Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 150, Monday 5 October 2026

An Orthodox icon of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, interpreting the parable according to Patristic and Orthodox traditions (Click on image for full-screen viewing)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVIII, 4 October).

Before today begins, however, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, and 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 Good Samaritan … a stained glass window by Charles Eamer Kempe in Saint Andrew’s Church, Great Linford, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 10: 25-37 (NRSVA):

25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 26 He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ 27 He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ 28 And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ 30 Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ 37 He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

The Good Samaritan … a modern icon

Today’s Reflection:

We are all very familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan, so familiar and so used to it that we are probably comfortable with the explanations and sermons we have heard over the years about this episode in today’s Gospel reading (Luke 10: 25-37), leaving very little to our own imaginations.

But the Early Fathers offered another interpretation of this parable.

The man who goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho is Adam, or humanity, or each and every one of us.

What does it mean that he goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho?

Jerusalem is the holy city of God, the place where God is served in worship and in public prayer. It is an impregnable stronghold, but it is located in a hill country, where the soil is stony and barren.

On the other hand, Jericho lies below the sea level in the Jordan Valley, in an area that is very fertile and rich in vegetation.

Jerusalem signifies the Divine Commandments. These commandments, like the walls of a city, limit us and our desires, but also create a safe living space where we can live unharmed by sin.

A man being seduced by earthly pleasures, represented by Jericho, goes out from Jerusalem, the stronghold of Divine Commandments. Here, we might think of Adam and Eve, leaving the Garden and going out into the world.

But the robbers control this way. Who are the robbers?

When people abandon God and seek pleasures in other places, the way of bodily desires first appears to be full of joy. But as time passes, indulging in passions becomes a heavy burden on the soul; in place of pleasure it becomes endless slavery. A man realises that he has lost his freedom and has become a captive of his passions. A soul blinded by passions and wounded by sin becomes incapable of any spiritual activity.

Before God, such a man is half-dead. On the way, the man has been stripped of his raiment, deprived of the raiment of virtues and of the cover of God’s grace and protection.

In this patristic approach to reading the parable, the robbers are demons who act through our own passions. The man wounded by robbers represents fallen humanity before the coming of Christ.

Who then were the Priest and Levite who saw the wounded man and passed by without providing him any help?

The Priest and the Levite are ministers of God. They represent the saints and prophets sent by God from the beginning of time.

Why then is it said that they passed by without helping that man?

Did they not fulfil the ministry of preaching?

Yes, they did. They came to that place, they stopped, they saw the man and they passed by. But wounded humanity remained lying on the road. Moses came and passed away, Elijah came and passed away, other prophets came and passed away, but the illness of humanity remained without being healed.

Only God who has created us can recreate us.

This is how Isaiah speaks on the incurable disease of the humanity:

Why do you seek further beatings?
Why do you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and bleeding wounds;
they have not been drained, or bound up,
or softened with oil. (Isaiah 1: 5-6)

Who then is the Samaritan who goes down on the same road?

The Samaritans were the descendants of Israelites and the nations who migrated to Palestine under Assyrian rule after the destruction of Jerusalem. They lived to the south of Judea, between Judea and Galilee. Samaritans believed in the One God of Israel and kept the Law of Moses, but they developed their own traditions. For the Jews, they were heretics, and so Jews kept their distance from Samaritans.

Why then does Christ represent himself as a Samaritan?

The Pharisees mockingly labelled Christ a Samaritan, saying, ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?’ (John 8: 48).

Christ humbly attributes to himself the name given to him by his detractors.

In addition, Greek Orthodox hymns note a similarity between the phrases ‘from Samaria’ and ‘from Mary,’ for in Greek these phrases sound similar. (For example, the Samarian Gorge in Crete takes its name not from Samaria but from the abandoned village and church of Óssia María or Saint Mary).

The Samaritan, moved with compassion, approaches the wounded man. He binds his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. The oil symbolises mercy and the wine the true teaching of God. Then he brings the man to an inn where he can be taken care of.

