundelkhand. Later, he was inspector-general of the Royal Artillery and the Navy in 1815. His son, Lieut-Gen Sir Burke Douglas Cuppage (1794-1877), fought at the Battle of Waterloo under the Duke of Wellington and was Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey (1863-1868).

Another branch of the family lived in Lambstown, Co Wexford, from the 17th century, and Robert Cuppage (1619-1683) of Lambstown was a leading Quaker.

The branch of the family from which William Cuppage of Singapore descends goes back to Canon John Cuppaidge (1658-1725), a brother of the Revd Burke Cuppiage. William was Rector of Magheralin, Co Down, Prebendary of Dromaragh and Vicar-General of Dromore. He married Eizabeth Waring of Waringstown, Co Down, in 1693 and their six children included two sons:

1, Richard Cuppiadge (1698-1765).
2, John Cuppiadge (1704-1797).

Captain John Cuppaidge (1704-1797) was born in Magheralin, Co Down, and matriculated at Trinity College Dublin in 1721 aged 17, but did not take a degree. He enlisted in the army in 1724, and by 1727 he was an ensign in Colonel Sandes Regiment.

In 1730, he married Mary Otway, daughter of James Otway and granddaughter of John Otway of Castle Otway, near Nenagh, Co Tipperary. They lived in Killowning, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, and Ballyborden, Co Offaly, and were the parents of five children, including two sons:

1, John Loftus Cuppaidge or Cuppage.
2, George Cuppaidge.

Saint Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Dublin … William Cuppage’s grandparents were married there in 1768 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The elder son, John Loftus Cuppage married Dorothy Handcock in Saint Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Dublin, on 17 December 1768. She was a daughter of the Very Revd Richard Handcock (1712-1791), Dean of Achonry (1752-1791), and a sister of William Handcock (1761-1839), 1st Viscount Castlemaine, MP for Athlone (1783-1801), Governor of Athlone (1813-1839) and Governor of Co Westmeath (1814-1831). Another brother, Richard Handcock (1767-1840), 2nd Baron Castlemaine, was MP for Athlone (1800-1801).

John Loftus Cuppage died on 15 April 1797 in Moydrum Castle, Athlone, the home of his brother-in-law, William Handcock. As for Handcock, he was killed on the Night of the Big Wind in 1839 when the wind blew his bedroom shutters open at Moydrum Castle and hurled him ‘so violently upon his back that he instantly expired’.

Dorothy and John Loftus Cuppiadge were the parents of:

1, Richard Cuppage.
2, William Cuppage (1761-1819).
3, George Cuppage.

Lieutenant-Colonel William Cuppage (1761-1819), their second son, was born in Ireland in 1761, and as a young man he went to India and became an officer in the Bengal Army. He was one of ten young Irish volunteers who arrived in India in 1781 to join Eyre Coote’s army and who were given commissions in the Bengal Army, which was part of the East India Company Service.

Colonel William Cuppage did not marry, but he and his ‘housekeeper’ Elizabeth Ramsay were the parents of at least four children, three daughters and a son:

1, Maria (1803-1861), married Alfred Leonard Willis in Calcutta Cathedral in 1826.
2, William Cuppage (1807-1871), who moved to Singapore.
3, Mary Ann, born 1809, married John Reilly Archer Amman in 1829.
4, Eliza, born 1813, married William Gibson in Calcutta Cathedral in 1838.

Some sources suggest William Cuppage also had a home in Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown), Co Dublin. But he seems to have lived in India for most of his life and at the age of 58 he died on 1 July 1819 at Fatehgarh in Farrukhabad District in the State of Uttar Pradesh, India, and he was buried there.

Athlone Castle … William Handcock, Governor of Athlone, was a great uncle of William Cuppage of Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The only known son of Colonel William Cuppage, William Cuppage (1807-1871), was born on 2 August 1807. He moved to Singapore, and first leased Emerald Hill in 1837. In 1845 he secured a permanent grant for his nutmeg plantation. Cuppage moved from his home on Hill Street to Emerald Hill in the early 1850s and built two houses, Erin Lodge and Fern Cottage.

Although his nutmeg plantation failed in the 1860s because of disease, he held onto his land on Emerald Hill, and he was Assistant Postmaster General of Singapore.

Cuppage married Sarah Bradshaw in Singapore on 17 December 1840. After he died in 1872, his plantation was left to his daughters and in 1890 it was sold to one of his sons-in-law, the lawyer Edwin Koek.

Koek turned the area into an orchard and built another house that he named Claregrove, after Clare Grove, near Coolock, the principal Cuppage family home near Dublin. But this orchard failed too, Koek went bankrupt, and the property was sold to Thomas E Rowell in 1891.

The three houses once owned by the Cuppage family were later demolished: Fern Cottage made way in 1906 for terrace houses; Claregrove gave way in 1924 to the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School; and Erin Lodge was replaced with more terrace houses.

William Cuppage’s distant cousin, Edmond Floyd Cuppage (1809-1864), lived at Clare Grove, Coolock, Co Dublin, and Mount Edwards, Co Antrim. Edmond was the son of General Alexander Cuppage (1762-1848) of Clare Grove, and the grandson of the Revd Alexander Cuppage (1727-1772), who was drowned between Ballycastle, Co Antrim, and Rathlin Island.

