Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 28, Thursday 4 June 2026, Corpus Christi

The Communion vessels on a side altar after the Eucharist in Christ Church, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

We have returned to Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar. This week began with Trinity Sunday (31 May 2026), and in the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today is the Feast of Corpus Christi (4 June 2026) or the Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion.

I have some long journeys ahead of me later today, and I am going to miss this evening's readings and rehearsals by the local playreading and drama group in the library in Stony Stratford. But before today begins, as I wait in Luton Airport, 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.

Christ present in the Eucharist … an icon in the central door of the iconostasis in the Church of Aghia Triada in Kalamitsi Alexandrou in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 6: 51-58 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 51 ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ 53 So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’

The emblem of the Guild of Corpus Christi in Leicester, the Host and Chalice, seen in 15th century glass fragments in the Mayor’s Parlour in the Guildhall in Leicester (Photographs: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s reflections:

The Cambridge priest-poet Malcolm Guite, in a posting on his blog two years ago (30 May 2024), recalled how the Feast of Corpus Christi was marked in mediaeval times with a processions in which the consecrated elements were taken out of the church and processed on the streets, ‘showing that the Word made flesh was not just in a box labelled ‘church’ but in our midst, just as he was on the streets of Nazareth and Jerusalem’.

The Feast of Corpus Christi is marked in the calendar of many Anglican churches on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, and is being celebrated in many English churches and cathedrals today. For example, there is a Solemn Eucharist in Lichfield Cathedral at 7:30 this evening, when the setting is Benjamin Britten’s Missa Brevis. Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth, is celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi with the Sung Eucharist at 7:30 pm.

Traditionally, there has been a Corpus Christi procession in Cambridge each year, with the Sung Eucharist at St Bene’t’s Church at 7 p.m., then moving along Trumpington Street, passing Corpus Christi College, Fitzbillies and the Fitzwilliam Museum as it processes to Little Saint Mary’s for Benediction, followed by refreshments.

Pusey House in Oxford is celebrating Corpus Christi this week evening with High Mass at 6 pm and a Corpus Christi procession to Keble College Chapel, the preacher this evening is the Right Revd Dr John Hind, sometime Bishop of Chichester.

At All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street, London, the Corpus Christi celebrations include High Mass at 6.30 pm, when the preacher is Father David Houlding, who has chaired the Catholic Group on General Synod; the music includes: Missa Aeterna Christi Munera by Palestrina Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, and Tantum Ergo by Henschel.

In that blog posting marking the Feast of Corpus Christi in 2024, Malcolm Guite also offered a trio of sonnets about the experience of receiving Holy Communion, each from a slightly different angle.

His first two sonnets were published in Sounding the Seasons (2012), his cycle of 70 sonnets for the Church Year. The book is available on both Amazon UK and the USA, and is also out on Kindle:

1 Love’s Choice

This bread is light, dissolving, almost air,
A little visitation on my tongue,
A wafer-thin sensation, hardly there.
This taste of wine is brief in flavour, flung
A moment to the palate’s roof and fled,
Even its aftertaste a memory.
Yet this is how He comes. Through wine and bread
Love chooses to be emptied into me.
He does not come in unimagined light
Too bright to be denied, too absolute
For consciousness, too strong for sight,
Leaving the seer blind, the poet mute;
Chooses instead to seep into each sense,
To dye himself into experience.

2, Hide and Seek

Ready or not, you tell me, here I come!
And so I know I’m hiding, and I know
My hiding-place is useless. You will come
And find me. You are searching high and low.
Today I’m hiding low, down here, below,
Below the sunlit surface others see.
Oh find me quickly, quickly come to me.
And here you come and here I come to you.
I come to you because you come to me.
You know my hiding places. I know you,
I reach you through your hiding-places too;
Touching the slender thread, but now I see –
Even in darkness I can see you shine,
Risen in bread, and revelling in wine.

Malcolm Guite’s third sonnet for Corpus Christi is about the 16th century oak communion table in the Church of Saint Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge, and is from his book The Singing Bowl (2013), also published by Canterbury Press:

3, This Table

The centuries have settled on this table
Deepened the grain beneath a clean white cloth
Which bears afresh our changing elements.
Year after year of prayer, in hope and trouble,
Were poured out here and blessed and broken, both
In aching absence and in absent presence.
This table too the earth herself has given
And human hands have made. Where candle-flame
At corners burns and turns the air to light
The oak once held its branches up to heaven,
Blessing the elements which it became,
Rooting the dew and rain, branching the light.
Because another tree can bear, unbearable,
For us, the weight of Love, so can this table.

A recent Corpus Christi procession at Pusey House, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 4 June 2026, Corpus Christi):

A new edition of Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), was published last week, in time for the USPG conference in the High Leigh, Hertfordshire, which opened on Tuesday (2 June) and continues until today (4 June). The theme this week, from 31 May to 6 June 2026 (pp 6-7), is ‘Peacebuilding in the Gulf’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection from Saint Christopher’s Cathedral in Bahrain.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 4 June 2026, Corpus Christi) invites us to pray:

We give thanks for the gift of Holy Communion, in which Christ nourishes and sustains us. May it inspire us to love and serve one another with humility.

