COMERFORD WAY: Patrick Comerford’s online journal on Anglicanism, theology, spirituality, history, architecture, travel, poetry, beach walks ... and more
Showing posts with label Ghana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ghana. Show all posts
28 March 2026
Mowbray Stephen O’Rorke,
the bishop with the ‘tallest
mitre in Christendom’ and
his family roots in Ballinasloe
Patrick Comerford
For many years, I maintained a website and Facebook page for a project I had called the Dead Anglican Theologians Society. The project has been moribund for the past five years, but should I ever have thoughts about breathing new life into it, some of the 20th century theologians I ought to include are Alfred Hope Patten (1885-1958), Bishop Mowbray Stephen O’Rorke (1869-1953) and Eric Milner-White (1884-1963), three key Anglican theologians I was reminded of when I was in Walsingham earlier this month, speaking at the Ecumenical Pilgrimage.
The ashes of Bishop Mowbray Stephen O’Rorke are buried in the Shrine Church, beneath a very impressive, mediaeval-style effigy, close to the Holy House, the Annunciation Altar and a similar effigy memorialising Alfred Hope Patten.
It was said Bishop O’Rorke wore the ‘tallest mitre in Christendom’. He had been a bishop in what is now Ghana, where he was supported by the Anglican mission agency SPG (now USPG), and was one of the leading figures in the Anglo-Catholic movement throughout the first half of the 20th century. He also had very strong family links with Ireland, and his parents were married in Saint Peter’s Church, Dublin, before they emigrated to Birmingham.
The Right Revd Mowbray Stephen O’Rorke (1869-1953), second Bishop of Accra, was the second of five sons of William Joseph O’Rorke of Ballinasloe, Co Galway, and later of Birmingham and Nottingham, and Annie Elizabeth Wilson, daughter of William Wilson of Saunders Grove, near Baltinglass, Co Wicklow.
Although he was born in England, Bishop O’Rorke was proud of his Irish family background and chose to do his theological training at Trinity College, Dublin.
William Joseph O’Rorke may have romanticised that he was related to James Rorke (1827-1875), the Irish-born adventurer who gave his name to Rorke’s Drift in South Africa, explaining why William gave the name ‘The Drift' to the family home on Magdala Road in Nottingham.
However, it is more likely William Joseph O’Rorke was a closely related to a well-known clerical and land-owning branch of the O’Rorke family in Co Galway that once owned the Clonbern and Bermingham House estates. Some sources suggest he may have been related to the Revd John O’Rorke (1775-1849), and through him to Charles Dennis O'Rorke (1827-1915), of Clonbern House, Co Galway, and Sir George Maurice O’Rorke, the Irish-born Speaker of the House of Representatives, New Zealand.
The Revd John O’Rorke born in 1775, the son of the Revd Timothy O’Rorke, also known known as Timothy or Teige, Thaddeus or Thady, or later in late as Thomas O’Rorke. The Rev Thaddeus O’Rorke joined the Church of Ireland and after that was always known as Thomas O’Rorke. He was the Curate of Cong, Co Mayo, and his headstone bears the name Thomas. The Revd Timothy O’Rorke always referred to himself and to his father as Thomas.
John O’Rorke was educated at Trinity College Dublin (BA 1800), and from 1801 he was the curate of Moylough, Co Galway. He later became Rector of Foxford, Co Mayo, and Vicar of Straid, in the Diocese of Achonry, but he continued to live in Moylough.
He leased land from the Bellews of Mountbellew and bought the Clonbern estate in Co Galway from the family of Archbishop Beresford of Tuam in 1828. His landholdings included over 1,600 acres in Co Roscommon and 217 acres in Co Westmeath. He was not popular in the Moylough area and was frequently was involved in law suits, particularly with a neighbouring landholder, Daniel Moore Kilkelly.
John O’Rorke was married three times, and had a large number of children before he died at Moylough House, Co Galway, on 31 January 1849 at the age of 73 after a fall from his horse.
His son, Charles Dennis O’Rorke, built Clonbern House in the early 1850s and inherited Bermingham House, near Tuam, from his uncle, John Dennis, a famous huntsman. By the 1870s, Charles O’Rorke owned 1,302 acres in Co Galway and over 1,000 acres in Co Kerry. The Land Commission acquired an estate of over 5,200 acres belonging to Charles Trench O’Rorke of Clonbern in 1927.
The bishop’s father, William Joseph O’Rorke, was born in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, in 1835, the son of Owen O’Rorke; his mother, Ann Elizabeth Wilson (1840-1912), was the daughter of William Wilson of Sander’s Court, near Baltinglass, Co Wicklow.
The couple were married in Saint Peter’s Church, Dublin, on 23 September 1862. He gave his address as 20 Union Square, Islington, London, and she was living at 38 Longwood Avenue, Dublin. (No 39 Longwood Avenue was later the home of Adelaide Margaret Field (1878-1953) who was baptised in Saint Peter’s in 1878 and married Charles William Comerford (1877-1953) in Holy Trinity Church, Rathmines, in 1910).
Anne and William O’Rorke moved to Birmingham, and they were the proprietors of a temperance hotel in Yardley. Later they ran the Caledonian Hotel on Lister Gate, Nottingham, which was bombed on 24 September 1916 in the only Zeppelin raid on the city. They were the parents of six children, five sons and a daughter, who were born in Birmingham and Nottingham between 1863 and 1879.
