Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 127, Saturday 12 September 2026

‘No good tree bears bad fruit … Figs are not gathered from thorns’ (Luke 6: 43-44) … a fig tree near Pavlos Beach in Platanias, east of Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XV).

In the Jewish Calendar, today is Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה), which began at sunset last night (11 September 2026) and ends at nightfall tomorrow (13 September 2026). Rosh Hashanah, literally ‘head of the year’, is the Jewish New Year. In Jewish tradition, the day commemorates the creation of humanity and serves as a day of divine judgment. This is the first of the High Holy Days and begins the Ten Days of Repentance, culminating in Yom Kippur, which begins at sunset on Sunday 20 September and ends at nightfall on Monday 21 September.

Later today, I may take part in some of the ‘Come and Sing Choral Classics’ day in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, from 12 noon to 7 pm. Singers are welcome to learn to sing some choral classics at this event. It is part of Heritage Open Days and the September Organ Festival, and includes an exhibition in the church on the Willis pipe organ. The day ends with an informal concert at 6:15 pm.

Meanwhile, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘The one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation’ (Luke 6: 49) … a sandcastle on a beach in Barcelona in the shape of Gaudí’s Sacrada Familia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 6: 43-49 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 43 ‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.

46 ‘Why do you call me “Lord, Lord”, and do not do what I tell you? 47 I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. 48 That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.’

‘Nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush’ (Luke 6: 44) … grapes on a vine at the Hedgehog Vintage Inn in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Today’s Gospel reading (Luke 6: 43-49) is a reminder that our faith must always be reflected in your lifestyles, that there must be a connection between what we believe and what we do, that our faith must bear fruit, that if our faith does not have firm foundations it will disappear with the next challenges we face.

This reading brings to a close concludes Christ’s ‘Sermon on the Plain’, in which he speaks of the qualities of what it means to be a true disciple and challenges us to examine both our inner character and the foundational structural integrity of our spiritual lives.

In the first part of this reading (Luke 6: 43-45), Jesus refers to the tree and the fig, and he notes that ‘people do not gather figs from thorns’. A tree is recognised by its fruit, and so a good heart naturally yields good actions, words and thoughts.

The goodness of every disciple comes from within and is not to be measured merely by one’s external behaviour: ‘No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit’ (verses 43-44).

At the same time, consistently good behaviour is a sign of a healthy interior: ‘The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks’ (verse 45).

In the second part of today’s reading (verses 46-49), he contrasts the wise builder, who builds with deep foundations and rock with the foolish builder, who builds a house on soil or sand, without secure foundations.

The person who hears Christ’s words and acts on them is like a builder who digs deeply and lays a foundation on solid rock. When the flash floods and torrents hit, the house stands firm.

Those who hear Christ’s words but fail to respond or to act on them have superficial faith and are like a builder who builds a house on soft soil or sand without a firm foundation. The moment the river bursts against it, the structure suffers complete collapse.

A measure of the good disciple is how one both listens and acts on Christ’s words. To ‘listen’ includes hearing, understanding, accepting and assimilating his teaching and vision. Discipleship follows naturally, almost effortlessly.

On the other hand, those who listen but do not take in and do not act on what has been heard are like the man who built his house on a poor foundation: when the floods came, the sands shift, and the whole edifice collapses.

We are living in a time when the foundations of Christian discipleship are shifting like sand, and in the torrent that is gushing in with far-right populism the foundations of Christian discipleship are being undermined.

Trying to live a life that follows God’s directives seems to grow harder as the world and its leaders change their value systems so frequently, and as the name of Christianity is hijacked, whether it is by the merchants of hate who carry crosses at far-right events on the streets in Britain or the so-called Christian fundamentalist leaders and Christian Nationalists who sell out on Christianity in return for access to Trump and the Oval Office.

Last weekend, Andrea Williams, chief executive of an organisation that calls itself Christian Concern, spoke at a fringe event at the Reform UK party conference organised by the self-styled Christian Fellowship for Reform. In her speech, she came close to blasphemy as she tried to interweave that party’s name with Christ’s name at least six times in three sentences: ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the ultimate reformer. He reforms my heart, and when he reforms my heart, he reforms my family. He reforms my community, and it reforms our nation.’

She claimed atheistic secular ideology ‘has gripped our institutions’ and she spoke glibly of finding the ‘true answer’ not in ‘mere values’ but Jesus Christ himself.

When values are reduced to or even dismissed as ‘mere values’, when faith is separated from discipleship that is lived out on a daily basis, when listening fails to draw a response, when faith is devoid of hope and love, we have what Dietrich Bonhoeffer described as ‘cheap grace’, we have become unwilling to pay the Cost of Discipleship.

Christan Concern claims on its website, ‘We want to see Jesus Christ at the heart of society – we seek justice, speak truth and bring hope’. But this does not include, it seems, justice for asylum seekers and refugees, truth about the dangers of the rise of racism, Islamophobia and hatred on the streets of our town and cities, or hope for the poor, the marginalised, the outcast, the children in need, the very priorities in Christ’s ministry yet those who would the first victims of Reform UK’s state economic policies.

The sneering and laughing of Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick in response to the violent treatment of women who stood up and protested at that Reform UK conference, as they were beaten and assaulted, is in sharp contrast to the treatment by Jesus of women who pushed their way through the men in the synagogue or the men in the crowds to seek healing, to seek to be restored to their place in society.

Christan Concern’s website includes regular postings by Tim Dieppe, head of public policy at Christian Concern, who pursued Dr Jason Arday throughout his short time at Cambridge University, right through to the sad and bitter end. Yet he is silent about Dr James Orr who teaches ethics as an associate professor at Cambridge while appearing on a recent Channel 4 documentary to condone and be complicit in unethical donations to Reform UK.

Dieppe says ‘the Jason Arday scandal shows Cambridge University needs to return to the Christian foundations which made it great in the first place’. Yet he has stood by Dr Nathan Cofnas, who also pursued Jason Arday, who advocates ‘eugenics’ and far-right politics, who was eventually forced to leave Emmanuel College Cambridge.