This Gospel readings says that the Good Samaritan ‘put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.’ However, in traditional icons, Christ carries the man on his back. Christ in the incarnation takes on our human nature, our soul and body. That is why in the parable he ‘set him on his own beast,’ interpreted by the Early Fathers that Christ makes us members of his own body.

There is a similar image in the parable of the Lost Sheep (see Luke 15). The Good Shepherd left 99 sheep in the desert and went after the lost sheep, representing humanity. When he found the lost sheep, he put it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

The inn in this parable represents the Church. The innkeeper represents bishops and priests. Christ establishes his Church which, like an inn, accepts and provides shelter for all. The wounded man should stay here to be taken care of. The Samaritan has to leave, however. He takes out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying: ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’

Christ indicates his second coming when he will come not to heal our infirmities, but to judge the living and the dead, and to reward each one according to his works.

The silver the Samaritan gives to the innkeeper is the divine grace Christ gives to the Church; it heals and saves souls through the sacraments. Bishops and priests, the ministers of the sacraments of the Church, are the distributors of God’s gifts. They offer to others what they have received: the sacraments and the teaching of Christ. Are they able to spend more? What can they add from themselves to the gift of the Divine Grace? Their labour, their cares, their zeal, which Christ shall recompense them on the day of the Last Judgment.

In this interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan, Christ offers himself as the prime example of mercy and compassion. Through his compassion, he takes on our sufferings and becomes the true neighbour of all fallen humanity.

This is a reading of this parable that connects with the assertion in the New Testament reading that God through Christ ‘has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom.

The Good Samaritan window in Saint George’s Church, Belfast (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 5 October 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, 4-10 October 2026 (pp 44-45), is ‘The Gun, The Sword, and The Bible’. This theme was introduced yesterday with a reflection by the Revd Les Isaac OBE, founder and President of Ascension Trust and co-founder of Street Pastors.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 5 October 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord, give us courage to face the complexities of your Church’s history with honesty and humility. Help us to seek truth without fear and to grow in understanding and grace.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind
and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments
and win the crown of everlasting joy;
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:

We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast:
for here we receive you,
here the memory of your passion is renewed,
here our minds are filled with grace,
and here a pledge of future glory is given,
when we shall feast at that table where you reign
with all your saints for ever.

Additional Collect:

God, our judge and saviour,
teach us to be open to your truth
and to trust in your love,
that we may live each day
with confidence in the salvation which is given
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The Good Samaritan … a stained glass window in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 143, Monday 28 September 2026

Jesus … took a little child and put it by his side (Luke 9: 47) … a window in the chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVII). Later this morning I plan to meet a long-standing friend in London, and tomorrow is Michaelmas, the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels (29 September).

Before today begins and before I set off for London, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, and 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 Preaching of the Kingdom of God … an icon in the Lady Chapel in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 9: 46-50 (NRSVA):

46 An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, 48 and said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.’

49 John answered, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.’ 50 But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not stop him; for whoever is not against you is for you.’

‘Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me’ (Luke 9: 48) … a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Today’s lectionary reading for the Eucharist is Saint Luke’s account of a story we also hear in two other Gospels (see Mark 9: 30-37; Matthew 18: 1-14).

In Saint Matthew’s version of this story, Christ tells us: ‘Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven … it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost’ (verses 10-14).

The disciples are arguing with one another about who is the greatest. Christ tells them not to seek position or prestige.

Then, one of the Twelve, John, complains that someone who is not part of their inner circle has been casting out demons in Christ’s name. But did the disciples welcome him? Did they praise him for bringing comfort to distressed people and for restoring them to a good quality of life?

Christ now rebukes the disciples for attempting to stop this exorcist who is curing in his name, a reminder that that God can work through those who are not followers of Christ.

Instead of being smug among themselves, arguing about who among them was the greatest, the disciples should have been like this man, bringing comfort to those who were in trouble, looking after those who were thirsty both physically and spiritually.

I worked for almost 30 years as a journalist with The Irish Times. The Revd Stephen Hilliard, a former colleague there who was ordained a priest in the Church of Ireland a few years before me, was visiting me one evening, when I asked him what the difference was between the two – being a journalist and being a priest. With a wry grin, he told me: ‘Not much. I continue to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.’