Mowbray Stephen O’Rorke was born in Birmingham on 21 May 1869 and he was baptised in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Bristol Street, Birmingham, on 1 August 1869.
He was educated at University School, Nottingham, and Wesley College, Sheffield. He was engaged in business in London from 1885 to early 1899, and was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple. He moved to Dublin in 1899, where he studied theology at Trinity College, Dublin in preparation for ordination (BA, Div Test 1902; MA, 1905; BD and DD 1912).
He was ordained deacon on 21 September 1902 and priest on 20 December 1903 by the Bishop of Durham, Handley Moule, previously Norrisian Professor of Divinity at Cambridge.
His first appointments were as a curate in Jarrow (1902-1905) and at Saint Margaret’s, Durham (1905-1910). He then spent a year in Australia as the priest-in-charge of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Rockhampton, Queensland (1910-1911). He returned to England and the Diocese of Durham on 14 May 1912 as the curate of Saint Oswald’s, Durham (1912-1913). While he was there, his mother Ann Elizabeth (Wilson) O’Rorke died in Nottingham on 29 June 1912.
When Nathaniel Temple Hamlyn (1864-1929) retired as the first Bishop of Accra on the Gold Coast (now Ghana), he was succeeded by O’Rorke as the second Bishop (1913-1924). He was consecrated bishop in the chapel Lambeth Palace on 25 January 1913 by Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury; AF Winnington-Ingram, Bishop of London; George Nickson, Bishop of Jarrow; Henry Montgomery, secretary of SPG (now USPG) and former Bishop of Tasmania; Bishop Nathanael Temple Hamlyn; and Herbert Mather, former Bishop of Antigua, who had been in charge of the Diocese of Accra during the vacancy.
In the Diocese of Accra, he worked hard to train local priests, introduced a number of Anglo-Catholic liturgical practices and oversaw the establishment of new churches. However, he understood that the success of the Anglican Mission depended on the development of Ghanaian leadership, and he ordained two Ghanaian priests in 1916. But O’Rorke was aware too of the factors that led to the listlessness of the Anglican mission in Ghana. His work was hampered at times by interference from the colonial government.
He attended the sixth Lambeth Conference of bishops in July 1920 and August 1920 and also took part in the Anglo-Catholic Congress that year. On Tuesday 29 June 1920, he was among the 1,200 robed priests and 22 bishops who walked through Holborn in central London to Mass in Saint Alban’s Church and the opening of the first Anglo-Catholic Congress.
He returned to England in 1924, and was succeeded by John Aglionby as Bishop of Accra (1924-1951). By then, there were only three African clergy in the diocese, and it was not until O’Rorke left in 1924, that a theological college was started.
He was the Rector of Blakeney and Langham Parva in the Diocese of Norwich in 1924-1934, and with Cockthorpe in 1924-1929. As the Rector of Blakeney, Norfolk, he was the close neighbour of Father Hope Paten when he was restoring the shrine and pilgrimage in Walsingham.
O’Rorke offered the necessary pontifical services, from the consecration of churches to the blessing of bell and became and became one of the first Guardians of the Shrine at Our Lady of Walsingham. He was the episcopal presence on 13 October 1931, when the image of Our Lady of Walsingham was moved from the parish church of Saint Mary and enthroned in the newly-built Holy House, and consecrated the Holy House and the Shrine Church. As a founding priest guardian (1931-1953), he had Saint Cuthbert’s stall on the south side of the chancel, although he did not sign the Guardians’ Roll.
When he retired to the west country for health reasons, he remained a guardian and he returned to Walsingham in 1938 to bless the newly-built Shrine Church. He held a general licence in the Diocese Bath and Wells (1934-1939) as chaplain of Saint Audries School, West Quantoxhead, Somerset and then of King’s College, Taunton.
O’Rorke retired in 1939, and had a general licence in London from 1939 and Exeter from 1947. He lived in Roborough, South Devon, and died in a nursing home in Eastbourne, Sussex, on 15 March 1953. His will included a £500 bequest to SPG (now USPG). He was also a friend and supporter of exiled Russian Orthodox Christians.
His ashes were buried in the Shrine Church in Walsingham under his stately effigy beside the Annunciation Altar, close to the Holy House and to the monument to Hope Patten. He is depicted in one of the six carved heads in the shrine church roof.
Bishop O’Rorke’s siblings also led interesting lives. He was one of the two brothers among five who were ordained, one was an army chaplain and prisoner of war, and another brother was a vet and army officer.
His parents, Ann Elizabeth (Wilson) O’Rorke, who died in Nottingham on 29 June 1912 and William Joseph O’Rorke who died in Nottingham on 2 March 1924, were the parents of six children, a daughter and five sons:
1, Owen William Wilson O’Rorke (born 1863), born Birmingham, later lived in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he married Celina Marie Bonnafon (1875-1945) and was the father of two sons and a daughter.
2, George Samuel O’Rorke MA LLD (1866-1963), born Birmingham, a solicitor in Nottingham.
3, (Right Revd) Mowbray Stephen O'Rorke MA DD (1869-1953), later Bishop of Accra.
4, Annie Elizabeth O’Rorke (1874-1962), born Nottingham.
