Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 98, Friday 15 August 2025, the Blessed Virgin Mary

The icon of the Dormition by Alexandra Kaouki in the old town of Rethymnon in Crete

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VIII). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship lists today simply and plainly as ‘the Blessed Virgin Mary’, without specifying what aspect of her life or death is being commemorated.

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

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos or the Virgin Mary in the Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Luke 1: 46-55 (NRSVA):

46 And Mary said,

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

The Virgin Mary depicted in the Dormition of the Theotokos, an icon in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Reflection:

It was my privilege in Crete some years ago to watch a new icon on this theme in Orthodoxy being shaped and created by Alexandra Kaouki, perhaps the most talented and innovative iconographer in Crete today, as she worked in her studio, then below the Venetian Fortezza in the old town of Rethymnon.

She was creating this new icon for the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, or the Little Church of Our Lady (Mikri Panagia), on a small square in the old town. It was a careful, slow, step-by-step work in progress, based on El Greco’s celebrated icon. But, as her work progressed, Alexandra made what she describes as ‘necessary corrections’ to allow her to ‘entirely follow the Byzantine rules.’

The best-known version of this icon is by El Greco, or Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541-1614), created in Crete probably before 1567. Alexandra and I discussed why El Greco places three candelabra in front of the bier. Perhaps he is using them as a Trinitarian symbol. However, Alexandra has returned to the traditional depiction of only one to remain true to Byzantine traditions.

How many of the Twelve should be depicted?

Should Saint Thomas be shown, or was he too late?

Why did she omit stories from later developments in the tradition, yet introduce women?

Alexandra completed her icon in time for the Feast of the Dormition in Rethymnon on 15 August that year.

The icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos or Virgin Mary usually bears the lettering Η Κοιμησις τησ Θεοτοκου, or ‘the falling asleep of the Theotokos’.

In the Calendar of the Orthodox Church, the Feast of the Dormition (Κοίμησις) or the Falling Asleep of the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary is on 15 August. For Roman Catholics, it is the Feast of the Assumption.

In his guidebook, The Holy Land, the late Jerome Murphy-O’Connor points out that two places in Jerusalem are traditionally associated with the end of the Virgin Mary’s earthly life: a monastery on Mount Zion is the traditional site of her death or falling asleep; and the basilica in the Garden of Gethsemane is said to be the site of her tomb.

Since the end of the 19th century, however, Mereyama, 8 km east of Selçuk, near ancient Ephesus and the coastal resort of Kuşadasi, has been venerated by many Roman Catholics as the site of her last earthly home. This tradition is based not on tradition or history, but on the writings of an 18th century German nun and visionary, Sister Catherine Emmerich, who never left her own country, and the interpretation of her visions by some late 19th century French Lazarist priests who were living in Smyrna (Izmir). The pilgrim industry was boosted by a papal visit in 1967.

The Feast of the Dormition is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. However, this belief has never been formally defined as dogma by the Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Church teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death, like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ when she died; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her burial and was taken up into heaven, so that her tomb was found empty on the third day.

The death or Dormition of Mary is not recorded in the New Testament. Hippolytus of Thebes, writing in the seventh or eighth century, claims in his partially preserved chronology to the New Testament that the Virgin Mary lived for 11 years after the death of Jesus and died in the year 41 CE.

On the other hand, Roman Catholic teaching says she was ‘assumed’ into heaven in bodily form. Some Roman Catholics agree with the Orthodox that this happened after her death, while others hold that she did not experience death. In his dogmatic definition of the Assumption in 1950, Pope Pius XII appears to leave open the question of whether or not she actually underwent death and even alludes to the fact of her death at least five times.

In the Orthodox tradition, Mary died as all people die, for she had a mortal human nature like all of us. The Orthodox Church teaches that Mary was subject to being saved from the trials, sufferings, and death of this world by Christ. Having died truly, she was raised by him and she already takes part in the eternal life that is promised to all who ‘hear the word of God and keep it’ (Luke 11: 27-28). But what happens to Mary happens to all who imitate her holy life of humility, obedience and love.

In the Orthodox tradition, it is said that after the Day of Pentecost, the Theotokos remained in Jerusalem with the infant Church, living in the house of Saint John the Evangelist. That tradition says she was in her 50s at the time of her death. As the early Christians stood around her deathbed, she commended her spirit to God, and tradition says Christ then descended from Heaven, taking up her soul in his arms. The apostles sang funeral hymns in her honour and carried her body to a tomb in Cedron near Gethsemane. When a man tried to interrupt their solemn procession, an angel came and cut off his hands, but he was healed later.

The story says that the Apostle Thomas arrived on the third day and wished to see the Virgin Mary for the last time. The stone was rolled back, and an empty tomb was discovered. Orthodox tradition says that the Theotokos was resurrected bodily and taken to heaven, and teaches that the same reward awaits all the righteous on the Last Day.