Perhaps not in so many words, but in this Gospel reading Christ tells the disciples that they should be afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted.

At the end of last year (2025), an estimated 45 million children under the age of 18 were forcibly displaced globally due to conflict, violence, persecution, and human rights violations, according to UN data. They include 32.7 million internally displaced children and over 19 million refugee and asylum-seeking children.

In the year to June 2026, 4,275 applications for asylum were received in the UK from unaccompanied children, making up 6% of total asylum applications. The UNHCR estimates that 2.4 million children were born into refugee life between 2018 and 2025, equivalent to some 338,000 children per year, meaning that their parents fled and became refugees before they were born.

All children in these situations and these dilemmas are innocent. There is no such thing as a child being the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. All children should feel safe, in all places, at all times.

But we need to move from Victorian Sunday School images of the children being brought to Jesus, and ask how he would hear the voices of children today and how he would respond to those who plot to do them harm.

Would Christ challenge us to hear the cries of children in the refugee camps, the children needing humanitarian assistance, the children in the slums, in the sweat shops and in the brothels, to hear the cries of children suffering behind the bedroom doors of respectability?

‘Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me’ (Luke 9: 48) … a window by Alfred Bell of Clayton and Bell in Saint John-at-Hampstead (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 28 September 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 27 September to 3 October 2026 (pp 42-43), is ‘Power of Language’. This theme was introduced yesterday with a reflection by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 28 September 2026) invites us to pray in these words:

Lord God, help us listen carefully and speak with care, so our words build understanding and bring life.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord, we pray that your grace
may always precede and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Gracious God,
you call us to fullness of life:
deliver us from unbelief
and banish our anxieties
with the liberating love of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Michael and All Angels:

Everlasting God,
you have ordained and constituted
the ministries of angels and mortals in a wonderful order:
grant that as your holy angels always serve you in heaven,
so, at your command,
they may help and defend us on earth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Jesus … took a little child and put it by his side (Luke 9: 47) … a detail in the window in the Comberford Chapel in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 140, Friday 25 September 2026

When is it appropriate to be silent? (see Luke 9: 21) … an icon of Christ the Blessed Silence

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIV, 21 September). Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in this week in the Church Calendar are also known as Ember Days.

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), Bishop of Winchester and spiritual writer; and Saint Sergei of Radonezh (1314-1392), Russian monastic reformer, teacher of the faith.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, and 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.

When is it appropriate to be silent? (see Luke 9: 21) … an icon of Christ the Blessed Silence

Luke 9: 18-22 (NRSVA):

18 Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ 19 They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’ 20 He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’

21 He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, 22 saying, ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’

When is it appropriate to be silent? (see Luke 9: 21) … an icon of Christ the Blessed Silence

Today’s Reflection:

In today’s Gospel reading (Luke 9: 18-22), after his profound confession of faith, Saint Peter is ‘sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone.’ This is in sharp contrast to the response to this confession of faith in Saint Matthew’s Gospel, when Christ tells Saint Peter: ‘I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church …’ (Matthew 16: 18, NRSVA).

When is it appropriate to be silent and not speak out?

In Saint Mark’s Gospel, when Bartimaeus the blind beggar realises he is in the presence of Christ outside the gates of Jericho, ‘many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly’ (Mark 10: 48).

But are there times when words are not enough, when words are simply not appropriate?

In the midst of the unsettling and shocking turn events in the US in recent weeks, many people who speak out against racism, hatred and oppression, are being silenced by people who once claimed they defended free speech, while the name of Christianity is being misappropriated, hijacked and politically manipulated by people whose values and lifestyles show no commitment to living according to principles and values.

I am reminded of a saying attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi: ‘Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.’

There are moments when actions speak louder than words, and when our lifestyle and discipleship offer far better sermons than anything we may say in a sermon.

There are moments to cry out loudly in the presence of God, and there are moments when silence is so appropriate.

So, in my prayers and silent reflections this morning, as the Church remembers Saint Sergei of Radonezh, regarded as the greatest of the Russian saints, my thoughts are turning to the icon of Christ the Blessed Silence, an icon found in some traditions in the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches, but that is not so well known outside Orthodoxy.