5, (Revd) Benjamin Garniss O’Rorke MA DSO (1875-1918), was an army chaplain and prisoner of war. He studied at Oxford and was ordained deacon in Exeter Cathedral in 1898 and priest in 1899, serving his title at Saint Peter's, Tiverton, until 1901.
He was a chaplain during the Boer War, and became assistant deputy chaplain general with the British Expeditionary Force. He was captured during the retreat from Mons on 25 August 1914 when the Coldstream Guards and others fought a rear guard action to hold off the Germans as the British forces escaped. He was a prisoner of war in Germany for 10 months before being repatriated as a non-combatant. He returned to France with the 33rd Division as senior chaplain. He was mentioned in Despatches and awarded the DSO. He died from pneumonia in Falmouth Military Hospital, Cornwall, on Christmas Day 1918, aged 43, and is buried in Falmouth Cemetery. His book In the Hands of the Enemy, was one of the first books to describe what it was like to be a POW.
He was also the author of Our opportunity in the West Indies, published by SPG in 1913.
He married Myra Roberta MacDougall (1872-1958), daughter of the Revd Henry MacDougall (1820-1900). They were the parents of one daughter, Kathleen Myra Frances O’Rorke (1910-2010), who later lived in Ithaca, New York. The widowed Myra O’Rorke married Major Steuart Menzies (1862-1939) in 1928.
6, (Lieut-Col) Frederick Charles O’Rorke FRCVS (1879-1976), born Nottingham, was a vet with the Army Veterinary Corps on the Western Front, 1914-1919. He also served in World War II. He married Dorothy Violet Whitaker (1880-1963), who died in Castlebar, Co Mayo, and they were the parents of (Lieut-Col) Frederick Denis Whitaker O’Rorke (1909-1998).
20 August 2021
Praying in Ordinary Time 2021:
83, Saint Mary’s Church, Loughrea
Patrick Comerford
Before the day gets busy, I am taking a little time this morning for prayer, reflection and reading. Each morning in the time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am reflecting in these ways:
1, photographs of a church or place of worship;
2, the day’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
My theme this week is churches in the Carmelite tradition, and my photographs this morning (20 August 2021) are from Saint Mary’s Carmelite Church and Abbey on Abbey Street, Loughrea, Co Galway.
The Carmelites began working on new buildings beside the mediaeval monastic site in Loughrea in 1785. A new church was completed in 1820 under the supervision of Father Gannon, the superior at the time, who also supervised the construction of the monastery and the convent.
The Carmelite nuns continued to live in Barrack Street, Loughrea, until Mount Carmel Monastery was built in 1831. As they were engaged in teaching, the nuns did not become an enclosed order until 1859.
The new abbey church was almost completely rebuilt in the Romanesque style in 1897, to designs by William Henry Byrne, who also designed Saint Brendan’s Cathedral, Loughrea, at the same time.
The intricate foliate detailing on this church in the Italian Romanesque style illustrates the artistic skills of stone carvers of the late 19th century. This delicate carving can be seen throughout the church, from the ornate façade to the tracery windows, making it a natural focal point for the monastic complex as well as one of the finest buildings in Loughrea.
The marble altar is by Edmund Sharp. The stained glass windows by Phyllis Burke include Edith Sten (ca 1995-1996) and the Good Shepherd (2002)
The gable-front presents a highly decorative appearance, emphasised by its elaborate arcaded entrance, and the decorative tower knits it to the other monastic buildings. The buildings are enhanced by the lawns and gardens to the front, and the older church and graveyard to the south.
Around the same time, a national school was built close to the entrance gate.
Successive alterations and additions have taken place since then, with the addition of a new residence in 1991.
Today, the Teresian Carmelite nuns who live in the monastery are dedicated to a life of prayer.
The existence of the ‘new’ abbey beside the mediaeval ruin bears testimony to an almost continued presence of Carmelites in Loughrea since the 1300s.
Matthew 22: 34-40 (NRSVA):
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ 37 He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’
Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:
The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (20 August 2021) invites us to pray:
We pray for St Paul’s Church in the Diocese of Ho, in Ghana.
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
09 January 2021
Castle Hewson in Askeaton
was home to generations
of the Hewson family
Patrick Comerford
Castle Hewson, east of Askeaton, Co Limerick, stands in the townland of Ballyengland. The 18th century house is on a low crag is undergoing restoration, and I visited the house earlier this week for the first time since moving to Askeaton four years ago.
Castle Hewson stands beside an earlier tower house or castle that gives the house its name. It was also known as Ballyengland House, and the England family were originally tenants of the Earls of Desmond. After the Desmond rebellion at the end of the 16th century, Thomas England was pardoned in 1581 and 1590, when his son attainted and hanged.
George Isham received a grant of Englandstown or Ballyengland in 1597, but Thomas and Oliver England were living at Ballyengland in 1601.
The Hewson family was living at Castle Hewson from the end of the 17th century. They continued to live there into the late 20th century, with other branches of the family living at Enniscouch and Hollywood.
By the mid-19th century, the main part of the Hewson family estate was in the parish of Askeaton, but the family also owned other houses and lands in the area: in the 1870s, John Brownrigg Hewson owned Castle Hewson and 1,435 acres; George James Hewson of Hollywood owned 666 acres; and Robert Hewson of Ennishcoush owned 398 acres near Rathkeale, Co Limerick. Other family members owned lands at Castleisland, and Ennismore, near Listowel, Co Kerry.
