Praying at Christmas with USPG, (13): 6 January 2017

The Visit of the Magi and the Epiphany … an image in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany [6 January 2017], the last of the Twelve Days of Christmas. On this feastday, we remember that at his Epiphany, Christ was made manifest to all nations and to the peoples of the earth

During this Christmas season, I have been using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections each day.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs and work of the Anglican Church of Indonesia.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Friday 6 January 2017, The Epiphany:

As we remember that strangers are recognised and honoured in Christ, pray that all people of faith would hold in common the pursuit of justice and peace.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

Isaiah 60: 1-6; Psalm 72: 1-7, 10-15; Ephesians 3: 1-12; Matthew 2: 1-12.

The Collect of the Day:

O God,
who by the leading of a star
manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth:
Mercifully grant that we, who know you now by faith,
may at last behold your glory face to face;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion Prayer:

Lord God,
the bright splendour whom the nations seek:
May we, who with the wise men
have been drawn by your light,
discern the glory of your presence in your incarnate Son;
who suffered, died, and was buried,
and who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.

Series concluded

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (12): 5 January 2017

Inside All Saints’ Church, Jakarta … this week, the USPG Prayer Diary focuses on the needs and work of the Anglican Church of Indonesia

Patrick Comerford

This is the last day of my short city break in Rome [5 January 2017]. During these few days I have been visiting some important sites in Church history, and finding time too for prayer and for reflection.

We are still in the Christmas season, and each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs and work of the Anglican Church of Indonesia.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Thursday 5 January 2017:

Pray for church leaders in Indonesia as they seek to nurture Anglicans in discipleship. Pray that God might bless all Christians in their spiritual path.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

I John 3: 11-21; Psalm 100; John 1: 43-51.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
who wonderfully created us in your own image
and yet more wonderfully restored us
through your Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that, as he came to share in our humanity,
so we may share the life of his divinity;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Continued tomorrow

I have yet to ‘Cross the Tiber’ during this visit to Rome

‘Crossing the Tiber’ from Rome to the Vatican (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

‘Crossing the Tiber’ is a phrase that has been used since the 19th century to describe the decision by an Anglican, particularly an Anglo-Catholic, who joins the Roman Catholic Church.

The saying may have its origins in the term ‘crossing the Rubicon’ – the Rubicon was the boundary that no Roman general could cross with his legions. When Julius Caesar crossed this river and marched on Rome, he had made a defiant act of commitment and there was no turning back. Similarly, Anglicans who ‘cross the Tiber’ make an irrevocable commitment to the Church.

Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican City are on the west side of the Tiber River from classical Rome, which stands on the east side, with its famous seven hills: the Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal and Viminal hills. The Vatican Hill, north-west of the Tiber, the Pincian Hill to the north, and the Janiculum Hill to the west, were never counted among the traditional Seven Hills of Rome.

The idea of ‘Crossing the Tiber’ may have originated with Romans crossing from classical Rome or paganism to Christianity, represented by Saint Peter’s, through the waters of baptism, represented by the Tiber. By the mid-19th century, the term ‘Crossing the Tiber’ was used almost exclusively for Tractarians and Anglo-Catholics, such as John Henry Newman, when they ‘crossed over to Rome.’

The church historian William Maziere Brady (1825-1894) was one of the best-known Irish-born Anglo-Catholics to ‘Cross the Tiber.’

Brady was born in Dublin on 8 January 1825. His father, Sir Nicholas W Brady, was Lord Mayor of Dublin and was knighted by George IV when he visited Dublin.

After graduating from Trinity College Dublin in 1848, he was appointed curate of Maynooth, and in 1849 curate of Kilkeedy, Co Limerick. In 1851, he became curate of Saint Dolough’s, Dublin, and Rector of Farrahy, Co Cork. In the same year, he also married a direct descendant of the Caroline Divine, Jeremy Taylor.

Brady’s works included his three-volume Clerical and Parochial Records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross (Dublin, 1863), and he also published several works arguing for of the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland.

Soon after disestablishment, Brady went to Rome to pursue research in the Vatican archives. There, in May 1873, was received into the Roman Catholic Church by Monsignor Kirby, Rector of the Irish College at Rome.

In Rome, he became a private chamberlain to both Pope Pius IX and Pope Leo XIII. He wrote for the London Tablet and exchanged a lengthy correspondence with William Ewart Gladstone. He died of apoplexy in Rome on 19 March 1894, and was buried in the Campo Verano, where his grave is marked with a white marble Irish cross.

A later but equally prominent Irish-born Anglican to ‘Cross the Tiber’ was George Tyrrell (1861-1909), who became a Jesuit priest but was expelled from the Jesuits because of his modernist theological scholarship. Finally he was excommunicated in 1908, and he died the following year, still seeing himself as a devout Roman Catholic. He was refused t burial in a Roman Catholic cemetery, and his priest friend, Henri Brémond, was temporarily suspended a divinis by Peter Amigo, Bishop of Southwark, because he was present at the burial made a sign of the cross over Tyrrell’s grave.

The Magi have already arrived at the large crib in the centre of Saint Peter’s Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

I have yet to cross the Tiber on this visit to Rome. For I am staying on the west side of the Tiber, in the Hotel Franklin on Via Rodi in the Prati district, between the Vatican walls and Piazza Mazzini. I am just a few steps from the Vatican.

I walked through Saint Peter’s Square yesterday and through the Vatican City several times. The queues for both the Vatican Museums and Saint Peter’s Basilica seemed to snake and curve in unending lines, so instead two of strolled along the west bank of the Tiber, through the Janiculum area, past the Villa Farnesina and the Palazzo Corsini, through the Porta Settimiana, and then continued strolling through Trastevere, with its maze of narrow cobbled backstreets, alleys and squares.

This is one of the most picturesque quarters of old Rome, and we sat for a long time over a lingering lunch in the late afternoon in Tonarello, on the Via della Paglia, between Santa Maria in Trastevere and San Egidio, watching people passing by.

Perhaps my favourite church in Rome is Santa Maria in Trastevere – but more about this church later.

I notice in all the church I visit in Rome how they have elaborate cribs, with extensive tableaux. Although Epiphany does not arrive until Friday, the Magi have arrived in all these elaborate cribs, including the large crib in the middle of Saint Peter’s Square.

Later today, I hope to cross the Tiber to the east bank of the river and visit some of the classical sites and churches in the City of the Seven Hills.