In this icon, Christ is portrayed as a youthful figure looking like a winged angel, his hands crossed against his chest, sometimes wearing a bishop’s mitre and dressed in a sakkos (σάκκος), the vestment worn by Orthodox bishops. In most of these icons, Christ is shown with an eight-pointed, shining nimbus.

The icon of Christ the Blessed Silence represents his sacrifice, through his young face and crossed hands, and his ecclesiastic mission in his attire. His angel-like face and the wings point to his ministry. In some of these icons, Christ is bare-headed, in others he wears the crown of a bishop, to show that he is both the Great High Priest and the King of Kings. In some icons of Christ the Blessed Silence, Christ holds the cross, spear and sponge of the Crucifixion.

The tradition of icons of Christ the Blessed Silence developed in the 14th and 15th centuries on Mount Athos, in Greece and in the Balkans. In Greece it was associated in Greece with the tradition of Hesychia. This Blessed Silence of Christ associates this icon with the hesychasts in the Eastern Orthodox tradition – the Greek ἡσυχία (hesychia) is a word for silence or quiet.

This icon is known in Russian as Spas Blagoe Molchanie or the Saviour of the Blessed Silence, and even as the Angel of Great Counsel. The earliest icon in this tradition in mediaeval Rus dates from the late 15th century. Christ is portrayed on the iconostasis or icon screen in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin in Moscow, above the entrance to the sanctuary and dates from ca 1482 or perhaps later (1514-1515).

This image was widespread in the 17th century, and it is found special reverence in the 18th and 19th centuries among the Old Believers in Russia. Many of these icons were confiscated from the Old Believers and kept in archives in St Petersburg.

The icon of Christ the Blessed Silence Saviour is one of the few types in which Christ is represented in the form of an angel. In these icons, Christ is young and without a beard, looking like an angel or messenger, the angel of the blessed silence.

The sacred silence of Christ in this icon is also associated with the Christ who was born in time to be the Suffering Servant who died in Silence. In the traditional interpretations of Isaiah, the Suffering Servant passages are associated with the crucifixion of Jesus:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth. (Isaiah 53: 7)

So, the suffering Christ was silent, and Christ the Angel of Great Counsel is the Son of God begotten in the Silence of Eternity.

Isaiah also says:

He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street (Isaiah 42: 2).

These icons often also bear inscriptions from another passage in Isaiah:

The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11: 2)

Sometimes Christ holds in his hand a scroll that reads: ‘You are the God of Peace, Father of Mercies, the Angel of Great Counsel.’ These words are in Irmos 5 in the Liturgy of the Nativity:

O God of peace and Father of mercies
Thou has sent to us the Angel of Great Counsel who grants us peace.
So we are guided to the light of the knowledge of God.
Waking early from the night we praise Thee, O Lover of men.

Traditionally, the words of Isaiah 9: 6 are associated with the birth of Christ and the Nativity narratives. They are best known in the English-speaking world because of their use in the libretto by Charles Jennens for Handel’s oratorio Messiah:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Jennens was drawing on the text of the Authorised Version or King James Version of the Bible, which reflects the Hebrew text of the Bible as it was known in the 17th century. However, early Christians knew the Biblical texts not in Hebrew, but in the Greek of the Septuagint. In Greek, Isaiah 9: 6 reads somewhat differently:

The ‘Messenger of Great Counsel’ (Ο Μεγάλης Βουλής Άγγελος) in the Septuagint may also be understood as the ‘Angel of Great Counsel.’ Greek versions of the icon of the Angel of Great Counsel sometimes include the inscription:

ἐγὼ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω:
οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ ἐλήλυθα, ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνός με ἀπέστειλεν.

For I came from God and now I am here.
I did not come on my own, but he sent me (John 8: 42).

As I think of the icon of Christ the Blessed Silence, I think too of the Logos begotten from God in Eternity and of the birth of the Christ Child in time. He is the one who was, who is and who is to come, the one to cry out loud to and the one in whose presence we should be silent too.