Castle Hewson is an imposing, detached, five-bay, two-storey country house, built ca 1760, with a central, two-storey canted projecting bay at the front or east elevation, extensions at the rear or west elevation, and an adjoining six-bay, two-storey block at the rear. The three-stage tower house adjoins the house at the north side.
Castle Hewson retains much of its original form and fabric, including a variety of tripartite and timber sliding sash windows. A number of decorative features – including the red brick voussoirs, cast-iron ridge crestings, and limestone finials – add an interesting contrast to the rubble stone and rendered walls. The adjoining tower house adds archaeological significance to the site and is preserved in a relatively good condition. The outbuildings and walled garden behind the house add context to the site.
The architectural features of the main house include a hipped slate roof with terracotta ridge crestings and ridge tiles, rendered chimneystacks, a cut limestone eaves course, a limestone finial on the south gable, square-headed window openings with cut limestone sills, red brick voussoirs, and six-over-six pane timber sliding sash windows.
The first-floor windows have double-leaf timber louvered shutters. The square-headed opening at the front of the house has a carved limestone doorcase with a limestone pediment supported by pilasters, and a flanking double-leaf timber panelled door. It is approached by cut limestone steps.
The walled garden behind the house has a square-profile, three-stage tower at the north-east corner. There is an eight-bay, two-storey outbuilding beside the north elevation of the tower house, and a four-bay, split-level outbuilding at the north side of this outbuilding. There is also a three-bay, double-height outbuilding to the east of house.
The definitive history of the Hewson family is Memoirs of the House of Hewetson or Hewson in Ireland by John Hewetson (London: Mitchell & Hughes, 1901). He traces the family back to John Hewson or Hewetson (1498-1567), a glover, who was born in Settrington, Yorkshire, and became a Freeman of York and a member of the Merchant Adventurers’ Company.
His eldest son, Thomas Hewson, was also a Freeman of York. He moved to Ireland in the 1570s with his family, including his younger brother, Canon Christopher Hewetson, who became Prebendary of Howth, Vicar of Swords, and Treasurer of both Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and Ardfert. Since the move to Ireland, the names Hewetson and Hewson seem to have been interchangeable. Other variants of the family name include Hughson, Huetson and Huson.
Dominick Hewetson died in 1640, but, almost two years later, his body was dug up from the nave of Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, by rebels and placed in a ‘garden’ outside the cathedral churchyard.
His son, Captain George Hewetson or Hewson, was one of the 49 Irish officers who remained loyal to King Charles I during the Civil War in the 1640s. He was supposedly related to the regicide and hard-line radical preacher, Colonel John Hewson of London, a self-proclaimed ‘Child of Wrath’ and the Cromwellian butcher of Drogheda.
George Hewson’s grandson, George Hewson (1662-1735), acquired land near Askeaton, Co Limerick, including Castle Hewson in Ballyengland, which he held under a lease from Brooke Brydges of High Holborn, Limerick.
Members of the family included the Ven Francis Hewson, Archdeacon of Aghadoe, Rector of Listowel and Sovereign (Mayor) of Dingle; Margaret Anne Hewson, who married the Revd George Maxwell, Rector of Askeaton; Admiral George Francis Hewson, who fought at the Battle of Trafalgar; and Thomas Hewson, President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Castle Hewson passed through generations of the Hewson family down to John Brownrigg Hewson (1826-1909), who was the father of three sons: William Everard Gardiner Hewson (1874-1957), John Gilbert Brownrigg Hewson (1875-1951), and Maurice Francis Hewson (1887-1892).
The youngest son, Maurice, caught pneumonia while he was at school in Repton and died when he was only 14. He is remembered in a plaque in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton.
The eldest son, William Everard Gardiner Hewson, became a Justice of the Peace or magistrate for Co Limerick in 1909. He was a keen campanologist and rang the changes in many Irish and English cathedrals. Everard Hewson murdered a woman for no apparent reason in 1914. Elizabeth Costello (née Lynch) was a widow working as a maid in Castle Hewson.
A year later, William Everard Gardiner Hewson was found ‘Insane and Incapable of Pleading.’ He was detained at Dundrum Lunatic Asylum for the Clinically Insane, at ‘his majesty’s pleasure.’ He was released five years later, and was sent to a dower house near Rathkeale. He died in Barrington’s Hospital in 1957 and is buried in the grounds of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick.
Meanwhile, Castle Hewson was inherited by John Hewson’s second son, John Gilbert Brownrigg Hewson, known as Gilbert Hewson. Gilbert Hewson married his distant cousin, Kathleen Violet Hewson, daughter of George Hewson of Ennismore, Co Kerry. He was elected to Dáil Éireann as an independent TD for Limerick in June 1927, but lost his seat at the September 1927 election and was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1932 election. A barrister, he was a member of Limerick County Council for many years. When he died in hospital in 1951, he was living at Lough House, Ballyengland.
His son, Maurice Hewson (1913-1998), was educated at Repton and Trinity College Dublin, where he was an outstanding cross-country runner, tennis player and boxer. He was a district commissioner and member of the British colonial administration of the Gold Coast (Ghana).