The Collect:

Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament
you have given us the memorial of your passion:
grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries
of your body and blood
that we may know within ourselves
and show forth in our lives
the fruits of your redemption;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

All praise to you, our God and Father,
for you have fed us with the bread of heaven
and quenched our thirst from the true vine:
hear our prayer that, being grafted into Christ,
we may grow together in unity
and feast with him in his kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The emblem of the Guild of Corpus Christi in Leicester, the Host and Chalice, seen in 15th century glass fragments in the Guildhall in Leicester (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 2025: 41, Thursday 19 June 2025, Corpus Christi

The emblem of the Guild of Corpus Christi in Leicester, the Host and Chalice, seen in 15th century glass fragments in the Guildhall in Leicester (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time: this week began with Trinity Sunday (15 June 2025), and today is the Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion or the Feast of Corpus Christi (19 June 2025).

Later this morning, I plan to attend the mid-week Eucharist in All Saints’ Church, Calverton. But before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

Christ present in the Eucharist … an icon in the central door of the iconostasis in the Church of Aghia Triada in Kalamitsi Alexandrou in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 6: 51-58 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 51 ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ 53 So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’

The emblem of the Guild of Corpus Christi in Leicester, the Host and Chalice, seen in 15th century glass fragments in the Mayor’s Parlour in the Guildhall in Leicester (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

The Feast of Corpus Christi is marked in the calendar of many Anglican churches on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, and is being celebrated in many English churches and cathedrals today. For example, there is a Solemn Eucharist in Lichfield Cathedral at 5.30 this evening. Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth, is celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi with the Sung Eucharist at 7:30 pm, followed by a sherry and shortbread reception.

Traditionally, there has been a Corpus Christi procession in Cambridge each year, with the Sung Eucharist at St Bene’t’s Church at 7 p.m., then moving along Trumpington Street, passing Corpus Christi College, Fitzbillies and the Fitzwilliam Museum as it processes to Little Saint Mary’s for Benediction, followed by refreshments. The guest preacher this evening is Mother Alice Goodman, Rector of Fulbourn.

Pusey House in Oxford is celebrating Corpus Christi this week evening with High Mass at 6:30 pm with Procession and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The preacher is Bishop Norman Banks, sometime Bishop of Richborough.

At All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street, London, the Corpus Christi celebrations include High Mass at 6.30 pm, the Procession down Oxford Street and Benediction. The preacher is Father Grant Naylor, Vicar of Saint Matthew’s, Carver Street, Sheffield, who preached at the Corpus Christi Celebrations in Pusey House last year.

In Rose Macaulay’s The Towers of Trebizond, Father Hugh Chantry-Pigg says Mass in a corner of the public gardens in Trebizond to mark the Feast of Corpus Christi. After Mass, he holds a procession round the gardens, chanting Ave Verum, stops, preaches a short sermon in English, and says that Corpus Christi is a great Christian festival and holy day, ‘always kept in the Church of England.’

The survival of Corpus Christi in the Anglican tradition is also illustrated in the history of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Formally known as the College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary, this is the only Cambridge college founded by the townspeople of Cambridge: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Today, Corpus Christi is best known to visitors to Cambridge for its clock, the Chronophage or ‘Time Eater,’ which is accurate only once every five minutes. But the Old Court in Corpus is the oldest court in any Oxbridge college.

The new college acquired all the guild’s lands, ceremonies and revenues, including the annual Corpus Christi procession through the streets of Cambridge to Magdalene Bridge, during which the Eucharistic host was carried by a priest and several of the college’s treasures were carried by the Master and fellows, before returning to the college for an extravagant dinner.

The procession in Cambridge continued until the Reformation, but in 1535 William Sowode, who was Parker’s predecessor as Master (1523-1544), stopped this tradition. However, the college retains its pre-Reformation name and continues to have a grand dinner on the feast of Corpus Christi.

In the calendar of the Church of England, Corpus Christi is known as The Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion (Corpus Christi) and has the status of a Festival. But in many parts of the Roman Catholic Church, it has now been moved from the Thursday after Trinity Sunday to the following Sunday. Yet, in the Roman Catholic Church, the feast of Corpus Christi is one of the five occasions in a year when a bishop must not to be away from his diocese unless for a grave and urgent reason.

Corpus Christi does not commemorate any one particular event in the life of Christ or in the history of the Church – but the same can be said too of Trinity Sunday (last Sunday, 15 June 2025) or the Feast of Christ the King (the Sunday before Advent). Instead, this day celebrates the presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Corpus Christi first made an appearance in the Church Calendar at the suggestion of Saint Juliana of Liège, a 13th century Augustinian nun, when she suggested the feastday to her local bishop, Bishop Robert de Thorete of Liège and the Archdeacon of Liège, Jacques Pantaléon.

The bishop introduced the feastday to the calendar of his diocese in 1246, and the archdeacon subsequently introduced it to the calendar of the Western Church when he became Pope Urban IV in 1264, when he issued a papal bull, Transiturus de hoc mundo.

A liturgy for the feast was composed by the great Dominican theologian, Saint Thomas Aquinas, who also wrote the hymns Verbum Supernum Prodiens for Lauds and Pange Lingua for Vespers of Corpus Christi.