Icons of the Dormition date from the 10th century. In traditional icons of the Dormition, the Theotokos is shown on the funeral bier. Christ, who is standing behind her, has come to receive his mother’s soul into heaven. In his left arm, he holds her as an infant in white, symbolising the soul of the Theotokos reborn in her glory in heaven.

Greek icons of the Dormition follow a 1,000-year-old tradition that some say dates back to early texts.

Behind the bier, Christ stands robed in white and – as in icons of the Transfiguration, the Resurrection and the Last Judgment – he appears surrounded by the aureole, or elongated halo, depicting the Light of his Divinity and signifying his heavenly glory.

Christ receives the soul of the Mother of God, but here the imagery reverses the traditional picture of mother and son, as he holds her soul, like a child, in his arms.

The Twelve Apostles are present; sometimes they are shown twice: grouped around the bier, and transported to the scene on clouds accompanied by angels. The Apostles are usually seen on either side of the bier – the group on the left led by Saint Peter, who stands at the head of the bier; the group on the right led by Saint Paul, who stands at the foot of the bier.

Many icons include four early Christian writers, identified by their bishops’ robes decorated with crosses – James, Dionysios the Areopagite, Hierotheos and Timotheos of Ephesus. In the background, mourning women are a reminder of the women who wept when they met Christ carrying his cross to Calvary, or the women who arrived at his tomb early on Easter morning ready to anoint his dead body.

The cherubim in blue, the seraphim in red and the golden stars in these icons refer to the hierarchy of cosmic powers. Archangels are present in the foreground in the lower left and right corners. In the centre foreground, the Archangel Michael threatens the non-believing Jephonias who dared to touch her bier in an attempt to disrupt her funeral. The story is told that his hands were cut off but that later they were miraculously restored when he repented, was converted to Christianity, and was baptised.

In Greece, this celebration is called ‘Little Easter’ or ‘Summer Easter’, indicating the significance of the Dormition in Orthodox faith and in the church calendar. The day is marked with many festivals in villages and towns throughout the country, and this is the name day for many, including Maria, Mario, Panagiotis, Panagiota, Despina, Parthena, Miriam and Mariam. A common greeting today is Καλή Παναγία

In the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship, 15 August is marked simply as ‘The Blessed Virgin Mary’, without any indication of any event in her life or any commemoration.

A reflection in the parish leaflet in Stony Stratford and Calverton last year described the Assumption as ‘a powerful reminder that like her we have all been promised a share in the Resurrection of the Lord.’ It added that our celebration ‘is a sign of hope for us as we face death which seems to be the end of everything that is good in our lives.’

Καλή Παναγία

A detail in the icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos or the Virgin Mary in the Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 15 August 2025, the Blessed Virgin Mary):

The theme this week (10 to 16 August) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Serving God in the Gulf’ (pp 26-27). This theme was introduced last Sunday with reflections from Joyaline Rajamani, Administrator at the Church of the Epiphany, Doha, Anglican Church in Qatar.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (15 August 2025, the Blessed Virgin Mary) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:

Pray in light of Luke 1: 45 ‘Blessed is she who had faith that the Lord's promises would be fulfilled.’ All generations shall call her blessed.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who looked upon the lowliness of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and chose her to be the mother of your only Son:
grant that we who are redeemed by his blood
may share with her in the glory of your eternal kingdom;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God most high,
whose handmaid bore the Word made flesh:
we thank you that in this sacrament of our redemption
you visit us with your Holy Spirit
and overshadow us by your power;
strengthen us to walk with Mary the joyful path of obedience
and so to bring forth the fruits of holiness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In my prayers this morning I am also remembering Father Louis Brennan, who died last Tuesday (12 August) at the age of 95, and whose funeral takes place alter this morning in the Franciscan Church, Merchants’ Quay, Dublin, followed by burial at Shanganagh Cemetery. He was my most outstanding and inspiring teacher when I was at school in Gormanston College, Co Meath, in the 1960s.

He became the Rector of Gormanston, and was later Minister Provincial of the Franciscan Province of Ireland, Definitor General of the Order, and Secretary General of the Order, and later he was the Provincial Definitor, then Vicar Provincial and Secretary of the Province. He moved to Collegio San Isidoro in Rome in 2005. Louis returned to Ireland in 2020, and later lived in Cork and in Dalkey.

He encouraged me to write, stimulated my interest in poetry and literature, and got me involved in drama, choirs and charity work. His parting advice to our year included to value respect over popularity, and to read Strumpet City. His Franciscan values were one of the greatest gifts he could give me, yet he let me know later in life how he was proud of my achievements as a journalist. I am sure the year of 1969 will be well represented at his Funeral Mass later this morning.