He became one of the District Commissioners charged with planning the Gold Coast Volta River Dam project. But the project collapsed when the Gold Coast gained independence as Ghana. Maurice Hewson returned to Ireland in 1957 and moved back to Castle Hewson and Lough House. He was a leading parishioner in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton.
Maurice Hewson and his wife Pamela died in a tragic fire at Lough House on 23 February 1998. Their detached, two-storey home, fronting a lake, was destroyed in the blaze. When fire brigade units from Rathkeale, Foynes and Newcastle West arrived at Lough House, they found the doors of the house and the gate to the driveway were locked, and the fire rapidly engulfed the house.
At the time, friends described them as a ‘wonderful and endearing’ couple who were very popular. Many media outlets reported the tragedy with headlines such as ‘relative of U2’s Bono killed in house fire.’
The memorials to the Hewson family in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, include the East Window depicting the Good Shepherd.
07 December 2020
Praying in Advent with USPG:
9, Monday 7 December 2020
Patrick Comerford
Throughout Advent and Christmas this year, I am using the Prayer Diary of the Anglican Mission Agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) for my morning reflections each day, and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar produced at Lichfield Cathedral for my prayers and reflections each evening.
I am one of the contributors to the current USPG Diary, Pray with the World Church, introducing the theme of peace and trust after Christmas.
The theme of the USPG Prayer Diary this week (6 to 12 December 2020) is ‘A Promise of Hope,’ which is the theme of USPG’s Christmas project this year.
Monday 7 December 2020:
Let us pray for the people of Ghana as they go to the polls today to elect a new president and members of parliament.
The Collect of the Day (Advent II):
Father in heaven,
who sent your Son to redeem the world
and will send him again to be our judge:
Give us grace so to imitate him
in the humility and purity of his first coming
that when he comes again,
we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Advent Collect:
Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Luke 5: 17-26 (NRSVA):
17 One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting nearby (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 Just then some men came, carrying a paralysed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; 19 but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. 20 When he saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven you.’ 21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, ‘Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ 22 When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven you”, or to say, “Stand up and walk”? 24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ – he said to the one who was paralysed – ‘I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.’ 25 Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. 26 Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today.’
Continued tomorrow
Yesterday’s morning reflection
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
09 May 2020
Praying in Easter with USPG:
28, Saturday 9 May 2020
Patrick Comerford
I am using the USPG Prayer Diary, Pray with the World Church, for my morning prayers and reflections throughout this Season of Easter. USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice. It was founded in 1701.
Throughout this week (3 to 9 May 2020), the USPG Prayer Diary has been inspired by the work of Saint Nicholas Seminary, Ghana, and the theme of ‘Enhancing Church Growth in West Africa.’ This focus was introduced in the Prayer Diary on Sunday.
Saturday 9 May 2020:
Lord, we thank you once again for church growth across west Africa.
The Readings: Acts 13: 44-52; Psalm 98: 1-5; John 14: 7-14.
The Collect of the Day (Easter IV):
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
Raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
08 May 2020
Praying in Easter with USPG:
27, Friday 8 May 2020
Patrick Comerford
I am using the USPG Prayer Diary, Pray with the World Church, for my morning prayers and reflections throughout this Season of Easter. USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice. It was founded in 1701.
Throughout this week (3 to 9 May 2020), the USPG Prayer Diary is inspired by the work of Saint Nicholas Seminary, Ghana, and the theme of ‘Enhancing Church Growth in West Africa.’ This focus was introduced in the Prayer Diary on Sunday.
Friday 8 May 2020 (Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives During the Second World War):
Lord, as we remember those who died, help us to resolve to be peacemakers in the world.
The Readings: Acts 13: 26-33; Psalm 2; John 14: 1-6.
The Collect of the Day (Easter IV):
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
Raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
07 May 2020
Praying in Easter with USPG:
26, Thursday 7 May 2020
Patrick Comerford
I am using the USPG Prayer Diary, Pray with the World Church, for my morning prayers and reflections throughout this Season of Easter. USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice. It was founded in 1701.
Throughout this week (3 to 9 May 2020), the USPG Prayer Diary is inspired by the work of Saint Nicholas Seminary, Ghana, and the theme of ‘Enhancing Church Growth in West Africa.’ This focus was introduced in the Prayer Diary on Sunday.
Thursday 7 May 2020:
Let us pray for the serving and aspiring church leaders currently being trained at St Nicholas Seminary.
The Readings: Acts 13: 13-25; Psalm 89: 1-2, 20-26; John 13: 16-20.
The Collect of the Day (Easter IV):
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
Raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
06 May 2020
Praying in Easter with USPG:
25, Wednesday 6 May 2020
Patrick Comerford
I am using the USPG Prayer Diary, Pray with the World Church, for my morning prayers and reflections throughout this Season of Easter. USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice. It was founded in 1701.
Throughout this week (3 to 9 May 2020), the USPG Prayer Diary is inspired by the work of Saint Nicholas Seminary, Ghana, and the theme of ‘Enhancing Church Growth in West Africa.’ This focus was introduced in the Prayer Diary on Sunday.
Wednesday 6 May 2020:
Lord, we thank you for the role St Nicholas Seminary plays in leadership development in Ghana, and for the support USPG gives the seminary.