In the narrow cobbled backstreets in Trastevere (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (11): 4 January 2017

Sunday worship in All Saints’ Church, Jakarta … this week, the USPG Prayer Diary focuses on the needs and work of the Anglican Church of Indonesia

Patrick Comerford

I am in Rome today [4 January 2017] for a few days on a city break, visiting some important sites in Church history, and finding time too for prayer and for reflection.

We are still in the Christmas season, and each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs and work of the Anglican Church of Indonesia.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Wednesday 4 January 2017:

Pray for the Anglican Church of Indonesia as it establishes schools to accompany its church-planting programme. Pray for education for all children in the country and pray for the church’s youth ministry.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

I John 3: 7-10; Psalm 98: 1, 8-10; John 1: 35-42.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
who wonderfully created us in your own image
and yet more wonderfully restored us
through your Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that, as he came to share in our humanity,
so we may share the life of his divinity;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Continued tomorrow

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (10): 3 January 2017

All Saints’ Church, Jakarta … this week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs and work of the Anglican Church of Indonesia

Patrick Comerford

I am on my way to Rome this morning [3 January 2017] for the next few days. This is planned as a city break before returning to work, but it is also an opportunity to visit some important sites in Church history, and to have time for prayer and reflection.

Of course, we are still in the Christmas season, and each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs and work of the Anglican Church of Indonesia.

All Saints’ Church (Anglican), which was established in Jakarta in 1819, is the oldest English-speaking church in Indonesia. Today, the church is under the episcopal care of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Singapore.

The Deanery of Indonesia was established in 1993 with the hope of laying the foundations for the future Diocese of Indonesia. The Anglican Church in Indonesia is formally registered as the Gereja Anglikan Indonesia (Anglican Church of Indonesia), and reaches out to the indigenous people of Indonesia.

Since 1993, GAI has established 30 churches in 10 provinces. There are two foundations, working in micro-financing and education, one full school and three kindergartens.

All Saints’ Church in Jakarta dates from 1819 and is the oldest English-speaking institution in Indonesia. It was first a base for the London Missionary Society’s mission to China, then a colonial chaplaincy and for the last 50 years has been an international church.

The name only dates from 1950. For over a century before that, the Dutch new it as Engelse kerk and the Indonesians as Gereja Inggris, literally ‘the English Church.’ At its foundation, the Church was a collecting station for missionaries trying to reach China, Japan and other Asian nations, and was bought in 1819 in the name of the London Missionary Society Mission Station in Batavia.

In 1843 the church became the Church of the British Protestant Community (BPC) because it became increasingly less of a missionary station and more a place of worship for the growing foreign community of Batavia (Jakarta).

At that time, the BPC Committee also became responsible for recruiting and paying chaplains. In 1950, the Church became known as All Saints’ Church and has become an International Church of abbout 30 different nationalities and many church backgrounds.

In the USPG Prayer Diary, the Revd Henok Hariyanto, of the Church of the Good Shepherd, wrote this week about his work on the island of Batam in a poor slum community.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Tuesday 3 January 2017:

Pray for the Anglican Church of Indonesia as it pursues its mission to plant churches in the capital [Jakarta] and key cities.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

I John 2: 29 to 3-6; Psalm 98: 2-7; John 1: 29-34.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
who wonderfully created us in your own image
and yet more wonderfully restored us
through your Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that, as he came to share in our humanity,
so we may share the life of his divinity;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Continued tomorrow

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (9): 2 January 2017

Inside Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick … today commemorates Saint Munchin of Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

Today, the Calendar of the Church of Ireland commemorates Saint Munchin, the patron saint of the Diocese of Limerick, and as I prepare to move to the parishes of Rathkeale, Askeaton and Kilcornan (Castletown) in the Diocese of Limerick and Kilnaughtin (Tarbert) in the Diocese of Ardfert, Co Ardfert, later this month [20 January 2017] and a new ministry in those dioceses, the parishioners and people of these areas are very much in my prayers and in my thoughts today.

Although New Year’s Day is over, the holiday atmosphere seems to continue, and because New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday today is another public holiday or bank holiday in Ireland [2 January 2016].

Of course, we are still in the Christmas season, and each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs and work of the Anglican Church of Indonesia.

Indonesia has an area of 2 million sq km, a maritime area or 7.9 million sq km, and more than 17,000 islands. The capital is Jakarta and the total population is about 224 million people, making Indonesia the fourth-most populous nation in the world.

Indonesia also has the world’s largest Muslim population. Islam is the largest religious group (87%) with Protestant Christianity at 6%, followed by Roman Catholicism (3%), Hinduism (2%), and Buddhism (1%).

Before the coming of Islam and Christianity, the islands of Java and Sumatra were occupied by two major empires: the Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya and then the Hindu kingdom of Majapahit. Islam arrived in the 12th century and by the end of the 16th century it was the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra.

Protestant Christianity came to Indonesia principally through the Dutch in the 17th century. The Dutch ruled Indonesia for 300 years until independence, and the Dutch Reformed Church remains the dominant Protestant Church in Indonesia.

The British invaded Java in 1811 and Thomas Raffles of British East India Company became the Lieutenant Governor of Java. In 1816, the British handed over the island of Java to the Dutch and All Saints’ Church (Anglican) was established in Jakarta in 1819. It is the oldest English-speaking church in Indonesia and at one time was the base for the London Missionary Society’s mission to China. Later, it became a colonial chaplaincy and an international church in the last 50 years.

All Saints’ Church is under the episcopal care of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Singapore.

In 1993, Bishop Moses Tay established the Deanery of Indonesia with the objective to lay the ground work for the future Diocese of Indonesia. The Revd Canon Dr James Wong was the first dean, and the Revd George Tay succeeded him. The church is formally registered as the Gereja Anglikan Indonesia (Anglican Church of Indonesia). The thrust of the church-planting efforts is to reach out to the indigenous people of Indonesia.

Since 1993, GAI has established 30 churches in 10 provinces. There are two foundations, working in micro-financing and education, one full school and three kindergartens.

In the USPG Prayer Diary, the Revd Henok Hariyanto, of the Church of the Good Shepherd, wrote yesterday about his work on the island of Batam in a poor slum community.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Monday 2 January 2017:

Give thanks for the mission of Henok and the Church of the Good Shepherd on Batam Island, Indonesia. Pray for healing in the community

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

I John 2: 22-28; Psalm 98: 1-4; John 1: 19-28.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
who wonderfully created us in your own image
and yet more wonderfully restored us
through your Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that, as he came to share in our humanity,
so we may share the life of his divinity;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Continued tomorrow

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (8): 1 January 2017

The Naming and Circumcision of Christ … a stained-glass window in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

We have reached a new year and today is New Year’s Day. This is the First Sunday after Christmas, and in the Calendar of the Church today also marks the Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Christ.