Christ holding his mother’s soul wrapped like a new-born baby … a detail from Alexandra Kaouki’s icon of the Dormition as it neared completion in Rethymnon

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

An icon depicting the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the Church of Aghiou Philippou in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Easter 2025: 49, Saturday 7 June 2025

‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’ (John 21: 21) … Saint John with the poisoned chalice, a statue on the Great Gate of Saint John’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (20 April 2025) and continuing through Ascension Day until the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday tomorrow (8 June 2025).

The pop-up Greek Café at Swinfen Harris Church Hall, Το Στεκι Μας (‘Our Place’) takes every first Saturday of the month, and I pop in there later today, between 10:30 am and 5 pm for a Greek coffee, a chat and a traditional Greek dessert. 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.

‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’ (John 21: 21) … Saint John the Evangelist with the poisoned chalice depicted in a window in Saint John’s Church, Monkstown, Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 21: 20-25 (NRSVA):

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about him?’ 22 Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’ 23 So the rumour spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?’

24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

The symbol of the serpent and the chalice, a carving by Eric Gill in the capstone at Saint John’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading today brings us to the last of the post-Resurrection appearances and the conclusion of Saint John’s Gospel.

This morning’s reading (John 21: 20-25) at the Eucharist challenges us to consider whether we are going to follow Jesus to the end, no matter how, when or where death may come.

In today’s reading, we have an insight into the rumours that persisted in the community that the Beloved Disciple would not die (verse 23). But death comes to us all.

Last week, I spent a day in John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, for tests, scans and consultations on my pulmonary sarcoidosis and the traces of sarcoidosis in my heart. I have another day of tests, scans and consultations in the Churchill Hospital in Oxford later next week. In between waiting the results of one set of appointments and waiting for a date for the second set of appointments meant I had to forego any ideas of being to be in Dublin today for family reasons, but has also made me realise, yet again, how we all depend on the NHS here, and how vulnerable and fragile we are. At 73, I may not quite be in rude health. But my distant ‘cousin’ Kevin Martin, who died two years ago (14 June 2023), would greet me on my birthdays with the traditional Jewish greeting of ‘ad meah v’esrim’, ‘may you live until 120!’ (עד מאה ועשרים שנה‎).

I may not live to be 120, despite everyone’s good wishes. I am certainly not going to live for ever. Are the other disciples engaging in humorous banter or hyperbole when they suggest the youngest among them is going to outlive the rest of them so that it appears as if he is going to live for ever?

Surely they realise everyone is going to die – including Lazarus who was raised from the dead after three days (John 11), including the son of the widow of Nairn (Luke 7: 11-17), the daughter of Jairus (Luke 8: 40-56), the centurion’s slave (Matthew 8: 5-13; Luke 7: 1-10), the official’s son in Capernaum (John 4: 46-54), Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8: 14-15; Mark 1: 29-31; Luke 4: 38-39) …

Saint John too lived a life of service and suffering: he was exiled on Patmos, and although he died in old age in Ephesus, there were numerous attempts to make him a martyr.

Saint Paul names John as one of the pillars of the Church in Jerusalem (see Galatians 2: 9). Later, tradition says, he takes over the position of leadership Paul once had in the Church in Ephesus and is said to have lived there and to have been buried there.

According to a tradition mentioned by Saint Jerome, in the second general persecution, in the year 95, Saint John was arrested and sent to Rome, where he was thrown into a vat or cauldron of boiling oil but miraculously was preserved from death.

According to ancient tradition, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, Saint John was once given a cup of poisoned wine, but he blessed the cup and the poison rose out of the cup in the form of a serpent. Saint John then drank the wine with no ill effect. A chalice with a serpent signifying the powerless poison has become one of his symbols.

Domitian then banished Saint John to the isle of Patmos. It was there in the year 96 he had the heavenly visions recorded in the Book of Revelation. After the death of Domitian, it is said, he returned to Ephesus in the year 97, and there tradition says he wrote his gospel about the year 98. He is also identified with the author of the three Johannine letters.

According to Eusebius, Saint John died in peace at Ephesus, in the third year of Trajan, that is, the year 100, when he was about 94 years old. According to Saint Epiphanius, he was buried on a mountain outside the town. The Basilica of Saint John the Theologian gave the later name of Aysoluk to the hill above the town of Selçuk, beside Ephesus.

The story of the poisoned chalice may be pious myth, but it seeks to tell us that Saint John too took up the challenge to drink the cup that Christ drinks (Mark 10: 38-39).

For there is another poison that can damage the Church today – we can fail to love.

It is in sharing and serving with those who are most like Christ in his suffering that the world becomes united with the Christ we meet in Word and Sacrament, and there too we find eternal life.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

A relief sculpture of Saint John ... one of a series in Pugin’s font in Saint Chad’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Birmingham with the symbols of the four evangelists (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 7 June 2025):

The new edition of Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), covers the period from 1 July to 20 November 2025. The theme in the prayer diary this week (1-7 June) has been ‘Volunteers’ Week’ and it was introduced last Sunday by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary invites us to pray today (Saturday 7 June 2025):

Jesus, God who walked among us, bring deliverance for those who are displaced and seeking refuge, those.