The Readings: Acts 12: 24 to 13: 5; Psalm 67; John 12: 44-50.
The Collect of the Day (Easter IV):
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
Raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
05 May 2020
Praying in Easter with USPG:
24, Tuesday 5 May 2020
Patrick Comerford
I am using the USPG Prayer Diary, Pray with the World Church, for my morning prayers and reflections throughout this Season of Easter. USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice. It was founded in 1701.
Throughout this week (3 to 9 May 2020), the USPG Prayer Diary is inspired by the work of Saint Nicholas Seminary, Ghana, and the theme of ‘Enhancing Church Growth in West Africa.’ This focus was introduced in the Prayer Diary on Sunday.
Tuesday 5 May 2020 (International Midwives Day):
We pray for all health workers bringing new babies into the world, especially in countries where infant mortality rates are high.
The Readings: Acts 11: 19-26; Psalm 87; John 10: 22-30.
The Collect of the Day (Easter IV):
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
Raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
04 May 2020
Praying in Easter with USPG:
23, Monday 4 May 2020
Patrick Comerford
Today is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland. I am using the USPG Prayer Diary, Pray with the World Church, for my morning prayers and reflections throughout this Season of Easter. USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice. It was founded in 1701.
Throughout this week (3 to 9 May 2020), the USPG Prayer Diary is inspired by the work of Saint Nicholas Seminary, Ghana, and the theme of ‘Enhancing Church Growth in West Africa.’ This focus was introduced in the Prayer Diary yesterday.
Monday 4 May 2020:
We pray for all prospective ordinands, that they come to understand that the priest, like Christ, is ordained ‘not to be served, but to serve.’
The Readings: Acts 11: 1-18; Psalm 42: 1-2, 43: 1-4; John 10: 11-18.
The Collect of the Day (Easter IV):
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
Raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
03 May 2020
Praying in Easter with USPG:
22, Sunday 3 May 2020
Patrick Comerford
Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Our churches remain closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but I am continuing to celebrate the Eucharist each Sunday, with all the lectionary readings and a sermon. I am also continuing to use the USPG Prayer Diary, Pray with the World Church, for my morning prayers and reflections throughout this Season of Easter. USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice. It was founded in 1701.
Throughout this week (3 to 9 May 2020), the USPG Prayer Diary is inspired by the work of Saint Nicholas Seminary, Ghana, and the theme of ‘Enhancing Church Growth in West Africa.’ This focus is introduced in the Prayer Diary this morning:
St Nicholas Seminary in Cape Coast, Ghana, is a Provincial Theological College. USPG has been supporting the college predominately through the provision of scholarships to the Seminary. St Nicholas plays an important role in leadership development and clergy formation of the Province.
The mission of St Nicholas Seminary is to educate lay and ordained leaders of the Church and world emphasising the life of daily prayer and worship, high sense of community life, pastoral care, ministerial formation and social justice. The training and formation of Seminarians at St Nicholas has a pastoral dimension. As they begin the formation programme, seminarians come to understand that the priest, like Christ, is ordained ‘not to be served, but to serve’ – not to dominate, but to inspire and guide the people of God. They should become vividly aware of the Church’s mission to all people, and be ready to minister to all people everywhere.
Sunday 3 May 2020 (Fourth Sunday of Easter and World Press Freedom Day):
Heavenly Father,
we pray for those journalists who risk their lives to speak truth to power,
and we pray for more honesty in our media.
The Readings: Acts 2: 42-47 or Nehemiah 9: 6-15; Psalm 23; I Peter 2: 19-25; John 10: 1-10.
The Collect of the Day (Easter IV):
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
Raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Merciful Father,
you gave your Son Jesus Christ to be the good shepherd,
and in his love for us to lay down his life and rise again.
Keep us always under his protection,
and give us grace to follow in his steps;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
06 March 2020
Praying through Lent with
USPG (10): 6 March 2020
Patrick Comerford
We are more than a week into Lent today [6 March 2020], and later this morning I am speaking at the ‘World Day of Prayer’ service in Embury Court, Adare, Co Limerick.
The theme of ‘World Day of Prayer’ this year is ‘Rise – take up your mat and walk!’ and the resources were prepared by the woman of Zimbabwe.
During Lent this year, I am using the USPG Prayer Diary, Pray with the World Church, for my morning prayers and reflections. Because this year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the end of the Holocaust, I am also illustrating my reflections with images on this theme.
USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is the Anglican mission agency that partners churches and communities worldwide in God’s mission to enliven faith, strengthen relationships, unlock potential, and champion justice. It was founded in 1701.
This week (1-7 March), the USPG Prayer Diary is focussing on ‘Theological Education: a Key Pillar of Mission,’ with a particular focus on Bishop Gaul Theological College in Harare, which takes its name from Bishop Billy Gaul, an early SPG missionary from Ireland. The acting principal, Bishop Chad Gandiya, is a former Regional Desk Officer for Africa and the Indian Ocean at the USPG office in London.
However, the focus of the diary turns today from Zimbabwe to Ghana:
Friday 6 March:
Let us pray for the Anglican Diocese of Accra and for all the people of Ghana as they celebrate their nation’s Independence Day.
Readings: Ezekiel 18: 21-28; Psalm 130; Matthew 5: 20-26.