‘The capture of Cambridge is a direct result of the abandonment of Christianity at Cambridge and across our culture,’ Dieppe claims. ‘Christian values cannot be expected to last in a non-Christian culture. We are witnessing the decline and fall of a once great institution, which is paralleled by the cultural collapse we see all around us across the nation. The only real and lasting solution will be for Cambridge University to be recaptured for Christ.’

Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has warned strongly against such a co-option of Christianity into politics. ‘I worry … that the Christian ‘brand’ becomes compromised if it’s seen, as so often in the US, as allied to political agendas and ambitions,’ he said recently. ‘It concerns me greatly that bits of the British right reach for this transatlantic rhetoric and repertoire of Christian nationalist ideas so as to ally themselves with some sort of global movement, even if they don’t fully sign up to the American version.’

Archbishop Williams, who was master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and has supervised theology students, has also expressed discomfort at politics infiltrating the academic environment. ‘I’m always concerned if vulnerable young scholars get the message that they need to line up with a specific ideological approach – of any kind – in order to secure their future.’

Fascism is on the rise in Britain, Bishop Arun Arora of Kirkstall in the Diocese of Leeds, warned last weekend. Speaking in Lambeth Palace, he condemned the ‘twisted theology’ of self-described ‘Christian patriots’ who demonstrated at ports on the south coast of England last weekend. The masked agitators were heard chanting ‘Christ is King.’

Bishop Arora identified ‘the tidal wave of nationalism’ as the ‘biggest threat to England’s fabric today’ and said the Church has to challenge the ‘sinful idolatry’ and ‘twisted theology’ of so-called Christian nationalists, saying they are using the Cross of Christ as a fashion accessory, with no understanding of Jesus’s message of love.

At the same event, Archbishop Sarah Mullalley said ‘there is an increasing responsibility on Christian leaders to speak up and not be silent, because silence itself encourages a society in which people think it’s all right to intimidate in this way.’ Bishop Rosemarie Mallett said: ‘The Church can tell the truth about history, protect the dignity of radicalised people, and offer a theological vision of belonging that lives out Jesus’s call to welcome the stranger.’

The challenge is immense today. We must pray for the encouragement to build on rock-like values rather than a sand-like foundation. Even the strongest building needs care and repair. The foundations of a building are often its least recognised feature, usually hidden and seemingly insignificant. My faith foundations may not be known to many but are cherished by God to whom I bring them now in prayer, that they may be blessed and strengthened, and may find expression in my response to those who are prioritised by Jesus in his teaching and his ministry.

‘A man building a house … dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock’ (Luke 6: 48) … the Monastery of Great Meteoron, the largest of the monasteries at Meteora in Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 12 September 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 6-12 September 2026 (pp 36-37), has been ‘Turning Pain into Glory’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Reflection by Nolene Sheppard, Leader of a Women’s Empowerment Group, Magnificat, and Ukraine Aid Project Support Lead at Saint Thomas à Becket, Hamburg, Germany.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 12 September 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord God, we pray for the Anglican Church in Hamburg, Germany today. For the growing witness of their community and disciples in the city, and for courage and humility for their church officers and council.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
whose only Son has opened for us
a new and living way into your presence:
give us pure hearts and steadfast wills
to worship you in spirit and in truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord God, the source of truth and love,
keep us faithful to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship,
united in prayer and the breaking of bread,
and one in joy and simplicity of heart,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Merciful God:
your Son came to save us
and bore our sins on the cross:
may we trust in your mercy
and know your love,
rejoicing in the righteousness
that is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity XV:

God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit
upon your Church in the burning fire of your love:
grant that your people may be fervent
in the fellowship of the gospel
that, always abiding in you,
they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘The one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation’ (Luke 6: 49) … sandcastles on the beach in Ballybunion, Co Kerry (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

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is a time for reflection, repentance, renewal and reimagination

An Atlantic sunset seen near Milltown Malbay, Co Clare … Rosh Hashanah is a time for ‘Crossing the Bridge from the Particular to the Universal’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year 5787, begins at sunset tomorrow evening (Friday 11 September 2026) and continues until nightfall on Sunday (13 September 2026).

Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה‎) literally means ‘head of the year’. According to Jewish tradition, this holiday commemorates the creation of humanity and serves as a day of divine judgment. It is the first of the High Holy Days and begins the Ten Days of Repentance, culminating in Yom Kippur.

Rosh Hashanah is marked on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month in the Hebrew calendar. The central ritual is the sounding of the shofar or ram’s horn, and festive meals feature symbolic foods representing hopes for a sweet new year.

Rosh Hashanah is a time of introspection and atonement. The central theme and practice not only of Rosh Hashanah, but of the entire autumn holiday season, is teshuvah (תְּשׁוּבָה), a word commonly translated as ‘repentance’ but that more literally means ‘return’ or ‘turn around’.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the holiday that follows 10 days later, are intensely focused on teshuvah. Yom Kippur, which follows, begins at sunset on Sunday 20 September 2026 and ends at nightfall on Monday 21 September 2026. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day in the Jewish calendar, and marks the peak of the High Holidays.

Many Jews see this as a time to make amends or apologise to those they have wronged in the past year and resolve to do better in the year about to begin. One of the common practices of Rosh Hashanah is attending synagogue services and hearing the blowing of the shofar, or ram’s horn, the central mitzvah of the holiday. Another well-known practice is the Tashlich (תשליך) service, in which sins are symbolically cast into a natural body of running water.

The foods most associated with Rosh Hashanah are apples and honey, eaten as an expression of hope for a sweet new year. There is also a tradition of eating other symbolic foods at Rosh Hashanah meals, including pomegranates, dates, leeks and a fish head – all symbolic of a wish for the year to come.

On the second night of Rosh Hashanah it is customary to eat a new fruit, a symbol of newness. It is also customary to have big feasts on both nights of Rosh Hashanah and the many customary dishes include honey cake, brisket and tzimmes.

The traditional greeting on Rosh HaShanah is ‘shanah tovah umtukah’ (שָׁנָה טוֹבָה וּמְתוּקָה‎) which means ‘may you have a good and sweet new year’. This greeting is often shortened to ‘shanah tovah’ (שָׁנָה טוֹבָה‎), ‘a good year’.