The Collect:

O God the King of glory,
you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ
with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,
but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us
and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Eternal God, giver of love and power,
your Son Jesus Christ has sent us into all the world
to preach the gospel of his kingdom:
confirm us in this mission,
and help us to live the good news we proclaim;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Risen, ascended Lord,
as we rejoice at your triumph,
fill your Church on earth with power and compassion,
that all who are estranged by sin
may find forgiveness and know your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.

Collect on the Eve of Pentecost (Whit Sunday):

God, who as at this time
taught the hearts of your faithful people
by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit:
grant us by the same Spirit
to have a right judgement in all things
and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;
through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The site of Saint John’s tomb near Ephesus is marked by a marble plaque and four Byzantine pillars (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 Easter 2025: 29, Sunday 18 May 2025, the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V)

Christ washes the feet of the Disciples … a fresco in Saint John’s Monastery, Tolleshunt Knights, Essex (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (20 April 2025) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost (8 June 2025), or Whit Sunday. Today is the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Easter V, 18 May 2025), while in the calendar of the Orthodox Church this is known as the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman. Later this morning I plan to sing with the choir at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.

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 washes the feet of the Disciples … a fresco on a pillar in a church in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 13: 31-35 (NRSVA):

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

The passageway to the chapter house in Lichfield Cathedral has a mediaeval pedilavium where feet are washed on Maundy Thursday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The early church writer Jerome tells the well-loved story of how the author of Saint John’s Gospel and the Book of Revelation, Saint John the Evangelist, continued preaching in Ephesus, even when he was in his 90s. Saint John was so feeble in his old age that the people had to carry him into the Church in Ephesus on a stretcher. And when he was no longer able to preach or deliver a full sermon, his custom was to lean up on one elbow on every occasion and say simply: ‘Little children, love one another.’

This continued on, Sunday-after-Sunday, even when the ageing John was on his death-bed. Then he would lie back down and his friends would carry him back out of the church. Every week in Ephesus, the same thing happened, over and over, again and again. And every week it was the same short sermon, exactly the same message: ‘Little children, love one another.

One day, the story goes, someone asked him: ‘John, why is it that every week you say exactly the same thing, “little children, love one another”?’ And John replied: ‘Because it is enough.’

If we want to know the basics of living as a Christian, there it is in a nutshell. All we need to know is: ‘Little children, love one another.’

That is all he preached in Ephesus, week after week, and that is precisely the message he keeps on repeating in his first letter (I John), over and over again: ‘Little children, love one another.’

There is no such thing as ‘loveless Christianity.’ It is like saying you can have a meal without eating anything.

Where there is no love there is no Christianity. And Saint John says it over and over again to his readers – in his Gospel, in his three epistles, in the Book of Revelation – because it is worth repeating, because, indeed, it is enough.

Christ’s love for us shows that it is enough. That is the real hope in the promise of a New Heaven and a New Earth. And that is the message at the heart of the Gospel reading this Sunday: ‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’ (John 13: 34-35).

In this reading, Christ is preparing the disciples for his departure. After the Last Supper, he washes their feet in a sign of servanthood. Peter misunderstands Christ’s action. Christ tells him that to share in Christ requires accepting Christ as his servant as well as his master. Peter will understand later (verse 7).

The reading ends with Christ giving his new commandment: ‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’ (John 13: 34-35).

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

A jug, a bowl and a towel preparing for the Maundy Thursday foot-washing in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 18 May 2025, Easter V):

‘That We May Live Together: A Reflection from the Emerging Leaders Academy’ is 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). This theme is introduced today with a programme update from Annsli Kabekabe of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea:

Reflecting on my time at the Asian Rural Institute (ARI), I was really inspired by their motto, ‘that we may live together.’ At the ARI, I experienced a vibrant community working together, and it reignited my passion for supporting the marginalised in my home country, Papua New Guinea. While the challenges in rural communities can seem overwhelming, the lessons I learned about sustainable agriculture and servant leadership opened my eyes to new possibilities.

Our visit to Fukushima was particularly inspiring. The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, along with the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant explosion in 2011, continue to haunt the people of Sendai and Miyagi. What struck me most was the importance of early warning systems to save lives and the need for well-identified evacuation sites to ensure people’s safety. These lessons are so relevant for Papua New Guinea, where natural disasters linked to climate change pose a constant threat.

As I return home, I carry the belief that ‘building better brains for a better future’ begins at the grassroots. The youth and marginalised people in Papua New Guinea have incredible potential, and I believe education is the foundation to build sustainable, thriving futures.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 18 May 2025, Easter V) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:

‘It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’ – Matthew 20: 26-28 (NRSV).