The Collect:
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are, yet without sin:
Give us grace to discipline ourselves
in obedience to your Spirit;
and, as you know our weakness,
so may we know your power to save;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Lenten Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
Create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Continued tomorrow
Yesterday’s reflection
16 December 2017
Praying in Advent with USPG
and Lichfield Cathedral
(14): 16 December 2017
Patrick Comerford
We have come to the end of the second week of Advent. Throughout this season of Advent, I am inviting you to spend a short time of prayer and reflection with me each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar from Lichfield Cathedral.
USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.
Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current prayer diary (22 October 2017 to 10 February 2018), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.
This week, the Prayer Diary continues its Advent series, looking at how the church is reaching out to mothers and babies through ‘a USPG-supported Anglican health programme in Ghana that has helped to eradicate cholera in parts of the Cape Coast.
In the Prayer Diary on Sunday, Gloria, told her story and how she had benefitted from this programme.
The USPG Prayer Diary:
Saturday 16 December 2017:
Pray for guidance to Ghana’s political leaders, local chiefs and all in positions of leadership. Pray that they might lead by example and serve the people.
Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:
The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.
Today, the calendar suggests reading Matthew 1: 1-17.
The reflection for today suggests:
As the preparations for Christmas intensify pray for the people who shed light and hope in the world and all who serve us each day. Pray for shop workers and delivery staff today.
Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):
Sirach 48: 1-4, 9-11 or II Kings 2: 9-12; Psalm 80: 1-4, 18-19; and Matthew 17: 10-13.
The Collect of the Second Sunday of Advent:
Father in heaven,
who sent your Son to redeem the world
and will send him again to be our judge:
Give us grace so to imitate him
in the humility and purity of his first coming
that when he comes again,
we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Advent Collect:
Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord,
here you have nourished us with the food of life.
Through our sharing in this holy sacrament
teach us to judge wisely earthly things
and to yearn for things heavenly.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow.
15 December 2017
Praying in Advent with USPG
and Lichfield Cathedral
(13): 15 December 2017
Patrick Comerford
We are coming towards the end of the second week of Advent. Throughout this season of Advent, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar from Lichfield Cathedral.
USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.
Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current prayer diary (22 October 2017 to 10 February 2018), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.
This week, the Prayer Diary continues its Advent series, looking at how the church is reaching out to mothers and babies through ‘a USPG-supported Anglican health programme in Ghana that has helped to eradicate cholera in parts of the Cape Coast.
In the Prayer Diary on Sunday, Gloria, told her story and how she had benefitted from this programme.
The USPG Prayer Diary:
Friday 15 December 2017:
Give thanks for the ongoing commitment to uphold the democratic system of governance that has helped to maintain peace in Ghana.
Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:
The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.
Today, the calendar suggests reading Luke 7: 24-30.
The reflection for today suggests:
Think how John the Baptist appeared and what he said. Do we judge by appearances and close our minds to truth? Pray about it.
Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):
Isaiah 48: 17-19; Psalm 1; and Matthew 11: 16-19.
The Collect of the Second Sunday of Advent:
Father in heaven,
who sent your Son to redeem the world
and will send him again to be our judge:
Give us grace so to imitate him
in the humility and purity of his first coming
that when he comes again,
we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Advent Collect:
Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord,
here you have nourished us with the food of life.
Through our sharing in this holy sacrament
teach us to judge wisely earthly things
and to yearn for things heavenly.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow.
14 December 2017
Praying in Advent with USPG
and Lichfield Cathedral
(12): 14 December 2017
Patrick Comerford
We are in the second week of Advent. Today [14 December], the Church Calendar commemorates Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), the Spanish Carmelite friar and mystic and friend of Saint Teresa of Avila. He was the descendant of a Jewish family that had converted to Christianity at the time of the Spanish Inquisition.
The calendar of Common Worship in the Church of England and, since 2009, the calendar of the Episcopal Church (TEC) commemorate Saint John of the Cross as a ‘Teacher of the Faith’ and ‘Mystic’ on this day, 14 December.
Thomas Merton once described him as ‘the church’s safest mystical theologian.’ Others have called Saint John of the Cross ‘the poet’s poet,’ ‘spirit of flame,’ and ‘celestial and divine.’
He is known for his wresting with what he calls ‘the Dark Night of the Soul,’ and for his axiom that the soul must empty itself of self in order to be filled with God, that it must be purified of the last traces of earthly dross before it is fit to become united with God. His writings on the soul united with God in prayer reveal the most profound mystical expressions, experiences and insights. These writings make him an important figure in Spanish literature and he is one of 36 Doctors of the Church.
Throughout this season of Advent, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar from Lichfield Cathedral.
USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.
Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current prayer diary (22 October 2017 to 10 February 2018), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.
This week, the Prayer Diary continues its Advent series, looking at how the church is reaching out to mothers and babies through ‘a USPG-supported Anglican health programme in Ghana that has helped to eradicate cholera in parts of the Cape Coast.
In the Prayer Diary on Sunday, Gloria, told her story and how she had benefitted from this programme.
The USPG Prayer Diary:
Thursday 14 December 2017:
Give thanks for the ministry of the Anglican Church in Ghana. Pray that leaders might have the grace and wisdom needed to strengthen and grow the work of the church.
Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:
The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.