We are still in the Christmas season, and each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs and work of the Anglican Church of Indonesia.

In the USPG Prayer Diary today, the Revd Henok Hariyanto, of the Church of the Good Shepherd, in the Anglican Church of Indonesia, writes:

‘I want to write about a poor slum community on Batam island. Politicians promise them many things, then do nothing after being voted into power. There are many social problems, such as gambling, domestic violence and theft.

‘The first time we visited, a young man had crashed his motorcycle because he was drunk. He was ling in the street, bleeding. People thought he had died. While we tended to him, his brother and friends, also drunk, with many tattoos, came to fight us. We were sacred and decided not to enter the community.

‘But two days later, a man came to apologise on behalf of the men. We felt that this was a sign from God to go back to the community.

‘We started to build relationships by offering medical care and distributing food. And five years on we have a community centre with a library and a daily programme for children.

‘We offer counselling and we hold sports events which bring people together.

‘Though this community was initially reluctant to accept us, they can now see what we have achieved together.’

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Sunday 1 January 2017, the Naming and Circumcision of Christ:

Thank you Lord for this New Year,
For all the possibilities it will bring.
Be close to those who enter it with fear,
and inspire all to move forward in your name.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

Numbers 6: 22-27; Psalm 8; Galatians 4: 4-7; Luke 2: 15-21.

The Collect of the Day:

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

Post Communion Prayer:

Eternal God,
whose incarnate Son was given the name of Saviour:
Grant that we who have shared in this sacrament of our salvation
may live out our years
in the power of the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Continued tomorrow

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (7): 31 December 2016

‘Give thanks for the work of the Anglican Church in the Holy Land as it reaches out to people of all faiths and from all walks of life’ … with Archbishop Suheil Salman Dawani of Jerusalem in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, earlier this month

Patrick Comerford

We have reached the end of the month, the end of an old year, and New Year’s Eve. Tomorrow is New Year’s Day and the Christmas season continues. Each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas, I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs of mothers and children in Palestine and Israel.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Saturday 31 December 2016:

Give thanks for the work of the Anglican Church in the Holy Land as it reaches out to people of all faiths and from all walks of life.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

I John 2: 18-21; Psalm 96: 1, 11-13; John 1: 1-18.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
you have given us your only-begotten Son
to take our nature upon him
and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin:
Grant that we, who have been born again
and made your children by adoption and grace,
may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Continued tomorrow

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (6): 30 December 2016

‘Pray for the churches of Palestine and all Christian NGOs who reach out to people of all faiths with God’s love’ … ‘Our Lady who Brings Down Walls,’ the concluding display from Bethlehem at the Elias Icon Exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral in 2014 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Christmas season continues, and each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs of mothers and children in Palestine and Israel.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Friday 30 December 2016:

Pray for the churches of Palestine and all Christian NGOs who reach out to people of all faiths with God’s love.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

I John 2: 12-17; Psalm 96: 7-10; Luke 2: 36-40.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
you have given us your only-begotten Son
to take our nature upon him
and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin:
Grant that we, who have been born again
and made your children by adoption and grace,
may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Continued tomorrow

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (5): 29 December 2016

Two plaques on a street corner in London recall that Saint Thomas Becket was born in Cheapside (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

The Christmas season continues, and today [29 December 2016] the Church of England recalls Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, who was martyred on this day in 1170, with a lesser festival in Common Worship. It is one of those important links between the Christmas message and the cost of discipleship.

Each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs of mothers and children in Palestine and Israel.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Thursday 29 December 2016:

Pray for God’s care for the mothers of disabled children in Palestine, many of whom face discrimination in their communities.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

I John 2: 3-11; Psalm 96: 1-4; Luke 2: 22-35.

The Collect of the Day (Common Worship):

Lord God,
who gave grace to your servant Thomas Becket
to put aside all earthly fear
and be faithful even to death:
grant that we, disregarding worldly esteem,
may fight all wrong,
uphold your rule,
and serve you to our life’s end;
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.

Continued tomorrow

‘If you didn’t get to see the Baby Jesus in the Crib, I’m sorry, it was me’

A crib without the Baby Jesus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This is not my story. I came across it on a closed group on social media that I am not a member of and that I should not have access to. But it is such a good story I thought it was worth retelling. I have changed it slightly, when it comes to spelling, punctuation and grammar, and I have changed the location and some of the details to disguise the original storyteller. If it did not happen in Wexford, it happened in another Irish town, and it is worth retelling.

For years, I have hidden my secret.

The shame of it.

My mother always hoped that nobody would find out. She wouldn’t be able to show her face in public if anybody ever knew.

I didn’t see it as a big deal, but I promised never to tell anyone as it would embarrass her.

Well, here goes and I hope you can forgive me.

In 1969, I stole the Baby Jesus from the Friars’ Crib.

There was panic when it was noticed that the Baby Jesus was missing from the Crib.

Two friars knocked on all the doors in Davitt Road, while a third friar knocked at all the houses on Saint John’s Road and the streets and avenues off it, looking for the missing Baby Jesus.

I think something like that had happened around the time of his birth – men in uniforms knocking on doors, looking for him.

The Guards were sent for and two policemen and a Special Branch man came knocking on our door. They said: ‘Are you the boy who took the child?’

A woman down John Street had said she thought she saw a little blond-haired boy with a baby on the crossbar of his bike pedaling around Mannix Place and Menapia Avenue. So, the Guards knocked on the doors of all the kids with blond hair.

When they knocked at our house I was out on my new bike that I got from Santa. My mother told them I was out playing, that she would ask me when I got in, and she would let them know.

It was about 3.30 when I came in to go to the toilet. I put my new bike in the sitting room so it would not get robbed. I was having a tinkle when I heard my mother scream.

I ran out of the toilet, wetting my leg, to see if she was alright. As I ran into the kitchen, I got the hardest ‘larrap’ of a wooden spoon any child ever survived.

‘What do you think you are up to?’ the Ma screamed at me.

‘What is the Baby Jesus doing on the crossbar of your bike? The priests and the police are looking everywhere for him. What sort of child are you, stealing the Baby Jesus from the crib?’

My mother was a very rational, logical cool-headed woman, not prone to over-exaggeration or embellishment. So, when she said I could go to jail for kidnapping the Baby Jesus from the Friary Crib I was really scared.