A more formal greeting is ‘L’shanah tovah tikateivu v’teichateimu’ (לְשָׁנָה טוֹבָה תִּכָּתְבוּ וְתֵחָתֵמוּ‎), which means ‘a good year, and may you be inscribed and sealed (for blessing in the Book of Life)’. Another greeting is ‘tizku l'shanim rabot’ (תזכו לשנים רבות‎), which means ‘may you merit many years’.

Some people say ‘chag sameach’ (חג שמח‎), but strictly speaking chag sameach should only be on the three pilgrimage festivals, Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

Another traditional greeting for Ashkenazi Jews on both Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur is a Yiddish greeting, ‘gut yontif,’ ‘good holiday’. Sephardic Jews may offer a greeting in Ladino, ‘anyada bueno, dulse, i alegre’, ‘may you have a good, sweet, and happy new year.’

The foods associated with Rosh Hashanah, including apples, honey, pomegranates and dates, express hopes for a sweet new year

Yolanda Savage-Narva is the former vice president of Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) for the Union for Reform Judaism in the US. For more than 20 years, she worked with Tribal governments to strengthen public health systems, promoted pedestrian safety and advocacy, coining the phrase ‘walking is a civil right’ and worked on health equity. More recently, she was the executive director with Operation Understanding DC, promoting understanding, cooperation, and respect while fighting to eradicate racism, antisemitism and discrimination.

In a reflection written last year for Rosh HaShanah, she talked about the period between Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, as a timely opportunity for renewal, reflection, and repentance: ‘It gives us a chance to repair ourselves through tikkun atzmi by embracing the particular, so that we can do our part of repairing the world, tikkun olam by embracing the universal.’

She wrote how, as a Jew, she found herself yearning for the opportunity for reflection, repentance, renewal, and reimagination. She continued: ‘There are so many injustices in the world that I cannot point to just one or create a hierarchy in my heart about which atrocity is more inhumane’.

As a resident of Washington DC, she said, she has a front row seat to an occupied territory: ‘People of Latinx descent are afraid to leave their homes for fear of being captured like wild animals and shipped off to a country they know nothing about. As a resident of the United States, I am witnessing with horror the dismantling of every system imaginable: public health access; environmental protections; transportation infrastructure; and so many other initiatives that serve to protect the most marginalised in our society; the continued daily scourge of racism; the rise of antisemitism and all forms of hatred; and the rule of law are all in question. As a global citizen, I am watching with hopelessness and despair the continued loss of life from Gaza to Haiti to Ukraine and places in between.’

She asked how Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur could be used to think about how we contribute to the universal idea of the Divine spark in every human being: ‘How do we ensure that every human being knows and understands that this soil (our Earth) belongs to all of us and is our rightful home?’

She went on to make four suggestions:

‘First, we REFLECT by going inward. We explore those places inside of ourselves that have gone unchallenged. We commit, as individuals, to being a part of the universe that will bring justice and liberation. We must look into the mirror, challenge our assumptions and our biases, and add tools to our toolbox that will help us understand that the choices we make as individuals impact the sum of us.

‘Second, we REPENT. We learn from our mistakes and account for any harm we have had a hand in. We don’t stay there, but we do acknowledge what we have done to be hurtful, to not be helpful, when we could or should have.

‘Third, we RENEW by embracing the darkness. Darkness does not mean bad or evil in the way we have been taught by those that teach things. I see darkness as an opportunity for true transformation, true growth, true nourishment. What truly happens in darkness – at night we sleep, replenishing our body and mind, we collect our memories and store them for a future time. The soil provides nutrients that make things grow, a black hole; objects are transformed in a way that, if they could come back out, they would be different.

‘Fourth, we REIMAGINE. In the words of Muhammad Ali, “If the heart can conceive it, the mind can achieve it.” We are building from the ground up. There are a few things that we will be able to rebuild and most certainly will not be the same. Embrace the opportunity to reimagine and rebuild.’

In preparation for the High Holy Days, she implored readers not merely to read or hear the words from ancient text, but to ‘allow the words to embody our spirits and awaken our souls to the fact that, although we act as individuals, we are inextricably bound together to serve and honour all of humanity.’

She concluded: ‘The core Jewish principle from the Talmud that calls Jews to realise that, if we save one person, it is as if we have saved the world is fundamental. If we are all doing our part to save one person, we are, in fact, saving the world. When we see each individual soul as being made in the Divine Image (b’tzelem Elohim), we are embracing and crossing the bridge from the individual (particular) and the universal (all of humanity).’

The late Chief Rabbi, Lord (Jonathan Sacks), writing about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, said: ‘Those who fully engage in the spirit of Rosh Hashanah emerge into the new year charged, energised, focussed, renewed, knowing that to be a Jew is to live life in the Presence of God, to sanctify life for the sake of God, and to enhance the lives of others – for where we bring blessings into other lives, there God lives.’

Walking by the shore by Giudecca in Venice … Rosh Hashanah is an opportunity for reflection, repentance, renewal, and reimagination (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 109, Tuesday 25 August 2026

‘For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence’ (Matthew 23: 25) … teacups in a painting in a restaurant in Listowel, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XII).

I am singing with the choir at a funeral in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, later this afternoon. But before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘You … have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith’ (Matthew 23: 23) … the statue of Justice by John Van Nost (1721) in Dublin Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 23: 23-26 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 23 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practised without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

25 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.’

‘For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law’ (Matthew 23: 23) … two Sabbath spice boxes, part of the ritual of welcoming the Sabbath, in the Jewish Museum, Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

In the Beatitudes at the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says eight groups of people are blessed: ‘the poor in spirit … those who mourn … the meek … those who hunger and thirst for righteousness … the merciful … the pure in heart … the peacemakers … those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness …’ (Matthew 5: 3-10).

Now, as we come close to the end of this Gospel, we have seven groups of people who are condemned as hypocrites and against whom Jesus pronounces seven woes.

In the Gospel reading normally read on the Monday of this week, we hear the first three of these seven woes: woe to you who ‘lock people out of the kingdom of heaven’ (verse 13) … who ‘make the new convert twice as much a child of hell’ (verse 15) … and ‘blind guides’ who swear by the ‘gold of the sanctuary’ (verses 16-22).