I have said with humour and full sincerity that when my coffin is being taken into the church at my funeral (later than sooner, I hope), that I want to hear Leonard Cohen’s ‘If it be your will’ … and when my coffin is being carried out I want to hear his ‘Dance me to the end of love.’

So often I want to be in control. I want to control the agenda, I want to control conversations, I want to control discussions. And I particularly want to control the words I use, the words others are going to hear me say.

And so, I am humbled at times when I listen to Leonard Cohen’s song, ‘If it be your will.’

Leonard Cohen ended many of those concerts singing this poem, which for me is about submission to God’s will, accepting God’s will, leaving God in control of my spirit:

Leonard Cohen sings of his nearly complete subjection to the divine will.

If he is told to be silent, he will be silent; if he is told to sing, he will sing.

If he is allowed to express his true voice (‘if a voice be true’), he will sing in praise of God from ‘this broken hill’ … from Calvary?

The mercy of God, the compassion of God, the love of God, redeems the burning hearts in hell … if it is God’s will.

Leonard Cohen’s great hope in this will leads to prayer, to the one who can ‘make us well’ if we devote ourselves to God, pray to God, sing to God. But he still prays to God to act on behalf of the suffering.

Cajoling God in song and poetry, Cohen says God has the power to ‘end this night’ of the darkness of the human condition, in which people are dressed in only dirty ‘rags of light’ that are fragmented, that are not fully whole and illuminated.

In this song, I imagine Christ on the cross as he speaks to God the Father as his agony comes to its close:

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before.

The broken hill is Golgotha where he has been crucified, the rugged and rocky Mount of Calvary.

‘Let the rivers fill’ may refer to the water of his thirst, the water of his sweat, the water that streams from his side, the waters of baptism, the Living Water that will never leave us to thirst.

If it be your will
To make us well
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell.

Lancelot Andrewes, who is remembered in the calendar of the Church of England today, repeatedly emphasises that the ultimate heights of Christian mystery – particularly Christ's incarnation and his suffering on the cross – transcend what human words can articulate. In his 1604 Good Friday Passion Sermon, based on Lamentations 1: 12, Andrewes contemplates the unmatched, incomparable sorrow (non sicut) of Christ: ‘It is a non sicut this, it cannot be expressed as it should, and as other things may; in silence we may admire it, but all our words will not reach it.’

For Andrewes, trying to stretch words to encapsulate the depth of divine suffering borders on hubris. Instead, true devotion requires us to halt our speech and allow adoring silence to take over where vocabulary fails. He echoes Saint Augustine in his writings, noting that ‘even they that are full of words are but dumb’ when attempting to fully describe God, concluding that the highest form of praise ‘hath rather silence than words.’

He routinely returns to the intense cosmic paradox of Christmas: the Verbum infans, the ‘infant Word’ or the ‘Word without a word’. He marvels that the eternal Word of God, who commands the vastness of the oceans and the cosmos, would enter the world wrapped in swaddling clothes, entirely unable to speak. In Andrewes’s theology, God’s own choice to embrace the silence of infancy demands a mirroring, humbled silence from humanity as we approach the manger.

The Dominican theologian Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe of Oxford says: ‘We must wait for the resurrection to break the silence of the tomb.’ We must speak up when it is necessary, and to have the courage to speak is ‘ultimately founded upon the courage to listen.’

Leonard Cohen, If it be your will:

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will

If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will.

When is it appropriate to be silent? (see Luke 9: 21) … an icon of Christ the Blessed Silence

Today’s Prayers (Friday 25 September 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 20 to 26 September 2026 (pp 40-41), is ‘For God and Country’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by Rosie Dawson, USPG Trustee and freelance journalist.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 25 September 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord, we pray that the Gospel may be spoken, sung, and embodied in every tongue and context. Free us from silencing voices that we falsely claim do not belong.

The Collect of the Day:

Lord God, who gave to Lancelot Andrewes many gifts of your Holy Spirit,
making him a man of prayer and a pastor of your people:
perfect in us that which is lacking in your gifts,
of faith, to increase it,
of hope, to establish it,
of love, to kindle it,
that we may live in the light of your grace and glory;
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.