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen 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:

Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
your wounds declare your love for the world
and the wonder of your risen life:
give us compassion and courage
to risk ourselves for those we serve,
to the glory of God the Father.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’ (John 13: 35) … graffiti or street art in a laneway off Radcliffe Street in Wolverton (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 Easter 2025: 20, Friday 9 May 2025

‘Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me’ (John 6: 56) … an icon of Christ the Great High Priest, in a shop window in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost, and this week began with the Third Sunday of Easter (Easter III, 4 May 2025).

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The Visitation of Abraham or the ‘Old Testament Trinity’ … a fresco in the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights, Essex, interprets a Trinitarian and Eucharistic theme (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 6: 52-59 (NRSVA):

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.’ 59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

‘This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate’ (John 6: 58) … bread in the Avoca shop in Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

With this morning’s Gospel reading, we are coming to the end of this week’s series of readings in the ‘Bread of Life’ discourse in Saint John’s Gospel, which conclude tomorrow (John 6: 60-69).

This morning’s reading is one of the most explicit Trinitarian passages in the New Testament. Christ speaks to us of the Trinity in terms of the inter-relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, explaining how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit work together, dance together, and are inseparable.

We owe our understandings of the Trinity, in terms of doctrine and social understanding, and how we express these understandings to the Cappadocian Fathers. I spent some time in Cappadocia in south-central Turkey ten years because of my interest in sites associated with the three Cappadocian Fathers. These were three key Patristic writers and saints: Saint Basil the Great (329-379), Bishop of Caesarea; his brother Saint Gregory (335-395), Bishop of Nyssa; and Saint Gregory Nazianzus (329-390), who became Patriarch of Constantinople.

They challenged heresies such as Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ, and their thinking was instrumental in formulating the phrases that shaped the Nicene Creed – the Church is celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed this year.

But their thinking was not about doctrine alone; it was also about living the Christian life. Without the Cappadocian Fathers, would we have turned away from the difficult teachings of Christ, as we find them in this Gospel passage? Would we too have dismissed this passage as a ‘hard saying.’

Although Christ’s words ‘I am the Bread of Life’ are familiar to many Christians, in this passage the disciples declare ‘this teaching is difficult’ (verse 60), as we shall read tomorrow.

Christ is teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum, where he is interpreting a passage of scripture that has already been introduced by the crowd (see verse 31). They want a sign similar to the one of manna given to their ancestors in the wilderness in Sinai.

In response, he declares he is the manna, the ‘bread of life’ (verse 35), just as he has told the Samaritan woman at the well that he is the living water (see John 4: 5-26), and just as he tells the disciples later that he is the true vine (see John 15: 1).

Moses could provide this miraculous bread, but he is not the bread of life. Moses could strike the rock and bring forth water, but he is not the living water. How can Christ himself be bread and wine?

These are such difficult conundrums that they turn many of his listeners away.

Verse 56 says: ὁ τρώγων μου τὴν σάρκα καὶ πίνων μου τὸ αἷμα ἐν ἐμοὶ μένει κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ. We translate this and similar passages into English so politely. For example, the NRSV says: ‘Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I them.’ But a more direct translation might say something: ‘Whoever is gnawing on my flesh and drinking my blood remains in me and I in him.’

There are three interesting verbs in this verse: the verb τρώγων (trógon) means to gnaw, crunch, or chew, as in chewing on raw vegetables or fruits, and is subtly different in meaning than the verb ‘eat’ (ἐσθίω, esthío); the verb πίνων (pínon) means to drink; and the verb μένει (ménei) means to remain or abide, yet some of his disciples or about to leave Christ and the twelve are to continue to walk with him.

Verse 57 says: καθὼς ἀπέστειλέν με ὁ ζῶν πατὴρ κἀγὼ ζῶ διὰ τὸν πατέρα, καὶ ὁ τρώγων με κἀκεῖνος ζήσει δι' ἐμέ. ‘Just as the living Father sent me, and I live through the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.’ But, again, we could translate this: ‘As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so also the one gnawing on me also will live because of me.’

Christ is not merely claiming to give the bread: he is the life-giving bread that the Father gives, and, lest his hearers dismiss this as a metaphor, he insists that this bread is his own flesh.

The Greek word here, ἀπέστειλέν (apésteilén) speaks of being sent to or going to an appointed place. The words ζῶν (zon), ζῶ (zo) and ζήσει (zései) speak of living, breathing, and being among the living. Once again, we hear the word τρώγων (trógon), from the verb τρώγω (trógo) to gnaw, crunch or chew.

Verse 58 says: οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, οὐ καθὼς ἔφαγον οἱ πατέρες καὶ ἀπέθανον: ὁ τρώγων τοῦτον τὸν ἄρτον ζήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. ‘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.’

Again, how would you respond if this had been translated more explicitly as ‘This one is the bread that has come down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; whoever gnaws on this bread will live into the age-long.’

We have the contrast between καταβὰς (katavas), from καταβαίνω (katavaíno) to go down, come down, or descend, which contrasts with the later reference in verse 62 to ascending to where the Son of Man was before.