We hear two further woes today (Matthew 23: 23-26): for those who tithe mint, dill, and cummin but neglect the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith; and these who care about the details of domestic purity but neglect the cleanliness of their hearts and inner thoughts. Then, we hear the final of the seven woes tomorrow (Matthew 23: 27-32): a double woe on those who on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

A ‘woe’ is an exclamation of grief, similar to what is expressed by the word alas. In pronouncing woes, Jesus is prophesying judgment on the religious leaders of the day for their hypocrisy. He calls them hypocrites, blind guides, snakes and a ‘brood of vipers’.

Before Jesus condemns the hypocrisy of religious leaders, they have been following him to test him and try to trick him with questions about divorce (Matthew 19: 3), his authority (Matthew 21: 23), paying taxes to Caesar (Matthew 22: 17), the resurrection (Matthew 22: 23), and the greatest commandment of the law (Matthew 22: 36).

Jesus prefaces his seven woes by explaining to the disciples that they should obey the teachings of the religious leaders – as they teach the law of God – but not to emulate their behaviour because they do not practice what they preach (Matthew 23: 3).

The second grouping of these woes, which we read today, condemns the scribes and Pharisees for tithing mint, dill, and cummin but neglecting the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith, for worrying about clean cups and plates outside, but neglecting the state of their inner thoughts (Matthew 23: 23-26).

The scribes and Pharisees are accused of making a big deal of small things like tithing spices, while they ignore more crucial matters. They diligently count their mint leaves to give every tenth one to the temple, but they neglect the more important matters of the law, such as justice, mercy and faith (verse 23).

Jesus is not saying tithing the mint, dill, and cumin is wrong. He says they should not neglected proper tithing, but it must be done with a good heart. Jewish law and tradition specifies tithes on some produce, generally food. But there was no tithe required for wild herbs, although this is debated in the Mishnah: ‘R. Eliezer says, “Dill is subject to the law of tithes [in regard to its] seeds, leaves and pods.” But Sages say, “Nothing is subject to the law of tithes [in regard to both its] seeds and leaves save cress and field rocket alone”.’ (m. Ma’as. 4: 5).

There is an issue of justice here. If a tithe that is not required in the law is demanded, then it not only deprives them of what is lawfully theirs, but in this case it may even deprive them of fully enjoying the Sabbath.

On the Sabbath, it is said, the ‘Sabbath Queen’ or the ‘Sabbath Bride’ descends from Heaven to heal the sufferings of the Jews. The arrival and departure of ‘Her Majesty’ is marked by ceremonies. When she enters, everybody is happy; when she leaves, there is a strange sadness. But people take comfort in a symbolic tradition that includes inhaling the aroma of spices contained in an ornamental box, often made of silver, the spice box.

Spice-boxes are an essential part of Havdalah (הַבְדָּלָה, ‘separation’), the ceremony marking the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushering in the new week. The spices are usually kept in decorative spice-boxes to beautify and honour the mitzvah and are handed around so that everyone can smell the fragrance. In many Sephardi and Mizrahi communities, branches of aromatic plants are used for this purpose, while Ashkenazim have traditionally used cloves.

A special braided Havdalah candle with more than one wick is lit, and a blessing is recited. If a special Havdalah candle is not available, two candles can be used, and the two flames joined when reciting the blessing. The traditional prayers include: ‘Praised are You, Adonai our God, who rules the universe, Creator of all kinds of spices.’

Turning to hyperbole, Jesus says the religious leaders can strain out a gnat when they are drinking but can swallow a camel (verse 24). In other words, they were careful to avoid offence in minor things of little importance, but ignore things that are much more difficult to swallow.

In the fifth woe, Jesus compares them to cups and plates that are scrupulously cleaned on the outside but left dirty inside. Their religious observances make them appear clean and virtuous, but inwardly, in their hearts, they are full of ‘greed and self-indulgence’ (verse 25).

It is not that washing my hands or cutlery and crockery before I eat is a bad idea, or that I am a hypocrite if I do so. If I habitually fail to wash my hands and the cups and plates before I eat, I am going to get sick, quickly and often.

But if I forget why I have to wash them, I am a hypocrite if I then expect others to do so. Indeed, sometimes we leave ourselves in danger of going hungry if we insist on everything being spotless before we eat: those facilities are not always to hand on a long train journey or a long flight, for flight, or while I’m at an all-day cricket match or at a rugby fixture.

The Pharisees had their own rituals, and I would be silly to think that only they had these problems. We all have our own rituals associated with eating and cleanliness.

It is said one of the principal causes of domestic arguments in the kitchen is about what way to stack the dishwasher, and how to empty it. Should the knives stand up or down? Which sides do you place the glasses and the cups on? Do you rinse the plates before they go in? To tell the truth, it probably does not matter. But it is still irritating to open the dishwasher and to find someone else has packed it.

The level of questioning of the Pharisees is about a ritual that is probably more important than how to stack the dishwasher. And the level of criticism from Jesus is not as rude as we might first think.

But when he says the Pharisees are hypocrites, Jesus is challenging them to drop the mask and to own the words they speak and to own the reasons for those rituals.

Can you imagine how much more positively people at large would view the churches if every parish and church put as much care into seeing that our children are not abused or infected with racism or discrimination or hatred as much as we put into seeing that the cups are clean for the tea and coffee after church, or as much as we attend to the cleanliness of the sacred vessels used for the Eucharist or Holy Communion?

If we are worried about how clean the patten and chalice are at Holy Communion, how clean the church is, how clean the coffee cup is when it comes out of the dishwasher, how much more should be worried about how clean the Church is as an institution, how worthy it is to be called – for us to be called – the Body of Christ.

‘For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate’ (Matthew 23: 25) … a cup of coffee at Pavlos Beach in Platanias, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 25 August 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 23 to 29 August 2026 (pp 32-33), is ‘Legacies of History’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by the Revd Dr Rachele Evie Vernon O’Brien, a Jamaican-born theologian and advocate.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 25 August 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord God, forgive us for where our words have not matched our actions. Renew us, your Church, to live out the love we proclaim.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of 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 all mercy,
in this eucharist you have set aside our sins
and given us your healing:
grant that we who are made whole in Christ
may bring that healing to this broken world,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of constant mercy,
who sent your Son to save us:
remind us of your goodness,
increase your grace within us,
that our thankfulness may grow,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin’ (Matthew 23: 23) … the former Tithe Barn in Thame, Oxfordshire (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 Ordinary Time 2026: 80, Sunday 26 July 2026, Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VIII)

Sunset behind the Fortezza in Rethymnon in Crete, seen from Pavlos Beach in Platanias … ‘a little snatch of heaven’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church and today is the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VIII, 26 July 2026). Later this morning, I hope to sing with the choir at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stratford.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion Prayer of the Day.