I said I was sorry.

‘Sorry isn’t good enough, you little brat. You stole the figure of the Baby Jesus.’

I was still crying from the slap of the wooden spoon while I tried to explain to my mother that I had been praying to God every night for nearly two months for a new bike for Christmas.

‘I told him I would be good and share it with my sisters. I even promised that if he gave me a new bike for Christmas that I would give the baby Jesus a go. So, when I went around to the Crib I remembered my promise and took the Baby Jesus from the crib and put him on the crossbar and brought him for a go on my bike.’

My Ma had to sneak the Baby Jesus back into the Crib without being noticed.

So, if you were one of the people who visited the Crib in the Friary on 5 January 1969 and didn’t get to see the Baby Jesus, I’m sorry.

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (4): 28 December 2016

The Killing of the Holy Innocents, by Giotto (ca 1304-1306), Padua

Patrick Comerford

The Christmas season continues, and today [28 December 2016] is the feast of the Holy Innocents. Each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs of mothers and children in Palestine and Israel.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Wednesday 28 December 2016, The Holy Innocents:

Give thanks for all Israeli doctors who co-operate with Caritas Baby Hospital and for those who strive to obtain further treatment for patients in Israel.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

Jeremiah 11: 15-17; Psalm 124; I Corinthians 1: 26-29; Matthew 2: 13-18.

The Collect of the Day:

Heavenly Father,
whose children suffered at the hands of Herod:
By your great might frustrate all evil designs,
and establish your reign of justice, love and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion Prayer

Eternal God,
comfort of the afflicted and healer of the broken,
you have fed us this day at the table of life and hope.
Teach us the ways of gentleness and peace,
that all the world may acknowledge
the kingdom of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Massacre of the Holy Innocents, Alexey Pismenny

Continued tomorrow

Basking in the long-setting winter sun in Loughshinny and Skerries

The setting sun casts its rays across the beach at Loughshinny (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

The post-Christmas crisp winter weather continues. Around mid-day, the grey clouds pushed back, and there was a clear blue sky with few clouds over Fingal in north Co Dublin.

Two of us planned to go to Skerries for a walk on the beaches and a late lunch in the Olive. But our way was blocked by a Garda patrol at Loughshinny, where we were told the coast road was closed between Loughshinny and Skerries.

Not to be deterred from our plans for an early afternoon beach walk, we turned down to Loughshinny and parked the car overlooking the horseshoe-shaped beach and the small fishing harbour.

The tide was out and there were no trawlers at work in Loughshinny this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016; click on image for a full-screen view)

The tide was out, there were no trawlers at work, and there was just a handful of people walking on the beach and along the quay wall.

Although it is observable that the days are beginning to stretch out a little in the late evening, the sun was already beginning to set slowly, sitting like an orange balloon above one of the promontories, and casting its rays across the calm, still waters.

As we prepared the leave, a large family group was on the beach, playing with their dogs, and the lights and colours of the long-setting sun cast a sepia-like set of tones across the scene.

Clear blue skies and blue waters at Skerries Harbour this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

The police checkpoint was still blocking the coast road from Loughshinny to Skerries, and instead we made a circuitous way by Baldongan and by the Hills Cricket Club into Skerries.

We walked along the South Beach and up around the harbour, where the lights of the long-setting sun were still casting their rays across the Harbour and the North Beach.

Back in Skerries, we had a late lunch in the Olive and two double espressos, before being joined by two friends from Balbriggan. By the time we got back to the South Beach for another walk on the sand, the sun had already set and grey clouds were beginning to fill the sky.

The afternoon sun was taking a long time to set in Loughshinny this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016; click on image for a full-screen view)

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (3): 27 December 2016

Saint John depicted above the main gate of Saint John’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Christmas season continues, and today [27 December 2016] is the feast of Saint John the Evangelist. Each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs of mothers and children in Palestine and Israel.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Tuesday 27 December 2016, Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist:

Pray for all mothers in Palestine who have stillbirths; the natal rate is four times higher than in nearby Israel.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

Exodus 33: 7-11a; Psalm 117; I John 1: 1-9; John 21: 19b-25.

The Collect of the Day:

Merciful Lord,
cast your bright beams of light upon the Church;
that, being enlightened by the teaching
of your blessed apostle and evangelist Saint John,
we may so walk in the light of your truth
that we may at last attain to the light of everlasting life
through Jesus Christ your incarnate Son our Lord.

Post Communion Prayer

Grant, O Lord, we pray,
that the Word made flesh proclaimed by your Apostle John
may ever abide and live within us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

An icon of Saint John the Divine in the cave on Patmos listening to the voice that tells him to write

Continued tomorrow

Enjoying Pentland’s Post Office and sea views in Blackrock ‘on the feast of Stephen’

John Howard Pentland’s Post Office is an important of the streetscape in Blackrock, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016; click image for full-size view)

Patrick Comerford

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even.

Today is the Feast of Saint Stephen [26 September 2016], but while the weather is bright and crisp, there is no snow in Dublin this Christmas week, either deep or even.

After a busy Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in Christ Church Cathedral, I felt very lazy yesterday afternoon and evening. Two of us took advantage of the bright, crisp winter weather this afternoon to waken up with a short crisp walk along the seafront at Blackrock, Co Dublin.

The tide was out, and from the bridge over the railway line at Idrone Terrace there were clear views out to Dun Laoghaire to the east, Dublin Bay and the Pigeon House stacks to the west, and Howth Head to the north.

Later, during a walk through the quiet Main Street of Blackrock, I stopped to admire the Post Office at No 36 Main Street, Blackrock, was designed in 1905-1909 by the architect John Howard Pentland. This Post Office, like many post offices built at this time, features brick and stone extensively. The public office has high windows and sills allowing for desks or counters to be sited underneath them. Good quality signage completes the look of post offices of this period.

The new post office in Blackrock was built by GW Scott & Co of Usher’s Quay, Dublin, and opened on 1 November 1909.

The architect John Howard Pentland (1855-1919), who was born in Lurgan, Co Armagh, on 30 July 1855, was a son of Thomas Pentland, a bank manager, and his wife, who was a daughter of Thomas Carroll, of Dublin, and a sister of the architects Thomas Henry Carroll, Howard Carroll and James Rawson Carroll.

From 1872 to 1877, Pentland was a pupil of his uncle James Rawson Carroll. At Trinity College Dublin, he distinguished himself in engineering, classics and languages, and he graduated from TCD in 1877 (BA, BAI, special honours).