In the first part of this verse, Christ uses the word ἔφαγον (ephagon) to describe eating, rather than the verb used again in the second part, τρώγων (trógon), to gnaw, crunch or chew.

This verse brings us back to the earlier discussion in the Gospel reading on Thursday (John 6: 44-51, see verses 49-51), comparing the temporal nature of the manna in the wilderness with the everlasting nature of Christ’s own bread or flesh. It is a reminder that this chapter begins with the feeding of the 5,000 near the time of the Passover, an explicit echo of the Manna story from the Exodus journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

They murmur and mutter, and the word used here is the same word used in the Exodus story (see, for examples, Exodus 15: 24; 16: 2) for the murmuring, muttering and grumbling of the people who have just experienced being liberated from slavery yet are not willing to accept the consequences of staying on the journey. They do not trust God to take care of them. Over and over, with questions of water, food, and physical safety, the Israelites play out the same drama of whether they will trust God to care for them.

Once again, people who are on a journey with God turn away. This turning away is the very opposite to the metanoia (μετάνοια), the turning around of conversion.

They are no longer willing to stay the course, they turn away from journeying with Christ, journeying with him to Jerusalem, journeying with him to the Cross, journeying with him to the promise of new life. They are scandalised.

The phrase here reminds me of the common phrase, the Scandal of the Cross or the Scandal of the Gospel, although the phrase as such appears nowhere in the New Testament.

Some of Christ’s disciples have only understood his words in a literal way.

There are many today who hold up a literal interpretation of some obscure and contended passages of scripture, including, for example, some on sexuality, but who reject a literal interpretation of the passages in this ‘Bread of Life’ discourse in Saint John’s Gospel.

They cannot, will not, and refuse to accept Christ’s corporal presence, body and blood, in the Eucharist, however we may come to understand that. It sometimes seem this is the one passage whose literal interpretation is a stumbling block, a scandal, to them.

When they ask whether you have invited Christ into your life, they would be scandalised were you to answer you do that every time you pray the Prayer of Humble Access, every time you receive him in the Eucharist, asking that ‘we may evermore dwell in him and he in us’.

There is little point in arguing that people at the time had no understanding of this Gospel passage as looking forward to the Last Supper and beyond that to the Eucharistic celebrations of the Early Church.

It was written not for the people who were present at the time, but written 50 or 60 years later and would have been first heard by people dealing with the divisions in the Pauline and Johannine communities that came together in the Church in Ephesus. In a lectionary reflection in the Church Times [14 August 2015], Dr Bridget Nicholas pointed out that the ‘Bread of Life’ discourse is the Fourth Gospel’s counterpart to the narrative of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in the Synoptic Gospels.

The writer of this Gospel is addressing a small community of Christians in Ephesus, for whom linear time is displaced by the fact that they already know the divine identity of Christ. And the life that Christ offers to his own people is being worked out in practical ways by the recipients of the Letter to the Ephesians.

In this Gospel story, as in the Exodus story, this murmuring, muttering and grumbling shows a complete lack of trust, belief and faith in God. And this is not just intellectual assent, but a willingness to make life-changing decisions.

In this week’s Gospel readings, the twelve are the ones who ‘abide’ with Christ. They stick with him even though his teaching is difficult. They stay with him at the Last Supper, and even though they will scatter during his trial and crucifixion, their faith is strengthened, returns in full vigour with the Resurrection and is fortified at Pentecost.

But the people who desert Christ in this week’s Gospel reading, who turn away, are not ‘the crowds’ – they are ‘disciples.’ They had followed Christ and believed in him, but now they leave.

Abandoning the Eucharistic faith and practice of the Church is often the first step in abandoning the Church, abandoning Christ, and turning backs on the call to love God and love one another.

If we take part regularly and with spiritual discipline in the Eucharist, we realise that it is not all about me at all. This bread is broken and this cup is poured out not just for us but also for the many.

It is interesting that the parishes with infrequent celebrations of the Eucharist are often the most closed, the ones most turned in on themselves, unwilling to open their doors to those who are different in social and ethnic background, with irregular relationships and lifestyles, and the parishes that err on the side of judgmentalism.

Regular reception of this Sacrament is a reminder that the Church exists not for you and for me but for the world, and that the Church is not for those who decide subjectively they are the ‘called’ and the ‘saved,’ but is there to call the world into the Kingdom.

In the Eucharistic prayers, we use words such as: ‘this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins’. In two Gospel passages we read: ‘for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’ (Matthew 26: 28); and ‘this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many’ (Mark 14: 24).

It is clear that the Eucharist, while celebrated among the disciples or within the community, is for the benefit of ‘the many.’ The Eucharist is the shape of ‘the mission-shaped Church.’

Knowing and belief come together, knowledge is meaningless without wisdom, faith goes beyond accepting facts.