Collect (for the ministry of all Christian people):

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God, shepherd of your people,
whose servant Lancelot Andrewes revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer (Ember Days):

Heavenly Father,
whose ascended Son gave gifts of leadership and service to the Church:
strengthen us who have received this holy food
to be good stewards of your manifold grace,
through him who came not to be served but to serve,
and give his life as a ransom for many,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow


‘If It Be Your Will’ … Leonard Cohen and The Webb Sisters, Live in London

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 138, Wednesday 23 September 2026

‘Then Jesus called the twelve together and … sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9: 1-2) … the Twelve Apostles, an icon in the church in Panormos, east of Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVI, 21 September).

Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in this week in the Church Calendar are also known as Ember Days. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, and 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.

Mosaic figures of the Twelve Apostles by Antonio Salviati on the tympanum of Saint Andrew’s Cathedral in Amalfi (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 9: 1-6 (NRSVA):

1 Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money – not even an extra tunic. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. 5 Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.’ 6 They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

The 12 disciples in an icon of the True Vine in the church in Piskopianó in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

The story of the Twelve being called and sent out in mission and ministry, ‘to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal,’ is an appropriate Gospel on the first of the Ember Days in September.

Ember Days are often been associated with prayer and fasting and Common Worship describes them ‘as days of prayer for those to be made deacon or priest.’ Traditionally they have been observed on the Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays within the weeks before the Third Sunday of Advent, the Second Sunday of Lent and the Sundays nearest to 29 June and 29 September.

Common Worship suggests: ‘Ember Days may also be kept even when there is no ordination in the diocese as more general days of prayer for those who serve the Church in its various ministries, both ordained and lay, and for vocations.’

This traditional association explains why the invitations sent out to ordinations are known as Ember Cards.

In sending out the Twelve, recalled in today’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Luke 9: 1-6), Jesus ‘gave them power and authority’. What is the nature of that ‘power and authority’, and where do we find that in ministry and discipleship?

This Gospel reading might be a good reading for an ordination or a commissioning service. This incident comes after a number of well-known stories in Saint Luke’s Gospel, including the calming of a storm on the lake, the healing of a demoniac, the raising of Jairus’s daughter and the healing of a woman with a haemorrhage.

Now we are moving into a turning point in Christ’s public life and in his relationship with his disciples.

This is, in fact, the third tour of Galilee by Jesus. On the first tour, he is accompanied just by the four fishermen he had called first – Peter, Andrew, James and John. On the second tour, all of the 12 are with him. Then, on this third tour of Galilee, we will find him left on his own after he sends the Twelve out on this on their own first mission.

In this reading, Christ sends out the 12 on their first mission, their first time on their own without his being with them.

They are not to be choosy about where they go or where they stay. They are to stay in the first house that accepts them. Wherever they find that they or their message is not welcome, they are to shake the dust from their feet – for it is not the disciples who are rejected, but the Good News of Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God itself, and the one in whose name they have been sent them that are being rejected.

And so the 12 go out, from town to town, proclaiming the Gospel and restoring people to wholeness wherever they go.

This is the same mission each of those we pray for on Ember Days will be entrusted with. They are being called, individually and together, to proclaim the Gospel by word and by lifestyle, to be sources of healing and wholeness, to live lives that are witnesses to the Risen Lord.

Now, I wonder how many new ordinands would like to be sent out in ministry being told to cure, to preach and to heal, but being told to take nothing with them.

The limits imposed on the 12 are even more restrictive than those I experience travelling with Ryanair or EasyJet: they are to take no bag, no food, no money and no change of clothes.

And if you think budget airlines send you to airports in places you never heard of instead of sending you to places you plan to visit, imagine how perplexed the 12 must have been about their prospective destinations.

We are not told what happened to the 12. Instead, the narrative is interrupted by a discussion of some of Herod’s delusions (verses 7-9).