For the next two years, Pentland was a working pupil of Sir Thomas Newenham Deane, before returning to his uncle’s office as an assistant in 1879, becoming a partner in 1882. The practice of Carroll & Pentland continued until 1884, when Pentland was appointed an assistant surveyor of buildings in the Board of Works. In 1891, he became head of the Board of Works architectural department as senior surveyor and principal surveyor.

John Howard Pentland’s Post Office is an important of the streetscape in Blackrock, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Pentland designed several post offices for the Board of Works, including the post offices on Shelbourne Road, Ballsbridge (1891), James’s Street, Dublin (1892-1893), North Circular Road, Phibsborough (1892-1893), the Parcel Sorting Office, Amiens Street, Dublin (1893), Main Street, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh (1899), Westport, Co Mayo (1899-1901), Church Street, Castlebar, Co Mayo (1902), Tullamore, Co Offaly (1909), Athy, Co Kildare (1909-1910), and Oliver Plunkett Street, Co Cork (1914).

For many years, Pentland was involved in enlarging and remodelling the General Post Office in O’Connell Street, Dublin, completed only weeks before the building was destroyed in the Easter Rising in 1916.

Around 1890, he designed the arch into Donnybrook Graveyard erected by members of Dublin Stock Exchange as a tribute to his father-in-law, Graves Searight, president of the Dublin Stock Exchange. This arch was relocated when the road through Donnybrook was widened.

His best-known work in Dublin is the Fusiliers’ Arch built in 1906-1907 at the north-west entrance to Saint Stephen’s Green, Dublin, in memory of members of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who died in the Boer War.

He was a founder member of the revived Architectural Association of Ireland in 1896, and served as both vice-president (1896-1898, 1902-1903) and president (1898-1899). He was also a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (MRIAI, 1883, FRIAI, 1903), a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1889), a member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (MRSAI, 1888), and a Member of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA, 1895).

Pentland and his wife Marian, daughter of Graves Searight, were the parents of an only daughter Marian.

He lived at a number of addresses in Rathmines, including 16 Moyne Road (1883-1887), 7 Ormond Road (1887-1893), and Lis na Crun, Cowper Road (1894-1896), before moving to 4 Lansdowne Gardens, Shelbourne Road (1907-1918). He worked from office at 176 Great Brunswick Street until 1883, and then from the Office of Public Works (1884-1918).

Pentland retired in 1918, and after a short illness he died on 15 November 1919. He was buried in Deansgrange Cemetery.

After a walk along the seafront at Idrone Terrace and through the streets of Blackrock, we stopped for double espressos in Insomia. But the signs of homelessness in the shopfronts and doorways still reminded me of the true meaning of Christmas:

Therefore, Christian men, be sure,
wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor,
shall yourselves find blessing.

A view across Dublin Bay and out to Howth Head from the railway bridge at Idrone Terrace in Blackrock, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016; click image for full-size view)

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (2): 26 December 2016

The first Christmas … the Nativity scene in a stained-glass window in the north ambulatory in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

Christmas Day is over, but the Christmas season continues, and today [26 December 2016] is the feast of Saint Stephen the Deacon and First Martyr. Each morning throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas I am using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), for my morning prayers and reflections.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs of mothers and children in Palestine and Israel.

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Monday 26 December 2016, Saint Stephen, Deacon and First Martyr:

Pray for Palestine’s public health system, which is under enormous strain due to Israeli import restrictions, a lack of resources and often badly qualified personnel.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

II Chronicles 24: 20-22; Psalm 119: 161-168; Acts 7: 51-60; Matthew 10: 17-22.

The Collect of the Day:

Gracious Father,
who gave the first martyr Stephen
grace to pray for those who stoned him:
Grant that in all our sufferings for the truth
we may learn to love even our enemies
and to seek forgiveness for those who desire our hurt,
looking up to heaven to him who was crucified for us,
Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Advocate,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever..

Post Communion Prayer

Merciful Lord,
we thank you for these signs of your mercy,
we praise you for feeding us at your table
and giving us joy in honouring Stephen,
first martyr of the new Israel;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Continued tomorrow

Reflecting on the meaning of Christmas in an icon of the Nativity from Rethymnon

A modern version of the traditional Orthodox icon of the Nativity of Christ by Alexandra Kaouki (Αλεξανδρα Καουκι) of Rethymnon

Patrick Comerford

So you have been to Midnight Night Mass, or you have been to Church this morning for Christmas Day. Christmas dinner may be over, the children may be playing with their toys, someone is flicking the channels on the television, and you have decided to surf the net for a little while this evening. Perhaps you may even be wondering how you can find a few minutes to think about the meaning of Christmas once again before the evening comes to an end.

To help our reflections on the meaning of Christmas and the Incarnation of Christ, I have turned to an Icon of the Nativity from the work of a Cretan iconographer whose work I have come to know and appreciate in recent years.

My friend Alexandra Kaouki (Αλεξανδρα Καουκι), who has a studio on Melissinou Street, just beneath the slopes of the Venetian fortezza in Rethymnon, is one of the most interesting icon writers in Crete today. She works on modern, bright and vibrant icons and frescoes that are true to the tradition and inherited styles, but with contemporary relevance and impact. During my visit to Crete this year, I watched her work on her new icon of the Dormition, commissioned for the Feast of the Dormition [15 August].

In the past week, she has reposted on her Facebook page her interpretation of the traditional Orthodox icon of the Nativity of Christ, dating from 2011 and in the Church of Aghios Symeon in the village of Ano Mera on the Cycladic island of Mykonos.

The five main characters or sets of characters in the Christmas story – Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, the Shepherds and the Angels, and the Wise Men – are seen in the icon of the Nativity, which gives a very different take on the Christmas story than the ones found on popular Christmas cards in northern Europe.

In the Orthodox tradition, the icon of the Nativity of Christ shows the Creator of the Universe entering history as a new-born babe, and the impact of his birth on the natural life of the world.

The background of the icon traditionally displays an inhospitable world, the world since our expulsion from Paradise. In the centre of the icon are the Virgin Mary, the central and disproportionately large figure, who is seen resting in a cave, and the Christ Child as a baby in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. Around the icon, we can see details from the Christmas story.

The icon is rich with theological symbolism.

The Christ Child

The little helpless figure in swaddling clothes represents the complete submission of Christ to the physical conditions governing the human race.