As Canon Patrick Whitworth points out in one of his books, for the Cappadocian Fathers, doctrine, prayer and pastoral ministry are inseparable from care for the poor [Patrick Whitworth, Three Wise men from the East: the Cappadocian Fathers and the Struggle for Orthodoxy (Durham: Sacristy Press, 2015)].

The profession of faith by Simon Peter in tomorrow’s reading is followed immediately by a cautious and disturbing remark by Christ about betrayal (verses 70-71), although the compilers of the Revised Common Lectionary have omitted them. Judas is going to walk out at the Last Supper. Is a regular refusal to eat this bread and to drink this cup a betrayal of Christ and of the Christian faith?

The word sacrament is derived from the Latin sacrāmentum, which is an attempt to render the Greek word μυστήριον (mysterion). Saint Paul asks the people of Ephesus to pray that he may be given a gift of the right words in telling of the ‘mystery of the Gospel’ (τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, to mysterion tou evangeliou) (Ephesians 6: 19).

What if this Gospel reading is a reminder of the heart of the Gospel, the mystery of the Gospel?

Yes, it would affirm, the Eucharist is the shape of ‘the mission-shaped Church.’

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘But the one who eats this bread will live for ever’ (John 6: 58) … bread on display in a bakery in Frankfurt (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 9 May 2025):

My prayers today include Pope Leo XIV, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, who was elected at the Papal Conclave in the Sisine Chapel in the Vatican late yesterday (8 May).

‘Inconvenient Migration’ provides 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). This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections from Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 9 May 2025) invites us to pray:

God of compassion, we ask for merciful and just decisions by leaders around the globe as policies are made and implemented.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Living God,
your Son made himself known to his disciples
in the breaking of bread:
open the eyes of our faith,
that we may see him in all his redeeming work;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:
strengthen us to proclaim your risen life
and fill us with your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The Gate of Persecution leading into the site of the Basilica of Saint John the Divine in Ephesus (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 Christmas 2024-2025: 3, Friday 27 December 2024, Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist

Saint John depicted in statue on the Great Gate of Saint John’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me … ‘three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree’.

This is the third day of Christmas and today the church calendar celebrates Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist. This is also the third day of Hanukkah this year.

Initially I had an appointment in Milton Keynes Hospital this morning, but this has since been rescheduled. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

Saint John (right) and the Virgin Mary (right) at the Crucifixion … the rood beam in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

John 21: 19b-25 (NRSVA):

19 After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about him?’ 22 Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’ 23 So the rumour spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?’

24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

The symbol of the serpent and the chalice, a carving by Eric Gill in the capstone at Saint John’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Christian interpretation of the song ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ often sees the three French hens as figurative representations of the three theological virtues – faith, hope and love: ‘And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.’ (I Corinthians 13: 13).

Other interpretations say the three French hens represent the three persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or the three gifts of the Wise Men, gold, frankincense and myrrh.

There is a custom in some places of blessing wine on this day and drinking a toast to the love of God and to Saint John. The theological virtue of love is intimately associated with the story of Saint John, the disciple Jesus loved.

It seems appropriate in the days immediately after Christmas that we should be jolted out of our comforts, in case we begin to atrophy, and to be reminded of what the great German martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the “Cost of Discipleship.”

Following Christ is not all about Christmas shopping, feasts, decorations and falling asleep in front of the television – comforting, enjoyable and pleasant as they are, particularly in family settings.

Yesterday was the feast of Saint Stephen [26 December], often referred to as the first Christian martyr; tomorrow is the feast of the Holy Innocents [28 December], the first – albeit unwitting – martyrs according to Saint Matthew’s Gospel.

In The Ariel Poems TS Eliot puts wise words into the mouth of the Wise Men who recalls the cold coming of it experienced in the ‘Journey of the Magi’. There he makes the connection between birth and death:

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.
TS
Between those two commemorations of martyrdom, we find ourselves today [27 December] marking the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist.

At first, this too may not seem to be an appropriate feastday to celebrate in the days immediately after Christmas. Even chronologically it creates difficulties for tradition says Saint John was the last of the disciples to die, making his death the one that is separated most in terms of length of time from the birth of Christ.

In art, Saint John the Evangelist is frequently represented as an Eagle, symbolising the heights to which he rises in the first chapter of his Gospel.

For Saint John, there is no annunciation, no nativity, no crib in Bethlehem, no shepherds or wise men, no little stories to allow us to be sentimental and to be amused. He is sharp, direct and gets to the point: ‘In the beginning …’

But the Prologue to Saint John’s Gospel is one of the traditional readings on Christmas Day, so many of us immediately associate his writings with this time of the year.

Saint John the Evangelist is unnamed in the Fourth Gospel. Yet tradition identifies him with the John who is:

• one of the three at the Transfiguration,
• one of the disciples sent to prepare a place for the Last Supper,
• one of the three present in the Garden of Gethsemane,
• the only disciple present at the Crucifixion,
• the disciple to whom Christ entrusts his mother from the Cross,
• the first disciple to arrive at Christ’s tomb after the Resurrection,
• the disciple who first recognises Christ standing on the lake shore following the Resurrection.