Today, the calendar suggests reading Luke 7: 18-23.
The reflection for today suggests:
Try and keep silent for 10 minutes, concentrating on the word ‘Emmanuel’ – God with us. Turn it over in your mind. Pray the word ‘Emmanuel’.
Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):
Isaiah 41: 13-20; Psalm 145: 1, 8-13; and Matthew 11: 11-15.
The Collect of the Second Sunday of Advent:
Father in heaven,
who sent your Son to redeem the world
and will send him again to be our judge:
Give us grace so to imitate him
in the humility and purity of his first coming
that when he comes again,
we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Advent Collect:
Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord,
here you have nourished us with the food of life.
Through our sharing in this holy sacrament
teach us to judge wisely earthly things
and to yearn for things heavenly.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow.
13 December 2017
Praying in Advent with USPG
and Lichfield Cathedral
(11): 13 December 2017
Patrick Comerford
We are in the second week of Advent. Today [13 December], the Church Calendar commemorates Saint Lucy, or Lucia of Syracuse (283-304), a young Christian martyr who died during the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian.
This day once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, before calendar reforms, so the feast day of Saint Lucy became a festival of light, in which she is celebrated as the bearer of light in the darkness of winter.
Her feast day was commonly described as the shortest day of the year, as it is in John Donne’s poem, ‘A Nocturnal upon St. Lucie’s Day, being the shortest day’ (1627). The poem begins with: ‘’Tis the year’s midnight, and it is the day’s.’
In celebrations in Scandinavian countries, a young girl is dressed in a white dress and a red sash as the symbol of martyrdom, and she carries palms and wears a crown or wreath of candles on her head in procession as songs are sung.
The Calendar in Common Worship in the Church of England today also recalls Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), the Lichfield-born lexicographer and writer.
In his Dictionary, first published in 1755, Samuel Johnson offers a definition of Advent in these words: ‘The name of one of the holy seasons, signifying the coming; that is, the coming of our Saviour: which is made the subject of our devotion during the four weeks before Christmas.’
Throughout this season of Advent, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar from Lichfield Cathedral.
USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.
Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current prayer diary (22 October 2017 to 10 February 2018), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.
This week, the Prayer Diary continues its Advent series, looking at how the church is reaching out to mothers and babies through ‘a USPG-supported Anglican health programme in Ghana that has helped to eradicate cholera in parts of the Cape Coast.
In the Prayer Diary on Sunday, Gloria, told her story and how she had benefitted from this programme.
The USPG Prayer Diary:
Wednesday 13 December 2017:
Pray for all mothers and children in Ghana who struggle to access health services and information.
Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:
The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.
Today, the calendar suggests reading Matthew 21: 28-32.
The reflection for today suggests:
Saint Lucy is the ‘light bearer’. Pray for strength and joy in God’s service, to be obedient to the Gospel, for us to be ‘light bearers’.
Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):
Isaiah 40: 25-31; Psalm 103: 8-13; and Matthew 11: 28-30.
The Collect of the Second Sunday of Advent:
Father in heaven,
who sent your Son to redeem the world
and will send him again to be our judge:
Give us grace so to imitate him
in the humility and purity of his first coming
that when he comes again,
we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Advent Collect:
Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord,
here you have nourished us with the food of life.
Through our sharing in this holy sacrament
teach us to judge wisely earthly things
and to yearn for things heavenly.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
12 December 2017
Praying in Advent with USPG
and Lichfield Cathedral
(10): 12 December 2017
Patrick Comerford
We are in the second week of Advent.
Throughout this season of Advent, I am spending a short time of prayer and reflection each morning, using the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency, USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) and the Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar from Lichfield Cathedral.
USPG, founded in 1701, is an Anglican mission agency supporting churches around the world in their mission to bring fullness of life to the communities they serve.
Under the title Pray with the World Church, the current prayer diary (22 October 2017 to 10 February 2018), offers prayers and reflections from the Anglican Communion.
This week, the Prayer Diary continues its Advent series, looking at how the church is reaching out to mothers and babies through ‘a USPG-supported Anglican health programme in Ghana that has helped to eradicate cholera in parts of the Cape Coast.
In the Prayer Diary on Sunday, Gloria, told her story and how she had benefitted from this programme.
The USPG Prayer Diary:
Tuesday 12 December 2017:
Give thanks for the success of the Anglican Church’s health programme in Ghana that has helped to eradicate cholera in many parts of Africa (see article).
Lichfield Cathedral Advent and Christmas Devotional Calendar:
The calendar suggests lighting your Advent candle each day as you read the Bible and pray.
Today, the calendar suggests reading Matthew 21: 23-27.
The reflection for today suggests:
Jesus faced constant opposition. Think how he answered his critics. How do we make his ways our ways?
Readings (Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland, Holy Communion):
Isaiah 40: 1-11; Psalm 96: 1, 10-13; and Matthew 18: 12-14.
The Collect of the Second Sunday of Advent:
Father in heaven,
who sent your Son to redeem the world
and will send him again to be our judge:
Give us grace so to imitate him
in the humility and purity of his first coming
that when he comes again,
we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Advent Collect:
Almighty God,
Give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord,
here you have nourished us with the food of life.
Through our sharing in this holy sacrament
teach us to judge wisely earthly things
and to yearn for things heavenly.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)