The earth provides him with a cave. The animals watch over him in silent wonder and we humans offer him one of us, the Virgin Mother. His manger is like a coffin and his swaddling clothes are very much like the grave clothes, for this child is born to die.

Far from the Christmas-card image of being born in a sweet, cosy stable, surrounded by cuddly animals and adoring fans, Christ is born in a dark cave. The craggy rocks above the cave form the shadow of the cross on which he dies.

One very old version of the Christmas story has it that Christ was born in a cave outside Bethlehem, which is why the icon shows him that way, in the midst of jagged rocks and pitch dark. Christ has come into the world to save it, but that means he has come into a place of darkness and danger. He is in the depths. His birth anticipates his death, just as the gift of myrrh (a spice used in burials) points us to Christ’s death and burial.

So, while the nativity is a joyful event, it carries a serious message. Jesus Christ is God with us, God come to live the life of a human being on earth. But he has also come to die, to set us free from our slavery to evil, poverty and injustice. As one writer puts it: “God became a human child so that we might become children of God.”

The Virgin Mary

The Virgin Mary is known in Orthodoxy as the Theotokos, the God-bearer or Mother of God. Although the Virgin Mary is the most dominant figure in the icon, she is not the most important. Here she is seated, but in some versions of this icon she is shown kneeling, still concerned.

The Virgin Mary is right at the centre of the Christmas story, which is why she is at the centre of this icon. It was her ‘yes’ spoken to the angel who told her she would give birth to Christ which set the whole story in motion. It was her belief that God could do what he promised that made it all possible. And it was she who gave birth and laid her son in a feeding trough for cattle, due to overcrowding in Bethlehem.

In this icon, we see the Virgin Mary lying on a sort of long, red cushion – it almost looks like a bean bag – with the Christ Child in his makeshift cot by her side. She is pulling her cloak around her for warmth, and perhaps she is trying to catch some sleep after the exhaustion of giving birth. The icon-writer presents Virgin Mary like this to remind us that the birth of Christ – like any birth – was hard work and that it was a human event. Jesus Christ was fully human. The way the Virgin Mary wraps herself in her cloak and turns to get some sleep tells us that.

But Jesus Christ was more than just a human being, as we are told in the words of the nativity narratives in the Gospels, and through the images in this icon.

The Star

The sky salutes the Christ Child with a star, the light of wisdom. This is a sign that Christ came for everyone. Some icons have three rays from the star, representing the Holy Trinity.

The Shepherds

The shepherds and the Wise Men or Magi bring their gifts as signs that Christ has come for everyone.

Saint Luke’s Gospel has a special emphasis on the poor and disadvantaged, on people living on the margins of society. While Saint Matthew’s Gospel focuses on the Wise Men who travelled from the East, Saint Luke’s spotlight falls on these working men, who hear the news about the birth of Christ from heaven itself.

The shepherds are on the right-hand side of the icon. One lone young shepherd looks up and is blessed by an angel looking down on him. Below this shepherd, the sheep drink in a river, a reminder that Christ is the Good Shepherd. In some icons a shepherd is shown wearing a wreath as he plays his flute, showing the joy of the Good News. Saint Luke is the only evangelist to mention the shepherds in his Gospel.

Christ later says: ‘I have come to bring good news to the poor.’ The shepherds in the story remind us of God’s love for those who are forgotten and left behind in our world.

The Wise Men

The Wise Men are on the left-hand side of the icon. Sometimes they are shown on icons on horseback, their faces turned up looking for the star that has led them to Bethlehem. In those icons, the uphill angle of the horses tells of the long, hard journey of the wise men, and how important the event was to them. Perhaps they alone in this story have realised something of what was truly happening. And the speed of their horses tells us of the urgency and danger in their part of the story.

The wise men are also part of the Christmas story, and they bring not just their strange and exotic gifts but they also bring the world of politics and military power into the story. King Herod, a violent and cunning ruler who was paranoid about holding on to his power, is alarmed by his unexpected visitors. Eventually, he orders the horrific massacre of all new-born baby boys in Bethlehem in an attempt to liquidate any rival to his throne, no matter how young he may be.

They show how the story of the incarnation of Christ was rooted in the real world of political corruption and intrigue, with a ruler who was prepared to kill anyone who stood in his way. It is this real world of oppression, death and danger that Christ has come to save.

The tree

Below the centre of the icon is a tree, representing the Jesse Tree in Old Testament prophecy, which says that a shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse, the father of King David: ‘A shoot shall sprout from the stump (tree) of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him’ (Isaiah 11: 1-2).

The ox and ass

Christ comes into the world that does not recognise him for who he is. The ox and the ass near the centre of the icon are also referred to in an Old Testament prophecy: ‘The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand’ (Isaiah 1: 3). In some icons, including this one, the ox and ass are near the Christ child, providing warmth from their breath.

Saint Joseph

The Righteous Joseph is shown away from the Christ Child and the Virgin Mary, to the bottom left. This is to show that he was not involved in the miracle of the Incarnation of the Son of God, but that he was the protector of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.

Saint Joseph reminds us of a very human dilemma in the Nativity stories: how could the Virgin Mary be pregnant? It was a scandalous thing (see Matthew 1: 18-24).

From Saint Matthew’s Gospel, it is clear that Saint Joseph did not believe the Virgin Mary’s explanation of how she had conceived. It was only after a dream that he accepted the Virgin Mary as his wife.

In the icon, Saint Joseph has head turned down from facing the Virgin Mary, listening to his doubts and fears. He cuts an isolated figure, right at the bottom of the picture, and he looks thoroughly fed up with everything. And yet, despite any lingering doubts he may have harboured, Saint Joseph has an important place in the whole icon. Doubt can help us get honest with God and with ourselves.

The tempting old man

The man speaking to Saint Joseph represents the devil bringing new doubts to Saint Joseph. The devil suggests that if the infant were truly divine he would not have been born in the human way. This argument, presented in different forms, keeps on reappearing throughout the history of the Church, and is the foundation of many heresies.

In the person of Saint Joseph, the icon discloses not only his personal drama, but the drama of all humanity, the difficulty of accepting that which is beyond reason, the Incarnation of God. But the Virgin Mary in the centre, from her reclining position at the centre of the icon, looks at Saint Joseph as if trying to overcome his doubts and temptations.

The Angels

The angels in the icon are glorifying God, tending to the action, and ministering. They are announcing the Good News to the shepherds, or singing. One angel in the middle group is kneeling or bowing in worship before Christ, lying in his cave, while the angels to the left on the icon are standing like a choir, singing.