A glimpse of Vicars Close, Lichfield, from Erasmus Darwin’s Garden, near Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52 (NRSVA):

31 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’

33 He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.

44 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

47 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51 ‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ 52 And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’

Sunrise on the River Slaney at Ferrycarrig, Co Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections

Have you ever found yourself lost for words when it comes to describing a beautiful place you have visited?

If you have ever been to the Bay of Naples or Sorrento, how would you describe what you have seen to someone who has never travelled outside a 30 km radius from Dublin?

You might try comparing the first glimpse of Vesuvius with looking at the Great Sugarloaf … but that hardly describes the experience of climbing the rocky path, looking into the caldera, or the experience of the sulphuric smell.

You might want to compare the Bay of Naples with the vista in Dalkey or Killiney … but that hardly catches the majestic scope of the view.

You might want to compare the church domes with the great copper dome in Rathmines … but that goes nowhere near describing the intricate artwork on those Italian domes.

You might compare the inside of the duomo in Amalfi with the inside of your favourite parish church … but you know you are getting nowhere near what you want to say.

And as for Capri … you are hardly going to write a romantic song about Dalkey Island, Ireland’s Eye or Lambay, Mersea Island or the Isle of Dogs.

Comparisons never match the beauty of any place that offers us a snatch or glimpse of heaven.

And yet, we know that the photographs on our phones, no matter how good they seem to be when we are taking them, never do justice to the places we have been when we get home.

We risk becoming bores either by trying to use inadequate words or inadequate images to describe experiences that we can never truly share with people unless they go there, unless they have been there too.

I suppose that helps to a degree to understand why Jesus keeps on trying to grasp at images that might help the Disciples and help us to understand what the Kingdom of God is like.

He tries to offer us a taste of the kingdom with a number of parables in this morning’s Gospel reading:

• The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed … (verse 31).

• The kingdom of heaven is like yeast … (verse 33).

• The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field … (verse 44).

• The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls … (verse 45).

• The kingdom of heaven is like a net in the sea … (verse 47).

‘Do they understand?’ They answer, ‘Yes.’ But how can they really understand, fully understand?

Once after a late lunch in Mount Usher, I posted some photographs of the gardens. An American reader I have never met commented: ‘A little piece of heaven.’

We have a romantic imagination that confuses gardens with Paradise, and Paradise with the Kingdom of Heaven. But perhaps that is a good starting point, because I have a number of places where I find myself saying constantly: ‘This is a little snatch of heaven.’ They include:

• The road from Cappoquin out to my grandmother’s farm in West Waterford.

• The train journey from outside Ferns to Wexford, along the banks of the River Slaney.

• The view from the east end of Stowe Pool across to Lichfield Cathedral at sunset on a Spring evening, or walking around Vicars Close in Lichfield.

• The Backs in Cambridge, which is visited once again last week.

• The fields in Comberford and the banks of the River Tame.

• Sunset at the Fortezza in Rethymnon on the Greek island of Crete.

• The sights and sounds on some of the shores and beaches I once walked on regularly … Bettystown, Skerries, Loughshinny, Portrane, Donabate, Bray, Wexford, Achill, Rethymnon, Platanias, Panormos …

The Kingdom of Heaven must be so like so many of these places where I find myself constantly praising God and thanking God for creation.

But … but it’s not just that. And I start thinking that Christ does more than just paint a scene when he describes the kingdom of heaven. Looking at the Gospel reading again, I realise he is doing more than offering holiday snapshots or painting the scenery.

He tries to describe the Kingdom of Heaven in terms of doing, and not just in terms of being:

• Sowing a seed (verse 31);

• Giving a nest to the birds of the air (verse 32);

• Mixing yeast (verse 33);

• Turning small amounts of flour into generous portions of bread (verse 34);

• Finding hidden treasure (verse 44);

• Rushing out in joy (verse 44);

• Selling all that I have because something I have found is worth more – much, much more, again and again (verse 44, 46);

• Searching for pearls (verse 45);

• Finding just one pearl (verse 46);

• Casting a net into the sea (verse 47);

• Catching an abundance of fish (verse 47);

• Drawing the abundance of fish ashore, and realising there is too much there for personal needs (verse 48);

• Writing about it so that others can enjoy the benefit and rewards of treasures new and old (verse 52).

So there are, perhaps, four or five times as many active images of the kingdom than there are passive images.

The kingdom is more about doing than being.

The projects and work supported by USPG at home and around the world is not supported because it hopes to transform those places with a few, selected quick-fix solutions, but because these projects are sacramental signs of the Kingdom.

Christ’s life on earth is marked by teaching, healing, caring for children and the marginalised, feeding the hungry, proclaiming the Kingdom.

In supporting projects in this work, USPG is offering signs of the ministry of Christ as he invites us to the banquet, as he invites us into the Kingdom – works that are little glimpses of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

Some time ago, a viral project on social media challenged people over five days to list three positive experiences they have had each day. Today, I challenge you to think of three places, three gifts in God’s creation, that offer you glimpses of the Kingdom of Heaven, and to think of three actions that for you symbolise Christ’s invitation into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Give thanks for these pearls beyond price, and share them with someone you love and cherish.

Punters on the River Cam behind King’s College, Cambridge, last week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 26 July 2026, Trinity VIII):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 26 July to 1 August 2026 (pp 22-23), is ‘Lives in Transit’. This theme is introduced today with a programme update by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG:

At a global summit on human trafficking and modern slavery, hosted by United Society Partners in the Gospel and the Diocese of Durgapur, two speakers illuminated the realities facing migrant workers in the Middle East: Saba, working in Lebanon and based in Jordan, and Pauline from Dubai.