The last two verses of Pange Lingua are often sung as a separate Latin hymn, Tantum Ergo, while the last two verses of Verbum Supernum Prodiens are sometimes sung separately as O Salutaris Hostia.

This was the very first universal feast ever sanctioned by a Pope. Corpus Christi was retained in Lutheran calendars until about 1600, and continues to be celebrated in some Lutheran churches.

Anglicans generally and officially believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist – is there any ‘presence’ that is not ‘real’? But the specifics of that belief range from transubstantiation, to something akin to a belief in a ‘pneumatic’ presence, from objective reality to pious silence.

Anglican teaching thinking about the Eucharist is best summarised in the Prayer of Humble Access:

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen. – (Book of Common Prayer, 1662)

The classic Anglican aphorism with regard to this debate is found in a poem by John Donne that is often attributed to Queen Elizabeth I:

His was the Word that spake it;
He took the bread and brake it;
and what that Word did make it;
I do believe and take it.

This, in many ways, also reflects Orthodox theology, which does not use the term ‘transubstantiation’ to systematically describe how the Gifts become the Body and Blood of Christ. Instead, the Orthodox speak of the Eucharist as a ‘Sacred Mystery’ use only the word ‘change.’ That moment of transformation of change does not take place at one particular moment during the Liturgy, but is completed at the Epiclesis.

And that completion is affirmed by our ‘Amen’ at the distribution and reception.

But when we say ‘Amen’ to those words, ‘The Body of Christ,’ at the distribution we are also saying ‘Amen’ to the Church as the Body of Christ, as Corpus Christi: ‘He [Christ] is the head of the body, the church’ (Colossians 1: 18), ‘which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all’ (Ephesians 1: 23).

In the act of communion, the entire Church – past, present, and even future – is united in eternity. In Orthodox Eucharistic theology, although many separate Divine Liturgies may be celebrated, there is only one Bread and one Cup throughout all the world and throughout all time.

Corpus Christi is not just a celebration for Roman Catholics and Anglo-Catholics. It is part of the shared pre-Reformation heritage of the Church, and long pre-dates Tridentine teachings on the Eucharist and transubstantiation.

It is a reminder too that the Eucharist is supposed to be a regular celebration for the Church, and not just once a month, once a quarter or once a year. As someone reminded me recently, if Christ had meant us to celebrate the Eucharist only on special occasions, he would have used cake and champagne at the last Supper. But he used ordinary everyday bread and table wine.

The Corpus Christi procession at Pusey House in Oxford last year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 19 June 2025, Corpus Christi):

‘Crossing the Channel’ is the theme this week (15-21 June) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Bradon Muilenburg, Anglican Refugee Support Lead.

The USPG prayer diary today (Thursday 19 June 2025, Corpus Christi) invites us to pray:

Lord Jesus, we thank you for the gift of Holy Communion, a symbol of your love and sacrifice. May we be strengthened in faith, united in your body, and empowered to share your love with the world.

The Collect:

Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament
you have given us the memorial of your passion:
grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries
of your body and blood
that we may know within ourselves
and show forth in our lives
the fruits of your redemption;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

All praise to you, our God and Father,
for you have fed us with the bread of heaven
and quenched our thirst from the true vine:
hear our prayer that, being grafted into Christ,
we may grow together in unity
and feast with him in his kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Posters on the street in Oxford for today’s Corpus Christi celebrations in Pusey House (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

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

Corpus Christi is being celebrated in many cathedrals, churches and college chapels throughout the Church of England today

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 40, Wednesday 18 June 2025

Classical masks on sale near the Acropolis in Athens … the word ‘hypocrite’ comes from the Greek word for an actor who masked or hid his face (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time and this week began with Trinity Sunday (15 June 2025), and tomorrow is the Feast of Corpus Christi (19 June 2025). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Bernard Mizeki (1896), Apostle of the MaShona, Martyr, 1896.

I spent much of yesterday in London, but there was an interesting dimension, with visits to five or six churches and chapels in Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia and Mayfair. I am planning to go to a coffee morning this morning to celebrate 50 years of the library in Stony Stratford. There is no choir rehearsal in Stony Stratford this evening as the choir begins its summer recess. But before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

A classical Greek mask in a museum in Naxos in Sicily … the word ‘hypocrite’ comes from the Greek word for an actor who masked or hid his face as he said someone else’s words (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 1 ‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

5 ‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

16 ‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’

A T-shirt on sale in the Plaka in Athens … we are challenged to bring together our words and deeds, our needs ‘to be’ and ‘to do’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading for the Eucharist this morning (Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18) continues our readings from the Sermon on the Mount, and today’s reading is familiar to many as the Gospel reading on Ash Wednesday.

So, this morning I am reflecting on the meaning of the word ‘hypocrite’ which is repeated three times in this passage (verses 2, 5, 16).

Sometimes our comfortable differences can trip us up in ways that surprise or even embarrass us.

A priest colleague who is not from these islands once told me how, within weeks, he came a cropper in a new parish. He comes from a society and a culture where people speak openly and directly. He regards this as a mark of efficiency and a sign of his honesty.

But this did not go down well at all in his new parish. When he told parishioners what he wanted to do, he thought he was being frank, honest and direct. But they immediately saw him as abrupt, abrasive and rude.