By the time Herod has finished his self-questioning, the 12 are back. Jesus takes them off to Bethsaida. They are followed by the crowds, and Jesus shows the 12 exactly what they should have been doing in mission: he welcomes the crowd, he speaks to them of the Kingdom of God, and he cures those who need healing (verse 11).

I imagine the story of the 12 being sent out is a bit like the first pastoral placement for students preparing for ordination. How many are left free to make a bags of it? And then, in the process of reflection and evaluation, they learn from those gaffes and those mistakes, from those times they went in with both feet first, when we found we were not welcome or said the wrong things, and were left to shake the dust from our feet.

When Jesus takes the 12 off to Bethsaida he tries to show them how to do it. But do they learn? It seems not. Instead, they ask him to send the crowd away, to go out also and look for places to stay (verse 12). They have not healed them, they have not cured them, they have not spoken to them of the Kingdom, and they are reluctant to feed them or to shelter them.

We can see this is an image of their refusal to allow the outsiders to become the insiders, to invite them to hear the Gospel and to join in fellowship at the sacred meal.

And so Christ puts the same questions to them that Herod has put to himself (verses 18-22), he challenges them to take up the Cross (verses 23-27), and offers some of them a vision of his glory (verses 28-36).

Perhaps it was because the disciples were aware of their weaknesses that they learned anew, that they did not resent the episode in the following chapter when the 70 are sent out, two-by-two.

There are times when those in ministry and mission feel not perhaps that we have failed but that we have only risen to second best.

But in our failures, in our weaknesses, in those moments when we rise up to being only at our second best, we must never be discouraged, for God does not call the equipped to ministry – instead, God equips the called.

A willingness to learn must include a willingness to learn by my mistakes – and, as I know only too well, I make many of them.

We know the disciples made many more mistakes – Peter went on to deny Christ three times at the most crucial moment; Thomas doubted Christ after his death and resurrection; Philip was admonished (see John 14: 8); the 12 are even caught squabbling among themselves.

We all have our weaknesses. But when we accept our vulnerability, we not only learn, but we also become humble before Christ, who accepted vulnerability and emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness … humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross (Philippians 2: 7-8).

Those sent out in ministry and mission must seek to put confidence and trust not in our own skills and abilities, but be willing to learn from our mistakes, be accepting of our weaknesses, be open to our own vulnerability, and be confident that we will be continually equipped and continually strengthened by Christ who calls us and who sends us.

Christ sending the Apostles to preach the Gospel, depicted in the mosaic in the Triclinium of Pope Leo III on the north side of Piazza di Porta San Giovanni (Saint John Lateran) in Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 23 September 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 20 to 26 September 2026 (pp 40-41), is ‘For God and Country’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by Rosie Dawson, USPG Trustee and freelance journalist.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 23 September 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord God, strengthen the leaders and members of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente as they witness courageously, serve selflessly, and live out their mission of proclaiming God’s justice.

The Collect of the Day:

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers
of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
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.

Collect (for the ministry of all Christian people):

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
you have taught us through your Son
that love is the fulfilling of the law:
grant that we may love you with our whole heart
and our neighbours as ourselves;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Post Communion Prayer (Ember Days):

Heavenly Father,
whose ascended Son gave gifts of leadership and service to the Church:
strengthen us who have received this holy food
to be good stewards of your manifold grace,
through him who came not to be served but to serve,
and give his life as a ransom for many,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Lord of creation,
whose glory is around and within us:
open our eyes to your wonders,
that we may serve you with reverence
and know your peace at our lives’ end,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet’ (Luke 9: 6) … sandals on a stall outside a shop in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 136, Monday 21 September 2026, Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

Saint Matthew depicted on a pillar in the Church of the Transfiguration in Piskopiano in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVI), and today is the Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (21 September).

Yom Kippur began at Kol Nidre at sunset last night (Sunday 20 September 2026) and ends at nightfall this evening (Monday 21 September 2026). Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement is the peak of the High Holidays and the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, when people fast, pray, seek forgiveness from God and from others, and I spent most of yesterday evening in the local syngaogue.

I have an appointment for an MRI scan in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford later today, as a follow-up to my stroke four years ago, when I received care in hospitals in Milton Keynes and Oxford, followed by Gamma Ray surgery in Sheffield. 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.