In Lebanon, Saba Kerry describes the Kafala (sponsorship) system, where a worker’s legal status is tied to an employer. This can prevent workers from changing jobs, leaving the country freely, or holding their own passports, leaving them exposed and often without effective legal protection. As one migrant worker from Benin, quoted by Saba, explains: ‘In other countries, the one who has tricked you is usually the one who would be arrested, and your money would be reimbursed. But here, I’m the illegal one.’

In the city of sprawling skyscrapers, Dubai’s migrant workers face similar challenges. Many are separated from their families, carry recruitment debt, and depend on employers for legal residency.

Yet, amid these pressures, the Church often becomes a place of refuge and belonging.

At Holy Trinity Church, Dubai, and Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, Dubai, migrant communities gather for worship in many languages. These churches offer pastoral care and practical support for women in partners in global mission 22 crisis, including emergency assistance, shelter support, and help to return home safely where possible.

Across both contexts, the Church is called not only to respond to individual hardship, but also to recognise the systems that shape it. For the migrant domestic worker who longs to go home, caught within an unjust system, we now pray.

The USPG prayer diary today (Sunday 26 July 2026, Trinity VIII) invites us to pray as we read and meditate on today’s Gospel reading, Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52.

Walking on the beach at Bako National Park, near Kuching in Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty Lord and everlasting God,
we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern
both our hearts and bodies
in the ways of your laws
and the works of your commandments;
that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever,
we may be preserved in body and soul;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Strengthen for service, Lord,
the hands that have taken holy things;
may the ears which have heard your word
be deaf to clamour and dispute;
may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit;
may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love
shine with the light of hope;
and may the bodies which have been fed with your body
be refreshed with the fullness of your life;
glory to you for ever.

Additional Collect:

Lord God,
your Son left the riches of heaven
and became poor for our sake:
when we prosper save us from pride,
when we are needy save us from despair,
that we may trust in you alone;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Walking on the North Strand in Skerries, Co Dublin (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


Three minutes of sunshine by the River Tame in Comberford, Staffordshire (Patrick Comerford, 2026)

60 years later, this has been a very different World Cup to the one I rejoiced in as a teenager in summer 1966

The former Saint Michael’s Convent above the beach in Ballinskelligs … the preferred venue for discerning teenagers for the 1966 World Cup final (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

At the outset, as my own personal protest against the state of politics in Trump’s USA and the ways he and it are infecting, devouring and destabilising the world, I decided not to watch any 2026 FIFA World Cup matches broadcast from the US, although I was watching games played in the two other co-host nations, Canada and Mexico.

Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino, a pair of presidents, have come to embody everything that is wrong about this year’s competition. From the beginning, right up to its end this evening, this World Cup has been a complete disaster, one shambles after another. There has been nothing but one litany after another of controversies, from FIFA’s ticket pricing, to entertaining Trump’s political meddling, along with logistical and environmental problems, cost over-runs, disgraceful abuses of human rights and displays of ugly and unchecked racism.

Harsh US immigration and visa restrictions have targetted players, officials, journalists, referees and fans from several nations. A travel ban blocked fans from Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast, and Senegal attending matches in the US, the Iraqi striker Aymen Hussein was detained for seven hours on his arrival, and the Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry to the US.

Trump wanted FIFA to give Iran’s place to Italy, and threatened that the safety of the Iranian team could not be guaranteed. That failed to stop Iran, but Iran’s team was forced to relocate its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico, they constantly bullied and harassed each time they played in the US, the team’s ticket allocation was revoked, and many of the coaching and administrative staff were denied visas.

It was clear Infantino was never going to make good on his pledge that ‘any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup.’ But then this is the same man who presented a newly-invented ‘FIFA Peace Prize’ to Trump last December – whoever thought he would want signs of peace and goodwill at this World Cup?

The national teams from Senegal and Uzbekistan faced unusually strict security checks when they arrived in the US, including individual body searches, the Uruguay national team complained if excessive security checks, and security personnel in Atlanta searched Egyptian fans but not Argentinian fans. In Arlington, Texas, ahead of Egypt’s match against Australia, a Dallas police officer pushed Egypt’s assistant coach and other members of the Egyptian delegation.

Spanish-speaking reporters have been asked by FIFA moderators to use English and their questions have often been turned away, even though Spanish is one of FIFA’s seven official languages, Mexico, one of the three co-hosts, is the world's most populous Spanish-speaking country, and two countries in the final this evening are Spanish-speaking.

FIFA officials have been accused of making racist and white supremacy gestures. At the match between Paraguay and France, a former Paraguay goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert referred to France as ‘a squad from Africa’, Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla made widely condemned racist comments in which she mocked Kylian Mbappé’s background and education.

Folarin Balogun’s red card and automatic one-match suspension ought to have ruled him out of the US match against Belgium. But Trumpphoned a friend, intervened directly with Infantino and then rejoiced that due to his special pleading FIFA had ‘made the right decision’. Belgium and UEFA condemned FIFA’s decision. That alone put an end to my personal boycott. I joined the world in watching and rejoicing when Belgium defeated the US.

I watched England’s defeat by Argentina on Wednesday night in the Old George in Stony Stratford, and I stayed up late last night at home to watch England’s 6-4 win over France in the third place play-off, a truly memorable match.

But my memories of this year’s World Cup are going to be distinctively different from my memories of the World Cup final 60 years ago in 1966.

It was a weekend in July, I was in my teens, it was summer, and it was 30 July 1966. It was the year Ireland had gone over the top in marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1916.

My parents had a real fear that I might fail Irish in the ‘Inter Cert’ the following year. Failing Irish at the time meant failing the full exam outright, and the consequences for families were dire: repeat the full year, which still provided no guarantee of success a second time; leave school and find an apprenticeship, which was never considered in a family such as mine; or being sent to England to a school such as Downside or Ampleforth.

Three of us were packed off to Ballinskelligs for a month to learn Irish. I boarded with cousins from Co Cork and learned much from them too; and when I returned home and was asked whether I had learned much Irish I answered smartly, ‘No, but I learned a lot about French, eh, French kissing.’

During that month in Coláiste Mhichíl, I also remember learning Irish dancing, boring evenings listening to the old seanachaí, reading Anne Frank’s Diaries and JD Sallinger’s Catcher in the Rye, having my first smoke, being challenged to go ‘skinny dipping’, and my first kiss.