In his next parish, he knew he needed to be a little less direct and a lot more diplomatic.

We all know what diplomats mean when they say talks have been frank and honest: bruising encounters with no one behaving in what we might call a civilised manner, or behaving towards each other like Christians.

We respond instinctively as if we expect to be treated politely and that others expect us to treat them politely too.

I offer two examples of how I think Ireland and England are unique in this respect. In other countries, when people pay for a service, they feel that they are doing someone a favour, giving them their custom and their money, and so walk away when the transaction is complete. It is a bonus for them if the person at the till says as they leave, ‘Thank you.’

But here, on these islands, we respond differently: when we pay in a shop or café, or get off a bus or train, it is we, the paying customers, who say ‘Thank You!’

Or again: How often have I asked someone for information that I know or expect them to have – looking for directions on the street, or asking for information at an airport or a train station. And every now and then we meet someone who is curmudgeonly, who got out on the wrong side of the bed, or is just downright rude. And they answer brusquely, ‘I don’t know,’ or ‘Look at the timetable.’

And what do I say in reply? I say, ‘Thank You!’

I am just too Anglo-Saxon with my manners for my own good at times. I put on a polite mask, and I put up.

And sometimes we confuse those good manners with the answer we expect to that perennial question, ‘What Would Jesus Do?’

Well, when we look at what Jesus does in so many Gospel readings, we may be shocked. English is a polite language, and translators add their own polite priorities and good manners to how they translate what Jesus says in the original and very direct Greek into palatable, modern English.

This morning, we hear what sounds like Jesus being very rude about some very religious people. He calls them hypocrites seeking the praise of others in public places (verses 2, 5), and accuses them of being tow-faced (verse 16) on false .

The word hypocrite comes from classical Greek drama. This word (ὑποκριτής, hypokrités) was used for an actor who on stage puts on a mask and speaks the words of someone else. The actor with the mask could have subtitles with a disclaimer: ‘These are not my words, I am only using the words of Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes … or one of the other great playwrights.’

So, a hypocrite was an actor, a pretender, a dissembler, a hypocrite who puts on a mask and says something that represents someone else’s ideas, but that he does not necessarily believe himself.

But when Jesus says other religious leaders or teachers are hypocrites, he is challenging them to drop the mask and to own the words they speak and to own the reasons for their prayers and rituals.

I bought a T-shirt in the Plaka in Athens some years ago that said:

To do is to be – Socrates
To be is to do – Plato
Do be do be do – Sinatra

If what we pray or say does not match how be behave or what we do, if our words are not reflected in actions, then we are hypocrites, using the words of others but behaving in our own way.

We should beware whenever prayer and piety get in the way of true religion: loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving your neighbour as yourself. Beware when our piety separates us from others, for then it also separates us from God.

‘When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing’ (Matthew 6: 3) … a classical-style statue at Vergina restaurant in Platanias, near Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 18 June 2025):

‘Crossing the Channel’ is the theme this week (15-21 June) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Bradon Muilenburg, Anglican Refugee Support Lead.

The USPG prayer diary today (Wednesday 18 June 2025) invites us to pray:

Heavenly Father, give wisdom and compassion to political leaders and advocates. Please inspire a spirit of compassion so that harmful policies are changed.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
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:

Almighty and eternal God,
you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
and live and reign in the perfect unity of love:
hold us firm in this faith,
that we may know you in all your ways
and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory,
who are three Persons yet one God,
now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Holy God,
faithful and unchanging:
enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,
and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,
that we may truly worship you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Collect on the Eve of Corpus Christi:

Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament
you have given us the memorial of your passion:
grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries
of your body and blood
that we may know within ourselves
and show forth in our lives
the fruits of your redemption;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites’ (Matthew 6: 16) … empty tables at a restaurant in Panormos near Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

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 2024: 25, 2 June 2024, Trinity I

The symbol of the Holy Trinity in the outer circle of the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This is the First Sunday after Trinity (2 June 2024), and Trinity Sunday was celebrated last Sunday (26 May 2024). However, the Feast of Corpus Christi was last Thursday (30 May 2024), and its celebration has been transferred to today in many parishes, including Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.

In the week after Trinity Sunday, I illustrated my prayers and reflections with images and memories of six churches, chapels and monasteries in Greece I know that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity. I am continuing that theme this week with images from churches, chapels or cathedral in England that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

StonyLive!, a celebration of the cultural talent in and around Stony Stratford, began yesterday and continues until next Sunday (9 June). There is a variety of cultural activities in venues around Stony Stratford this weekend, with drama, music, comedy, art, dance and spoken word, and a Classic Car Show today.

Later this morning, I hope to sing with the choir in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, at the Corpus Christi Mass and procession. This morning’s anthem is Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus. 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 prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

A symbol of the Holy Trinity on the noticeboard in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton, reflecting the image in the East Window (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 2: 23-28, 3: 1-6 (NRSVUE):

23 One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food, 26 how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions?” 27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath, 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

1 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 They were watching him to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

The East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton:

Trinity Sunday last Sunday was the Patronal Festival of Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton. This is a Grade II* listed church, incorporating Saxon and mediaeval elements, and it was rebuilt in 1809-1815. This is the original parish church of the Saxon settlement of Wolverton, on a prominent site overlooking the valley of the River Ouse, close to the mound of a Norman motte and bailey castle first built by Manno the Breton.