The midwives

Some icons of the Nativity also show at the bottom right the women who were midwives, telling us that Christ was born in the normal way and would have needed washing, as a regular human baby does.

The Birth of Christ, a Christmas icon by Juliet Venter, 2012

Prayer and reflection

Spend a few moments in thought and prayer while you are at your computer or laptop. If it is now night-time, dim or turn off the lights in your room. If it is possible, light a candle or night-light and think of the Virgin Mary and her ‘yes’ to God. Remember her open-hearted faith.

If you have some of those Christmas cards you have received close to hand, take three or four of them and pray for the people who have sent them to you. Or perhaps pray for those you are thinking of most at the moment.

Here is a prayer to pray for yourself and others:

May God shield us
May God fill us
May God keep us
May God watch over us.
May God bring us
To the land of peace
To the country of the king
To the peace of eternity.

‘The Incarnation,’ by Eleftheria Syrianoglou ... a ‘table icon’ on olive wood in an exhibition in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Praying at Christmas with USPG, (1): 25 December 2016

The first Christmas … the Nativity scene in an icon in the Lady Chapel in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

Christmas Day has arrived. Throughout Advent, I have been praying each morning using for my reflections the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), and I have decided to continue to use this prayer diary for my morning prayers and reflections today, Christmas Day, and during the Twelve Days of Christmas that follow.

This week, the prayers in the USPG Prayer Diary focus on the needs of mothers and children in Palestine and Israel.

In an article in the prayer diary, Johannes Zwig, a former USPG mission companion in Jerusalem, and now a lecturer on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a Holy Land tour leader, writes:

‘Mohammed’s eyes are big and black. His ears stick out a bit. While laughing, two small teeth appear. He is indeed a cute boy. But his mother is really concerned about the health of her ninth child. At birth his weight was only 2kg and, a year later, he was still severely under-weight.

‘His parents decided to travel from their home in Dura, near Hebron in the West Bank, to Caritas Baby Hospital in Bethlehem, a distance of about 40k. The journey is not a huge enterprise, but in an area under military occupation, with many army checkpoints, this can be an undertaking of two or more hours.

‘At the hospital, close to the Israeli separation wall, Mohammed underwent many tests. Food intolerance has been excluded. Now the doctors are waiting for more results before providing treatment.

‘Caritas Baby Hospital, founded in 1952, provides 82 beds. There are 240 Christian and Muslim employees making the hospital the second biggest employer in Bethlehem. The Christian institution treats more than 30,000 children each year – mainly for diseases related to poverty. ‘The hospital is a place of hope,’ according to former member of staff Reto Mischler.’

The USPG Prayer Diary:

Sunday 25 December 2016, Christmas Day:

Lord, today you were born homeless and laid in a manger.
Fill is with compassion for all in need today.
Help us to respond to your most generous gift,
of Jesus Christ, with loving service to others.

On this day, we also light the fifth and final candle in the centre of the Advent Wreath, marking the birth of Christ in Bethlehem:

Jesus
Holy God, your only son was born with no home and laid in a manger;
fill us with compassion for all in need today.
Bless your church as it works for dignity, healing and peace
across the world, and give us generous hearts
to respond to your most generous gift,
of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):

Isaiah 9: 2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2: 11-14; Luke 2: 1-14 (15-20).

The Collect of the Day:

Eternal God,
who made this most holy night
to shine with the brightness of your one true light:
Bring us, who have known the revelation
of that light on earth,
to see the radiance of your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Post Communion Prayer

God our Father,
in this night you have made known to us again
the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Confirm our faith and fix our eyes on him
until the day dawns
and Christ the Morning Star rises in our hearts.
To him be glory both now and for ever.

Continued tomorrow

A week that reminds us of ‘how fragile we are’

‘If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one / Drying in the colour of the evening sun’ … sunset at the harbour in Skerries two weeks ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

Earlier this week, I was writing about one Christmas carol and one Christmas song that I have found myself listening to again and again: The ‘Coventry Carol’ and ‘Stop the Cavalry’ (1980) by Jona Lewie. They have reminded me throughout this Christmas season of both the Ministry of Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral and my involvement with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) at the height of the Cold War in the late 1970s and the 1980s.

Since then, two incidents have reminded me that we have still not removed the threats of nuclear war and that we still live in a very fragile world.

Donald Trump has stunned the world by appearing to call for a renewed arms race on his Twitter feed and in a TV interview. ‘Let it be an arms race,’ the US president-elect is said to have told Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe programme, in an early phone call yesterday [23 December 2016]. He went on to say: ‘We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all.’

Trump’s incendiary remarks follow a tweet on Thursday [22 December 2016] in which he threatened to preside over a major ramping up of the US nuclear arsenal: ‘The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.’

Meanwhile, 12 people were killed and 56 others were injured in a terrorist attack on Monday night [19 December 2016], when Tunisian-born Anis Amri a truck was driven into the Christmas market near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin. Anis Amri was killed early yesterday in a shoot-out with Italian police near Milan.

The fears of a new Cold War and nuclear arms race that are being stoked by Trump, before he even takes office, and terrorist attacks on the streets of a European capital in the days before Christmas, and the consequent fears of a new rise of racism and Islamophobia, have reminded me of two songs from the 1980s by Sting, ‘Russians’ (1985) and ‘Fragile (1987).



‘Russians’ was recorded by Sting for his debut solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, released in July 1985, and it was released as a single the following November. The song was released in the final years of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union, stoked by the deployment of Cruise, Pershing and SS 20 missiles, and the plans for a new ‘Star Wars’ escalation of the nuclear arms race.

The melody was inspired by the ‘Romance’ theme from the Lieutenant Kijé Suite written by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev for the film Lieutenant Kije (1933).

The lead-in includes a snippet from the Soviet news program Vremya in which the Soviet news broadcaster Igor Kirillov says in Russian: ‘...The British Prime Minister described the talks with the head of the delegation, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, as a constructive, realistic, practical and friendly exchange of opinions...’ This refers to the meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher in 1984.

In the background, we can also hear communications from the Apollo–Soyuz mission.

Sting later recalled: ‘In this political climate a friend of mine, who was doing research at Columbia University in New York, had a computer system sophisticated enough to intercept the Soviet’s TV signal from their satellite above the North Pole. On a Saturday night in New York City we could watch Sunday morning programmes for the kids in Russia. The shows seemed thoughtful and sweet, and I suddenly felt the need to state something obvious in the face of all this rhetoric: Russians love their children just as we do.’