I was the butt of some slight humour – but all in good taste – because of what must have been a tinge of an English accent at the time. On the other hand, I remember feeling negative about that year’s commemorations of the Easter Rising in 1916. If Irish colleges were about shaping national identity then, despite my age, I realised already some people wanted to classify me as an outsider.

There was no doubt on Saturday afternoon, 30 July 1966, who I was going to support in the World Cup Final. The main adventure that weekend was finding a place to watch it. Ballinskelligs was then a remote part of Kerry, it was not only part of the Gaeltacht, but it was ‘single-channel land’ and – even then – there were few homes there with a television, and we were never going to risk being caught in a pub at that age.

Two first cousins, Dick and Tom Barrett from Millstreet, Co Cork, came up with a cunning plan. They knew some nuns from the Presentation convent in Millstreet who were staying in Saint Michael’s Convent, the nuns’ summer house above the beach in Ballinskelligs. There we would be hidden safely from anyone listening out for any teenagers at the summer college risking to speak English, to say nothing about cheering on the English football team.

Not only did the nuns welcome us, and allow us to monopolise the one television in their best room, but they even brought in biscuits, cake and soft drinks to keep us fuelled for the afternoon. For us, that alone was almost more memorable than Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick and England’s controversial third goal – did it go over the line fully?

England had a 4-2 win over West Germany after extra time. It was the first and only time that England hosted or won the World Cup and it remains England’s last final in a major international football tournament, and still is England’s only World Cup final to date.

We stayed right through to see Bobby Moore receiving the cup and the team receiving their medals.

We were not watching alone. The British television audience peaked at 32.3 million viewers, making it Britain’s most-watched television event ever.

When I returned in August after a month in Ballinskelligs, my parents never showed any evidence they had received any reports of my independent behaviour. And, yes, I passed Irish in the ‘Inter Cert’ the following year – albeit a pass on a pass paper – and went on to finish the ‘Leaving Cert’ in 1969 at Gormanston College, Co Meath.

I can still remember with joy, delight and glee, England’s first, and so far only, World Cup title back in 1966. As I wait for this evening’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, I know which team I am disappointed is not playing tonight.

I do not particularly want to see tonight’s half-time show, which is nothing less that the Americanisation and commercialisation of the game. But I going to be eager to see how uncomfortable Trump is as he finds himself sitting beside the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, the western politician he seems to dislike most, and hopefully to see Trump squirm as he presents the World Cup to Spain too.

And I shall be smiling too as I recall teenage memories of that summer afternoon in July 60 years ago.

A summer stroll on the beach in Ballinskelligs (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 49, Thursday 25 June 2026

‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock’ (Matthew 7: 24) … a monastery built on a rock top in Meteora, Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The week began with the Third Sunday after Trinity (Trinity III, 21 June 2026). I was in Lichfield yesterday marking the silver jubilee of my ordination as priest 25 years ago, on the Feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist [24 June 2001], and today marks the 26th anniversary of my ordination as deacon [25 June 2000].

Because of the heat warnings against travel yesterday, I cancelled my plans to be in Lichfield to mark the 25th anniversary of my ordination as priest. I was invited to speak this afternoon at the Stony Last Thursday History Society event in the library in Stony Stratford, looking at the stained-glass windows in Saint Mary and Saint Giles, and telling a story that has links with some of the famous films and film stars of Hollywood. However, all of England is sweltering in this heatwave, and that talk has been postponed until October.

Meanwhile, 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 Acropolis at night, standing on a large rocky outcrop above Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford; click on image for full-screen view)

Matthew 7: 21-29 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 21 ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” 23 Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”

24 ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall!’

28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.’

‘Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand’ (Matthew 7: 26) … a sandcastle on the beach at Playa de la Carihuela in Torremolinos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Matthew 7: 21-29) brings to a conclusion to our series of readings from the Sermon on the Mount in Saint Matthew’s Gospel. In the reading we missed yesterday because of the Feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist, Christ warns of the dangers posed by ‘false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.’ We are to ‘know them by their fruits.’

Today he warns about what awaits those false prophets and wolves in sheep’s clothing, and talks about a foolish man who built his house on sand. On the other hand, we are told, those who both hear Christ’s words and act on them will show that their faith is built on firm foundation, ‘like a wise man who built his house on rock’.

I have, on many occasions times, stood at the top of Acropolis (Ἀκρόπολις) in Athens, taking in the breathtaking views in every direction across the city and out to the port of Piraeus.

The Acropolis is the highest point in Athens. It stands on an extremely rocky outcrop and on it the ancient Greeks built several significant buildings. The most famous of these is the Parthenon. This flat-topped rock rises 150 metres (490 ft) above sea level and has a surface area of about 3 ha (7.4 acres).

Below, immediately north-west of the Acropolis, is the Areopagus, another prominent, but relatively smaller, rocky outcrop. Its English name comes from its Greek name, Ἄρειος Πάγος (Areios Págos), the ‘Rock of Ares,’ known to the Romans as the Hill of Mars.

In classical Athens, this functioned as the court for trying deliberate homicide. It was said Ares was put on trial there for deicide, the murder of the son of the god Poseidon. In the play The Eumenides (458 BCE) by Aeschylus, the Areopagus is the site of the trial of Orestes for killing his mother.

Later, murderers would seek shelter there in the hope of a fair hearing.

There too the Athenians had an altar to the unknown god, and it was there that the Apostle Paul delivered his most famous speech and sermon, in which he identified the ‘unknown god’ with ‘the God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth’ (Acts 17: 24), for ‘in him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17: 28).

This is the most dramatic and fullest reported sermon or speech by the Apostle Paul. He quotes the Greek philosopher Epimenides, and he must have known that the location of his speech had important cultural contexts, including associations with justice, deicide and the hidden God.

The origin of the name of the Areopagus is found in the ancient Greek, πάγος (pagos), meaning a ‘big piece of rock.’

Another word, λιθος (lithos) was used for a small rock, a stone, or even a pebble – it is the Greek word that gives us words like lithograph and megalithic, meaning Great Stone Age.

When you see breathtaking sights like these, you understand how culturally relevant it was for Christ to talk in today’s Gospel reading about the wise man building his house on a rock rather than on sand (Matthew 7: 24-26).