The mediaeval church in Old Wolverton was replaced in the early 19th century. The new church incorporates the 14th-century central tower of the old church, although this was re-cased in new masonry as a west tower.

Holy Trinity Church now consists of a chancel, nave, transepts and west tower. The tower dates from the 14th century and the rest of the building from 1815, when the church was rebuilt and the tower encased, the work being carried out in the Norman style.

An important scheme of decoration began in the church in 1870. This was designed by Edward Swinfen Harris (1841-1924), an eminent Victorian and Edwardian architect in Stony Stratford. His aim was to give the interior a more full-blooded character, inspired by mediaeval church interiors. This included brightly coloured woodwork, vivid stained glass windows, and wall paintings, combined with stencilled decoration by the firm of Bell and Almond.

Inside, the church is dominated by the great round East Window, with Portland stone tracery of eight lobes round a large central circle. The stained glass in this East Window, dating from 1888, was designed by Nathaniel Westlake – who also designed the Swinfen Harris windows in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford – and was made by Lavers and Westlake.

Holy Trinity lost its patron and benefactor in 1970 when the Radcliffe Trust sold the Wolverton estate to the Milton Keynes Development Corporation. The Parks Trust established by Milton Keynes Development Corporation looks after the parkland setting of church, and the earthworks of the larger village which the church used to serve in the Middle Ages, in the field to the west.

Worship at Holy Trinity Church ranges from traditional liturgies, including sung Book of Common Prayer liturgies, as well as contemporary services, Taizé-style services and some fresh expressions styles of worship.

The team ministry with Saint George’s began in 1973. Holy Trinity is grouped with Saint George the Martyr in Wolverton, the rector is the Revd Gill Barrow-Jones, and the other clergy are the Revd Francesca Vernon and the Revd Chibuzor Okpala.

The East Window by Nathaniel Westlake (1888) dominates the chancel and Holy Trinity Church in Old Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 2 June 2024, Trinity I):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Volunteers Week.’ This theme is introduced today by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG:

Read Matthew 25: 34-40 and reflect on good deeds

Volunteers’ Week is a national celebration of the amazing contributions volunteers make to communities across the UK. This year celebrations run from 3-9 June. Find out more and how you can get involved at www.uspg.org.uk

Acts of kindness are so often hidden, such as picking up a lost toy on the pavement and placing it on the fence nearby in hopes that the owner will find it. Or offering to get that just-out-of-reach item from the top shelf at the supermarket for a petite shopper.

In this passage, Jesus tells us that kind acts align with Kingdom values and are seen by the King Himself. God knows that in those moments when we are moved to act out of compassion, empathy or gentleness, we are demonstrating our salvation. We act from a position of redemption.

Jesus came to show us how to live and share his love. When we do good to those around us and offer our time and talents for the advancement of the Kingdom of God, we partner with God.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (2 June 2024, Trinity I) invites us to pray:

Father in Heaven,
We thank you for those in self-supporting ministry
such as chaplains, parish ministers, and others.
They give their time, without pay,
to bring the gospel to those in their communities.

The Collect:

O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
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.

Post Communion Prayer:

Eternal Father,
we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts:
may our communion strengthen us in faith,
build us up in hope,
and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton, is the original parish church of the Saxon settlement of Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

The new edition of the USPG Prayer Diary ‘Pray With the World Church’ covers the period from 2 June 2024 to 30 November 2024

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 24, 1 June 2024

The former Ionian Parliament building in Corfu became Holy Trinity Anglican Church in 1870 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This week began with Trinity Sunday (26 May 2024), and tomorrow is the First Sunday after Trinity, although the celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi has been transferred to tomorrow in many parishes, including Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.

In this week after Trinity Sunday, I have been illustrating my prayers and reflections with images of six churches, chapels, cathedral or monasteries in Greece I know that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

In the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (1 June), we remember Justin Martyr of Rome (1 June).

StonyLive!, a celebration of cultural talent in Stony Stratford, begins today and continues until 9 June. There is a variety of cultural activities around Stony Stratford this weekend, with drama, music, comedy, art, dance and spoken word, and a Classic Car Show tomorrow. The festival begins today with the Day of Dance (High Street), the Festival Fringe (Stables Yard behind Vaults Bar), Town Barn Dance (Market Square) and live music all over the town.

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 prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The former chaplain’s residence now serves as Holy Trinity Church, Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 11: 27-33 (NRSVUE):

27 Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28 and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” 31 They argued with one another, “What should we say? If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”—they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. 33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Holy Trinity Church maintains an Anglican presence and outreach in the heart of Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Holy Trinity Church, Corfu:

There has been an Anglican presence in Corfu since 1814, when Corfu and the other Ionian Islands became a British Protectorate. The High Commissioner, the administrators, and the soldiers and sailors based in Corfu, required a place of worship, and a chapel was built in the Doric style in the Old Fortress and was named Saint George.