Sting’s lyrics ask rhetorically if Russians love their children, too, and question why the Russians and the Americans are taking part in the Cold War.

The song speaks to both sides in the Cold War:

There is no monopoly on common sense
On either side of the political fence.

It describes the thoughts of ordinary people in both superpowers in the early 1980s and protests against the concepts of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ (MAD) and of a limited or ‘winnable’ nuclear war:

There’s no such thing as a winnable war
It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore.

It then recounts and rejects the views of both President Ronald Reagan and his proposals for the ‘Star Wars’ initiative:

Mr Reagan says ‘We will protect you’
I don’t subscribe to this point of view.’

But Sting is even-handed – he has already rejected the bellicose views of the Soviet Prime Minister, Nikita Khrushchev:

Mr Khrushchev said we will bury you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view.

‘Little Boy’ was the name of the first atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. ‘Oppenheimer’s deadly toy’ refers to Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who invented the atomic bomb.

He hopes that the ‘Russians love their children too,’ since this would apparently be the only thing that would save the world from eventual obliteration by nuclear weapons.

Sting originally wanted to record this song in Russia with the Leningrad State Orchestra. However, he told Record in 1985: ‘Unfortunately I came up against the bureaucracy that politicians put in front of you. It’s not easy to get into the Soviet Union to make a record – and it should be.’

The Cold War was in its final years when ‘Russians’ was released. Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader in 1985, and in 1989, Gorbachev and George Bush snr declared the Cold War over at the Malta Summit. The Soviet Union was dissolved two years later.

In Europe and America,
there’s a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets.

Mr Khrushchev said we will bury you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too.

How can I save my little boy
from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy.
There is no monopoly in common sense
On either side of the political fence.

We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too.

There is no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the President
There’s no such thing as a winnable war
It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore.

Mr Reagan says we will protect you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too.

We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me, and you
Is if the Russians love their children too.



The second song by Sting I am thinking of this Christmas Eve is ‘Fragile,’ which he recorded in 1987 for his second studio album, Nothing Like the Sun, and released as a single the following year. He has also recorded this track in both Spanish and Portuguese.

The song is a tribute to Ben Linder, an American civil engineer who was killed by the Contras in 1987 while he was working on a hydroelectric project in Nicaragua.

The song features in the 1992 Academy Award winning documentary film The Panama Deception, telling the story of the US invasion of Panama in December 1989.

‘Fragile’ was the opening song in Sting’s ‘All This Time’ concert, recorded on the evening of the 9/11 attacks on 11 September 2001. Sting sang ‘Fragile’ last month to open his concert at the reopening of the Bataclan in Paris on 12 November 2016, a year after the 2015 Paris terror attacks.

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the colour of the evening sun
Tomorrow’s rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay.

Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime’s argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are.

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are.

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are,
How fragile we are how fragile we are.

‘The sweet and silly Christmas things’

‘The Irish Times’ publishes the following, full-length editorial on 13 this morning, Christmas Eve, 24 December 2016:

Searching for meaning
‘The sweet and silly
Christmas things’

Earlier this month, Philip Larkin joined the pantheon of poets when he was honoured with his own plaque in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was recognition for a poet who had refused all the trappings of establishment life, including a nomination as Poet Laureate.

While he was a student at Oxford in 1940, Larkin spent Christmas with his parents in Lichfield, the Midlands cathedral city they moved to during the Coventry Blitz. In those weeks, Larkin wrote three poems including Christmas 1940. These poems were never published in his lifetime and first came to public attention in 1992, almost seven years after his death. Larkin was a secularist who spurned all links with polite society and with the church. Yet he was nostalgic for the Church as an embodiment of tradition and community, and he was, as he said, “an agnostic, I suppose, but an Anglican agnostic, of course.”

In Christmas 1940, Larkin is a young man standing atop Borrowcrop Hill, looking down on the cathedral city on one side and on the open English countryside on the other, enthralled by the beauty of creation – “the night … full of stars”, “tree and farm”, “living stars flung from east to west”, “the windless gulf”. Despite his “Anglican atheism”, Larkin suggests in many of his poems, including Church Going and An Arundel Tomb, that he wants the Church to continue its rites and rituals, if only because they provide social cement as society faces disintegration.

As faith and belief lose their grip on society throughout northern Europe, those rites and rituals persist – to catch imaginations, to provide meaning and significance and to explain how we share values. And these truisms come to life most explicitly in this Season of Christmas.

We continue to bring trees from the countryside into urban homes, as though we retain memories of the need to care for and to preserve the beauty of creation when the harshness of mid-winter seems to threaten survival itself. We decorate our homes and frost the windows of shops with reminders of “living stars flung from east to west”, re-creating an awe for the splendour of the cosmos even when we forget how a star led the Wise Men to Bethlehem. We convince our children of the truth of Santa Claus, though we have long forgotten Saint Nicholas of Myra who combined his defence of Christian dogmas with the defence of children, and who gave generously to save children from abuse and trafficking.

The Christmas message is refashioned in each generation, told and retold in each age. But at the heart of this message is a story that challenges us when we become consumed with consumerism, and when we forget the truths that lie behind the first Christmas story. We retell the Christmas message every time we send Christmas cards to those we need to remember. The poet John Betjeman – the poet Philip Larkin was expected to succeed as Poet Laureate – recalled in Advent 1955:

… I remember
Last year I sent out 20 yards,
Laid end to end, of Christmas cards
To people that I scarcely know –
They’d sent a card to me, and so
I had to send one back.

Most of our Christmas cards still illustrate scenes of the first Christmas: the stable in Bethlehem, the angelic host, the shepherds tending their flock, the visiting Magi, the homeless family who became refugees in Egypt. How often we send cards without reflecting on the significance and relevance of these scenes. The yards of cards, laid end to end among our decorations, should remind us of the needs of a homeless family with a child at Christmas, the cruelty of capricious and despotic rulers and factions in the Middle East, and the plight of refugees in a region once known as the Holy Land.

A stable is not appropriate housing for a homeless couple when she is pregnant; but then neither is a doorway nor an occupied office block. The Christmas story continues to confront us with the inadequacies of our society and the paucity of our priorities. And it challenges us to ask why many European leaders, who claim they are defending a Christian Europe, have turned their backs on the plight of refugees in the very parts of the Mediterranean basin where Christianity was born.

Having questioned the meaning of a consumer-obsessed Christmas, John Betjeman turns to seek its true meaning:

And is it true? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare –
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.