Ordinary domestic buildings might have been built to last a generation or two, at most. But building on rock, building into rock, building into massive rock formations like the Acropolis, was laying the foundations for major works of cultural, political and religious significance that would last long after those who had built them had been forgotten.

And so, the Church is to be built on a rock, with the foundations a movement, an institution, an organisation, a community that is going to have lasting, everlasting significance, and survive the crass abuse of the Gospel message by political opportunists.

The Acropolis in Athens seen from the new Acropolis Museum, standing on a large rocky outcrop (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 25 June 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 21 to 27 June 2026 (pp 12-13), is ‘Land Taken, Land Remembered’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by the Venerable Rosalyn Kantlaht’ant Elm, Director of Indigenous Ministries, Anglican Church of Canada.

The USPG prayer diary today (Thursday 25 June 2026) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, we pray for the Most Revd Shane Parker, Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. Grant him wisdom, humility, and courage as he leads your Church in the work of healing and reconciliation.

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

Built on rock or built on sand? The ruins of Ballybunion Castle, Co Kerry (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.

Saint Savvas Chapel, a small, peaceful chapel on the beach that was part of the Battle of Crete

The small Chapel of Saint Savvas (Agios Savvas) is a 130-year-old monastic chapel below Preveli Monastery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This year marks the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Crete, which began on the morning of 20 May 1941, with multiple German airborne landings on Crete, and lasted for 12 days.

During the German occupation of Crete in World War II, 5,000 stranded Greek, Australian, New Zealand and British troops who fought in the Battle of Crete in 1941, found shelter in Preveli until the Abbot, Agathangelos Lagouvardos, aided their escape to Egypt on two submarines on the nights of 31 May and 1 June 1941 and 20 and 21 August 1941.

As I was looking back in recent days on old photographs of churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece that I had not written about, poducing a new guide to church buildings in Crete yesterday (24 May 2026), I came across photographs of two chapels I had visited but not yet written about: the small Chapel of Saint Savvas near the beach below Preveli Monastery, and the Chapel of Aghia Kyriaki in the Kourtaliotiko Gorge.

The Chapel of Saint Savvas is on the east bank of the Preveli Gorge in southern Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The small Chapel of Saint Savvas (Agios Savvas) is a peaceful, picturesque 130-year-old monastic chapel below Preveli Monastery, which I have visited two or three times, near the mouth of the Megapotamos River and a famous palm forest.

The chapel is on the east bank of the Preveli Gorge in southern Crete, at the point where the river meets the Libyan Sea, close to the sandy shores of Preveli Beach and near the Kourtaliotiko Gorge. The chapel is framed by the lush Cretan palm trees that line the riverbank, offering a striking contrast against the dramatic canyon walls.

Tourists usually reach the chapel and the beach on the tour boats that leave from nearby coastal villages such as Plakias, or by taking the hiking trail from the Preveli Beach parking area and crossing the riverbed.

This is the beach where allied forces who were hiding in Preveli Monastery were rescued dramatically in 1941 as the Nazi occupation forces tightened their grip on Crete. At one time there had been a Byzantine church or chapel on the site.

The beach at Preveli is lined with the Cretan palms or Phoenix Theophrasti (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The chapel of Agios Savvas is close to Lake Preveli, south of Rethymno, on the east bank at the mouth of Kourtalioti Gorge.

The chapel owes its origins to Meletios Tziritakis a monk from the village of Kerame. Before coming to the Monastery of Prevelis, he was a monk in the Monastery of Aghios Savvas in Palestine. Because of this association, he gave the name Saint Savvas to the chapel he built in 1884 on the ruins of an earlier Byzantine chapel dedicated to Saint George. Beside the chapel, he built a cell to live in.

Around and to the left of the church there are traces of ancient, mediaeval and Byzanitne buildings. While the monk was digging the foundations for his chapel, he discovered old tombs, confirming the presence of an ancient settlement and a pottery at Lake Preveli. The chapel was completed and dedicated in 1898.

The chapel’s white stone walls and terracotta roof, picked out against the green palms and deep blue sea make it one of the most photographed spots along that part of the southern coast of Crete.

The small chapel is usually guarded by a family of geese, and after a number of incidents involving campers who tried to sleep in the chapel overnight, the chapel is now usually locked and closed to visitors.

The beach is lined with the Cretan palms, Phoenix theophrasti, and its surroundings are protected by nature reserves. This protection means the beach is not spoiled by sunbeds or sun umbrellas at Preveli beach, although there is a small taverna at the mouth of the river, under shady trees, offering drinks and snacks during the tourist season.

A heart-shaped rock near the chapel and just off the beach is often called the ‘Love Rock’ or the ‘stone of lovers’ because of its shape.

A heart-shaped rock near the Chapel of Saint Savvas is often called the ‘Love Rock’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Sabbas (439-532), or Saint Savvas the Sanctified (Σάββας ὁ Ἡγιασμένος), was a Greek monk and priest who was born at Moutalaske near Caesarea in Cappadocia and lived mainly in Palaestina Prima. He was the founder of several convents, most notably Mar Saba in Palestine.

At the age of eight, he entered the monastery of Bishop Flavian of Antioch, and became a monk at 17. For many years he lived alone and in isolation in a cave before founding a monastery in the Kidron Valley, south of Jerusalem, in the year 484.

As an advocate of the Chalcedonian creed and strenuous opponent of the Monophysites and the followers of Origen, he tried to influence the emperors against them and he called personally on Emperor Anastasios I at Constantinople in 511 and on Justinian I in 531.

Saint Sabbas founded several more monasteries and is said to have wrought many miracles. He composed the first monastic rule of church services, the so-called Jerusalem Typikon, for use in all the Byzantine monasteries. He died in the year 532.

Crusaders took is relics in the 12th century and they remained in the Church of Saint Anthony in Venice until Pope Paul VI returned them to the monastery in 1965 as a gesture of good will towards the Orthodox Church. His Great Lavra is now known as the monastery of Mar Saba.

Local people near Preveli in southern Crete celebrate the feast day of the chapel on 5 December, with a number of commemorative events in the area.

Local people near Preveli celebrate the feast day of the Chapel of Saint Savvas on 5 December (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)