Saint George’s remained the garrison church until 1864, when Corfu and the other Ionian Islands were incorporated into the modern Greek state. The Greek Parliament in Athens wanted to turn the old fortress into a military base, and Saint George’s became an Orthodox church.

Indeed, this was the church where Prince Philip, later the Duke of Edinburgh, was baptised according to the rites of the Greek Orthodox Church in 1921.

When the former Anglican Church of Saint George in the Old Fortress in Corfu became a Greek Orthodox in 1864, the Anglican community was left without a church. On the other hand, with the incorporation of Corfu and the Ionian Islands into the Greek state, Corfu no longer needed a parliament building. The Greek government offered the former Ionian Parliament building to the Anglican community. The building was designed by a Corfiot architect John Chronis.

The gift was ratified in Greek law in 1869, and the building was given to the ‘British community of Kerkyra (Corfu) of the Anglican faith so long as it might serve as a house of worship of the said persuasion.’

The deed of consecration was signed in 1870, the Ionian Parliament building became Holy Trinity Church, and the premises to the rear became the parsonage or residence of the Anglican chaplain.

Holy Trinity Church was in a unique position because it belonged not to the British Government nor any church body, but solely and entirely to the Anglican community in Corfu. The church flourished from 1869, with a permanent resident chaplain until 1940, and for 71 years the church served the island’s many British residents.

At the outbreak of World War II, most British residents left Corfu, and the Commonwealth and Continental Church Society (now ICS) was appointed trustee of the church.

The church was bombed during World War II, leaving only parts of the outside walls. Although the parsonage to the rear suffered bomb damage, it provided shelter for the Maltese community. However, with the slow return of British residents to post-war Corfu, the Mayor of Corfu took advantage of this situation, the city took over the church, restored the building, and retained it.

Later, through negotiations, the residence part of the building was retained, repaired and served many uses. While he was the British Vice Consul, Major John Forte set about recovering this part of the building. Major John Forte is also known for reviving the game of cricket in Corfu, and for helping to prevent L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, from setting up a university on Corfu in 1968.

On Easter Day 1971, Holy Trinity Church Corfu reopened on a permanent basis for the first time in 31 years.

For more than half a century later, Holy Trinity Church has been part of the Diocese in Europe and has a vital congregation that continues to reach out to residents and visitors alike in Corfu.

Saint George’s Church was an Anglican and garrison church in Corfu until 1864 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 1 June 2024):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Renewal and Reconciliation.’ This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Programme Update by Rachael Anderson, Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (1 June 2024, Global Day of Parents) invites us to pray:

We pray for all parents and those who parent across the world. May they be given any support they need to raise their children in a healthy and happy environment.

The Collect:

God our redeemer,
who through the folly of the cross taught your martyr Justin
the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ:
remove from us every kind of error
that we, like him, may be firmly grounded in the faith,
and make your name known to all peoples;
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.

Post Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr Justin:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity I:

O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
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 reflection

Continued tomorrow

Major John Forte is known for reviving the game of cricket in Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Celebrating Corpus Christi at the mediaeval guildhall built in Leicester by the Guild of Corpus Christi

The emblem of the Guild of Corpus Christi in Leicester, the Host and Chalice, seen in 15th century glass fragments in the Guildhall in Leicester (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

The Feast of Corpus Christi is marked in the calendar of many Anglican churches on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, and this day is being celebrated in many English churches and cathedrals today (30 May 2024).

For example, the Eucharist was celebrated in Lichfield Cathedral at 12.30 today, Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth, is celebrating the Feast of Corpus Christi with the Sung Eucharist at 7:30 pm, followed by sherry and shortbread refreshments.

There is a Corpus Christi procession in Cambridge each year, with High Mass in Saint Bene’t’s Church at 7 p.m., then moving along Trumpington Street, passing Corpus Christi College, Fitzbillies and the Fitzwilliam Museum as it processes to Little Saint Mary’s for Benediction, followed by refreshments.churc

I plan to be in Oxford later today for the Corpus Christi celebrations, with High Mass in Pusey House at 6:30, and a Procession to Saint Barnabas Church, Jericho, and Benediction. The preacher is the Revd Grant Naylor, Parish Priest of Saint Matthew's, Carver Street, Sheffield.

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary. But, it seems, many towns and cities in England had guilds dedicated to Corpus Christi. Last week I visited the Guildhall in Leicester, built in the 14th century by the Guild of Corpus Christi, and where the signs of the guild – the host and chalice of Corpus Christi – can be glimpsed in coloured fragments of medieval stained glass.

The Guild of Corpus Christi in Leicester built the Great Hall in Leicester in 1390 as the guild hall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Guild of Corpus Christi was founded as a religious body in Leicester in 1343, and at one time was the most powerful organisation in the mediaeval town, bringing together the post powerful people in social, political and commercial life in a religious group.

The guild was a select group of influential businessmen and gentry founded, and the guild was the richest in the town and a powerful force in medieval Leicester.

The Guild of Corpus Christi had its own altar and guild chapel in Saint Martin’s Church (now Leicester Cathedral), and it financially supported four chantry priests who prayed for the souls of deceased guild members. In times of need, the guild members offered each other practical and financial assistance and spiritual and prayerful support.