The Beloved Disciple, alone among the Twelve, remains with Christ at the foot of the Cross with the Mother of Christ and the women and he is asked by the dying Christ to take Mary into his care (John 19: 25-27). After Mary Magdalene’s report of the Resurrection, Peter and the ‘other disciple’ are the first to go to the grave, and the ‘other disciple’ is the first to believe that Christ is truly risen (John 20: 2-10).

When the Risen Christ appears at the Lake of Genesareth, ‘that disciple whom Jesus loved’ is the first of the seven disciples present who recognises Christ standing on the shore (John 21: 7).

Saint Paul names John as one of the pillars of the Church in Jerusalem (see Galatians 2: 9). Later, tradition says, he takes over the position of leadership Paul once had in the Church in Ephesus and is said to have lived there and to have been buried there.

According to a tradition mentioned by Saint Jerome, in the second general persecution, in the year 95, Saint John was arrested and sent to Rome, where he was thrown into a vat or cauldron of boiling oil but miraculously was preserved from death.

According to ancient tradition, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, Saint John was once given a cup of poisoned wine, but he blessed the cup and the poison rose out of the cup in the form of a serpent. Saint John then drank the wine with no ill effect. A chalice with a serpent signifying the powerless poison has become one of his symbols.

Domitian then banished Saint John to the isle of Patmos. It was there in the year 96 he had those heavenly visions recorded in the Book of Revelation. After the death of Domitian, it is said, he returned to Ephesus in the year 97, and there tradition says he wrote his gospel about the year 98. He is also identified with the author of the three Johannine letters.

The tradition of the Church says Saint John lived to old age in Ephesus. Jerome, in his commentary on Chapter 6 of the Epistle to the Galatians (Jerome, Comm. in ep. ad. Gal., 6, 10), tells the well-loved story that Saint John continued preaching in Ephesus even when he was in his 90s.

He was so enfeebled with old age that the people carried him into the Church in Ephesus on a stretcher. When he was no longer able to preach or deliver a long discourse, his custom was to lean up on one elbow on each occasion and to say simply: ‘Little children, love one another.’ This continued on, even when the ageing John was on his deathbed.

Then he would lie back down and his friends would carry him back out. Every week in Ephesus, the same thing happened, again and again. And every week it was the same short sermon, exactly the same message: ‘Little children, love one another.’

One day, the story goes, someone asked him about it: ‘John, why is it that every week you say exactly the same thing, ‘little children, love one another’?’ And John replied: ‘Because it is enough.’ If you want to know the basics of living as a Christian, there it is in a nutshell. All you need to know is. ‘Little children, love one another.’

According to Eusebius, Saint John died in peace at Ephesus, in the third year of Trajan, that is, the year 100, when he was about 94 years old. According to Saint Epiphanius, he was buried on a mountain outside the town. The Basilica of Saint John the Theologian gave the later name of Aysoluk to the hill above the town of Selçuk, beside Ephesus.

I am constantly overwhelmed and in awe of the emphasis on love and light throughout the Johannine letters. That emphasis on love, which informs the story of Saint John’s last days, is brought through in the first of the Johannine letters (I John 1: 1-9) which we read this morning.

This emphasis constantly informs all aspects of my ministry.

I was once doing Sunday duty during a vacancy in a parish that has three churches. A student asked me at the time how many sermons I preached. I replied: ‘Three.’

‘You preach three sermons every Sunday?’ she asked with an air of incredulity.

I explained: ‘I preach three sermons all the time. The first is ‘Love God,’ the second is ‘Love one another,’ and the third, in case someone missed the first and second sermons, is ‘Love God and love one another’.’

That is the heart of the Christmas story, that is the heart of the Gospel, that is heart of the Johannine writings, and that, to put it simply, is why we celebrate Saint John in the days immediately after Christmas. ‘Little children, love one another.’

The site of Saint John’s tomb in Ephesus is marked by a marble plaque and four Byzantine pillars (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 27 December 2024, Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist):

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 ‘Love – Advent’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections by the Revd Lopa Mudra Mistry, Presbyter in the Diocese of Calcutta, the Church of North India (CNI).

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 27 December 2024, Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist) invites us to pray:

Lord, may we grasp with proper understanding what God has revealed to us through the blessed Apostle John.

The Collect:

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,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

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

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

A relief sculpture of Saint John ... one of a series in Pugin’s font in Saint Chad’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Birmingham with the symbols of the four evangelists (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 2024: 107, Sunday 25 August 2024, Trinity XIII

‘Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me’ (John 6: 56) … an icon of Christ the Great High Priest in a shop window in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and today is the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII).

Later this morning, I hope to be at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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