Edmund’s father-in-law was George Thompson of Clonskeagh Castle, Dublin, while his sister, Marianne Cuppage, married on 6 May 1828 the Revd Francis Law of Salmesbury, a son of Belinda Isabella Comerford and the Revd Francis Law (1768-1807), Vicar of Attanagh and Rector of Cork; Belinda was a daughter of Patrick Comerford, a Cork wine merchant. Their first child, Francis Law (1829-1898), was born at Clare Grove in Dublin on 27 February 1829.

Clare Grove was later renamed Claregrove Hall and then Clare Hall, before becoming the Clare Manor Hotel. The house burned down in a fire, and it later became the site of the Clare Hall shopping centre, which opened in 2004, but the ice house of the original house remains.

The setting sun reflected on the glass walls of the shopping centre at Clare Hall, Dublin … on the site of Clare Grove and the home of the Cuppage family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Praying in Advent with Lichfield Cathedral and USPG: Sunday 18 December 2022

Mary’s ‘husband Joseph [was] a righteous man’ (Matthew 1: 8-19) … the betrothal of Joseph and Mary, depicted in a window by Harry Clarke in Athlone (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Fourth Sunday of Advent (18 December 2022), and Christmas is just a week away. This evening also marks the beginning of the eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

The traditional counting of the ‘O Antiphons’ began yesterday (17 December) with ‘O Sapientia.’ The phrase O Sapientia appears in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer without explanation. For eight days before Christmas, the canticle Magnificat at Evensong has a refrain or antiphon proclaiming the ascriptions or ‘names’ given to God through the Old Testament.

Each name develops into a prophecy of the forthcoming and eagerly-anticipated Messiah, Jesus, the Son of God. O Sapientia, or ‘O Wisdom’, is followed today by ‘O Adonai’, then ‘O Root of Jesse’, ‘O Key of David’, ‘O Dayspring’, O King of the Nations’ and finally on 23 December ‘O Emmanuel’.

It is nine months ago today since I suffered a stroke in Milton Keynes (18 March 2022). Later this morning, I hope to be present at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford. In the evening, I hope to take part in the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols with the Church Choir in All Saints’ Church, Calverton, at 6 pm. But, before today gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for reading, prayer and reflection.

During Advent, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, The reading suggested in the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar produced by Lichfield Cathedral this year;

2, praying with the Lichfield Cathedral Devotional Calendar;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’

‘When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him’ (Matthew 1: 24) … a mosaic in the Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar, Co Westmeath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 1: 18-25 (NRSVA):

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 22 All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel’,

which means, ‘God is with us.’ 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

‘Joseph … is a dreamer, and his dreams carry messages from God’ (Lichfield Cathedral Devotional Calendar) … Joseph’s dream and the Nativity of Christ in a modern Orthodox fresco

The Lichfield Cathedral Devotional Calendar:

Joseph, like Joseph in the Book of Genesis is a dreamer, and his dreams carry messages from God. He is troubled by Mary’s pregnancy and in his sleep, he sees God’s unfolding plan. Hold before God all the hints, intuitions and hunches that are part of life. Ask for true discernment that we may be led closer to God and take a part in doing his will.

Collect:

God our redeemer,
who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of your Son:
grant that, as she looked for his coming as our saviour,
so we may be ready to greet him
when he comes again as our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion:

Heavenly Father,
who chose the Blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of the promised saviour:
fill us your servants with your grace,
that in all things we may embrace your holy will
and with her rejoice in your salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Eternal God,
as Mary waited for the birth of your Son,
so we wait for his coming in glory;
bring us through the birth pangs of this present age
to see, with her, our great salvation
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

USPG Prayer Diary:

The theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week is ‘International Migrants Day.’ This theme is introduced this morning with a reflection on International Migrants Day by Bishop Antonio Ablon, Coordinator of the Filipino Chaplaincy in Europe, part of the Philippine Independent Church. He writes:

‘Before the pandemic, thousands of people flew every day to seek jobs abroad. Now that Covid regulations are easing, similar numbers of job seekers are on the move again. They become migrants and workers in other nations because of poverty and war back home. However, many suffer racial discrimination in their host countries, struggling to live on low salaries and inadequate benefits and finding it difficult to access healthcare services, including mental health provision. The many problems they face have been exacerbated by the pandemic and the recent war in Ukraine. This situation challenges the churches to live out the Gospel mandate to love our neighbour by helping them ‘… just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me’ (Matthew 25:40).

‘Pastorally, the churches have welcomed strangers and migrants, especially those travelling without essential legal documents, offering them sanctuary, providing them with food and medicine, and even necessary documentation.

‘Prophetically, the churches have become the voice of the migrants, demanding that governments and institutions improve their rights and welfare provision, and that the laws of the land shall be for the good of the natives and migrants alike as there is only one human race (cf Exodus 12: 49 and Leviticus 24: 22).’

The USPG Prayer Diary invites us to pray today (Advent IV) in these words:

Child in a manger,
may we greet the uprooted
and those with nowhere to lay their head
with the same eagerness with which we greet you.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

‘Joseph … is troubled by Mary’s pregnancy and in his sleep, he sees God’s unfolding plan’ (Lichfield Cathedral Devotional Calendar) … ‘Joseph cares’ (Englewood Review of Books)

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