The emblem of the Guild was the Host and Chalice, and can be seen in many of the fragments of 15th century painted glass windows in the Mayor’s Parlour in the guildhall. The annual guild procession took place through the streets of Leicester on the Feast of Corpus Christ.

The guild moved from temporary premises in 1390 when the Great Hall was built in as the guildhall or meeting place. Originally the Great Hall had a beaten earth floor which would have been laid with rushes and heated by an open hearth, with smoke rising to the roof. Leicester Guildhall in its present form incorporates a later Tudor extension to the original Great Hall.

From its earliest days, the Guild was a powerful force in the mediaeval borough. Ordinances in 1477 gave the masters of the guild precedence over the mayor and council.

Inside the Guildhall, built by the Guild of Corpus Christi, in Leicester (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Guildhall was a building of importance during the reign of Richard III (1483-1485). Many of the guild’s members were associated with the Corporation of Leicester, which began using Leicester Guildhall as a place of assembly from 1494-1495 or probably earlier.

During the Tudor reformation, the Guild of Corpus Christi was dissolved in 1547. The Corporation then bought the guildhall, and by 1563 the building had become Leicester’s first Town Hall with its west wing, including the Mayor’s Parlour, added in 1589.

The painted panels in the Great Hall ceiling are from the 1600s and show the coat of arms of the borough and the arms of the Hastings family. Over the Hastings coat of arms is a painted quotation reminding courts and corporations that ‘God shall bring every work into judgement.’

The painted panels in the Great Hall ceiling include the coat of arms of the borough and the arms of the Hastings family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Over the centuries, Leicester Guildhall has had many different uses. In the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as being used for civic business, the Quarter Sessions were held there and public meetings, civic dinners, concerts and dramatic entertainment were hosted. There is a tradition that William Shakespeare was a member of one of the theatre companies that performed within its walls.

The Great Hall was also the venue for banquets at times of high festivals. The Mayor held a feast in the Guildhall to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Arms and armour were kept in the building at this time in readiness for possible invasion.

The Town Library moved into Leicester Guildhall from the bell tower of nearby Saint Martin’s Church in 1632. It is the third oldest public library in the country. The library rooms were originally quarters for the chantry priests of the Guild of Corpus Christi.

Volumes in the library include the Codex Leicestrensis, an important manuscript of the New Testament in Greek dating to the 1400s, a Latin grammar of 1592 with the signature of the playwright Ben Jonson, a contemporary of Shakespeare, a copy of William Harvey’s 1639 classic work on the circulation of blood. De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis, and a New Testament in an American Indian language intended for missionary work in New England.

The elaborate decorative features in the Mayor’s Parlour date from the early 17th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The elaborate decorative features in the Mayor’s Parlour date from the early 17th century. The panelling and over-mantle were added in 1637 and Richard Inge, the then Mayor, gave the Mayor’s chair with the arms of Charles I above.

During the English Civil War, the Mayor and Corporation met in Leicester Guildhall to make key decisions, including how to respond to royalist demands for money. Prince Rupert eventually attacked the town on 30 May 1645 and breached its walls. The last stand made by the defenders was outside Leicester Guildhall and Saint Martin’s. The Royalists then entered Leicester Guildhall and looted the town’s archives, mace and seal.

Within a few weeks, the Royalists had been defeated at the Battle of Naseby and Oliver Cromwell advanced on Leicester. The Royalists surrendered and a thanksgiving dinner was held in the Guildhall to celebrate Cromwell’s victory.

From the later 1700s, Leicester was a larger and more important town. When the Municipal Reform Act was passed in 1835, the ratepayers elected a new council including local tradespeople such as hosiers, grocers, drapers, spinners and bankers.

Leicester Guildhall has been opened as a museum since 1926 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The reformed Corporation took office on 1 January 1836 and at once held an auction in the Great Hall to dispose of the civic silver and china, including the Great Mace, as the ceremonial trappings of an earlier age. To accommodate a new borough police force, part of the ground floor of the east range was altered in 1840 to provide offices, three cells and a charge room. The banqueting kitchens on the south side of the courtyard were demolished and replaced with a house known as the Constables Cottage for the superintendent of the new police force.

But the mediaeval guildhall had become inadequate for the needs of a rapidly growing 19th century town, and a new Town Hall was built on the Horse Fair in 1876. Leicester Guildhall had a variety of uses after that, including as a domestic science school, with cooking lessons for the girls in the Great Hall.

Having lost its main civic purpose, however, Leicester Guildhall was neglected and it declined further during the late 19th and early 20th century. Neighbouring businesses and residents saw it as old-fashioned and gloomy and it was under threat of demolition. But the new City Council launched a major renovation programme in 1922-1926, spearheaded by Leicester Archaeological Society.

Leicester Guildhall reopened to the public as a museum in 1926, and the library of Leicester Archaeological and Historical Society is housed in the museum above the mayor’s parlour, in the former jury room. A further programme of renovation took place in 1991-1993, removing modern alterations to the building and restoring it to its former glory.

Today, the Guildhall is one of the most important mediaeval buildings in Leicester. It is a museum, performance centre, wedding venue, café, local landmark, and a Grade I listed building. The Guildhall still has a place in the ceremonial life of the city, with the annual Freemen’s oath-taking ceremony takes place there.

Leicester Cathedral seen from the courtyard of the Guildhall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Collect:

Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament
you have given us the memorial of your passion:
grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries
of your body and blood
that we may know within ourselves
and show forth in our lives
the fruits of your redemption;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

All praise to you, our God and Father,
for you have fed us with the bread of heaven
and quenched our thirst from the true vine:
hear our prayer that, being grafted into Christ,
we may grow together in unity
and feast with him in the kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The emblem of the Guild of Corpus Christi in Leicester, the Host and Chalice, seen in 15th century glass fragments in the Mayor’s Parlour in the Guildhall in Leicester (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 22, 30 May 2024, Corpus Christi

The Monastery of Chryssoskalitíssa, or the golden step, perched above the Libyan Sea on the south-west tip of Crete, is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The week began with Trinity Sunday (26 May 2024), and during this week after Trinity Sunday, I am illustrating my prayers and reflections with images of six churches, chapels, cathedral or monasteries I know in Greece that are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

In the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship, today (30 May 2024) is the feast of the Institution of Holy Communion (Corpus Christi), although this feast is being celebrated next Sunday (2 June 2024) in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony 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 prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

Elafonísi and the crystal clear waters of the lagoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford; click on image for full-screen viewing)

John 6: 51-58 (NRSVUE):

[Jesus said:] 51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day, 55 for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

The church in the Monastery of Chryssoskalítíssa (Photograph: Chania Vacation)

The Monastery of Chryssoskalítíssa, Elafonisi, Crete:

This week, following Trinity Sunday, I am reflecting on Orthodox churches named after the Holy Trinity. These Trinity reflections continue this morning (30 May 2024) with photographs and images from the Monastery of Chryssoskalítíssa (Μονή Χρυσοσκαλιτίσσας), at the south-west tip of the island of Crete.

The Monastery of Chryssoskalitíssa is perched on rocks above the lagoon of Elafonisi and is 35 metres high, overlooking the Libyan Sea. This monastery once had a community of 200. But like many monasteries in Crete, numbers have dwindled and today there is only one nun and one monk.

The monastery, which dates from the 13th century, is dedicated to the Holy Trinity (Agia Triada) and the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (Koimisis Theotokou). But the popular name comes from a local tradition that one step in a set of 98 leading up to the monastery appears as a golden step (chryssí skála) to those who are pure of heart.

The monastery celebrates its feast on 15 August (Δεκαπενταυγουστος, Dekapendavgoustos). It was built during the Venetian era on the site of Saint Nicholas Monastery. Before the first monastery was built, there was another church on the site dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary.

It is said the staircase and the golden step were sold to the Turks to pay off taxes demanded by the Sultan. The legend also says that 200 years ago, at Easter 1824, after the massacre of Christians by the Ottomans of Ibrahim Pasha on Elafonísi, Turkish soldiers went to the monastery with plans to plunder the place. At the entrance to the monastery, however, they were attacked by a swarm of bees that saved the monastery from looting.

The church seen today was built in 19th century. The monastery was dissolved in 1894, along with other monasteries on the island, but was re-established in 1940.

During the Nazi occupation of Crete, several resistance fighters were given refuge there. German soldiers expelled the monks and occupied the monastery in 1943. When the Nazi forces left, the monks returned to the monastery.

Elafonísi (Ελαφονήσι, ‘deer island’), also known as the ‘Pearl of the West,’ is a popular destination for day trippers. No buildings are allowed on the lagoon or on the island, which helps to keep the feeling that this is a wilderness away from everything.

The beautiful sandy beaches of Elafonísi and the lagoon are fringed with pink coral sand and the sea and the lagoon have crystal clear waters so that there is a unique feeling of being on a desert island or in a South Seas lagoon while still being in the Mediterranean.

The lagoon is rimmed with sun beds and a small number of beach bars supply drinks and snacks. From the beaches that fringe the lagoon, one can wade knee-deep across to the island, which is a protected nature reserve and where there are no sun beds or beach bars. The further one walks, the quieter this tiny island becomes. At the western end there is a promontory with a small lighthouse, and chapel. Out in the distance is the Libyan Sea.

The Monastery of Chryssoskalítíssa dates from the 13th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 30 May 2024, Corpus Christi):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Renewal and Reconciliation.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Rachael Anderson, Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (30 May 2024) invites us to pray:

Lord, thank you that you made all things, and in you, all things hold together. Through your blood, you have brought reconciliation between humanity and God, and you have given us the same ministry of reconciliation. May we work for the peace and restoration of relationships that have become difficult.

The Collect:

Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament
you have given us the memorial of your passion:
grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries
of your body and blood
that we may know within ourselves
and show forth in our lives
the fruits of your redemption;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

All praise to you, our God and Father,
for you have fed us with the bread of heaven
and quenched our thirst from the true vine:
hear our prayer that, being grafted into Christ,
we may grow together in unity
and feast with him in his kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of the Visitation:

Mighty God,
by whose grace Elizabeth rejoiced with Mary
and greeted her as the mother of the Lord:
look with favour on your lowly servants
that, with Mary, we may magnify your holy name
and rejoice to acclaim her Son our Saviour,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Reflections of Elafonísi in the crystal-clear waters of the lagoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

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