‘Scenes from the Life of the Apostle Matthew’, an icon by Georgios Kastrophylakas (1742) in old Saint Minas Church, Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 9: 9-13 (NRSVA):

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 12 But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

A statue of Saint Matthew on the west front of Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Saint Matthew the Evangelist (מתי/מתתיהו, Gift of Yahweh; Ματθαίος) is one of the Twelve and is identified with both the author of the first of the four gospels and with Levi the publican or tax collector in the Gospels according to Saint Mark and Saint Luke.

According to tradition, Saint Matthew was the son of Alpheus, a publican or a tax collector by profession. He was the Levi in the Gospels according to Saint Mark and Saint Luke, and was called to be a disciple while he was sitting in the tax collectors’ place at Capernaum.

We know little about Saint Matthew’s subsequent career – what we do know is little more than speculation and legend. Saint Irenaeus says Saint Matthew preached the Gospel among the Hebrews, Saint Clement of Alexandria claimed that he did this for 15 years, and Eusebius maintains that, before going into other countries, he gave them his Gospel in his mother tongue.

Some ancient writers say Matthew later worked in Ethiopia to the south of the Caspian Sea – not Ethiopia in Africa; others say he worked in Persia, Parthia, Macedonia or Syria. According to Heracleon, who is quoted by Clement of Alexandria, Matthew did not die a martyr, but other accounts, including the Roman Martyrology, say he died a martyr’s death in Ethiopia.

Like the other evangelists, Saint Matthew is often depicted in Christian art as one of the four living creatures of Revelation (4: 7) – in Saint Matthew’s case the winged man, carrying a lance in his hand. There are three paintings of Saint Matthew by Carravagio in the church of San Luigi del Francesci in Rome. Those three paintings, which are among the landmarks of Western art, depict Saint Matthew and the Angel, Saint Matthew being called by Christ, and the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew.

Caravaggio, in depicting the calling of Saint Matthew, shows Levi the tax collector sitting at a table with four assistants, counting the day’s proceeds. This group is lighted from a source at the upper right of the painting. Christ, his eyes veiled, with his halo the only indication of his divinity, enters with Saint Peter. A gesture of Christ’s right hand – all the more powerful and compelling because of its languor – summons Levi.

Surprised by the intrusion and perhaps dazzled by the sudden light from the just-opened door, Levi draws back and gestures toward himself with his left hand as if to say: ‘Who, me?’ His right hand is still on the coin he had been counting before Christ’s entrance.

Today, Saint Matthew is regarded as the patron saint of accountants and bankers. Given the unsaintly performance of many bankers in recent years, I do not know that I would be particularly happy with the prospect of being the patron saint of bankers being put to me as a good career move in heaven. But then Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to salvation.

Perhaps Saint Matthew should be the patron saint of those who answer the call to ministry. I hope none of us will be worried about how we are remembered, whether people get it right about where we worked in ministry and mission, or whether they even get my name right. As long as I answered that call when it came, and abandoned everything else, including career prospects and the possibility of wealth, to answer that call faithfully and fully.

Saint Matthew depicted in a window in Saint Peter’s Church, Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 21 September 2026, Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 20 to 26 September 2026 (pp 40-41), is ‘For God and Country’. This theme was introduced yesterday with a reflection by Rosie Dawson, USPG Trustee and freelance journalist.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 21 September 2026, Saint Matthew) invites us to pray:

God of life, you call us to follow you faithfully as Matthew did. Help us to proclaim your truth with courage, act with humility, and bear witness to justice, mercy, and love in all that we do.

The Collect of the Day:

O Almighty God,
whose blessed Son called Matthew the tax collector
to be an apostle and evangelist:
give us grace to forsake the selfish pursuit of gain
and the possessive love of riches
that we may follow in the way of your Son Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

or

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

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Saint Matthew depicted in the iconostasis in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (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

Inside the Byzantine Church of Saint Matthew of the Sinaites in the old city in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 130, Tuesday 15 September 2026

The Widow of Nain … a window by Hardman at the west end of the south aisle in Saint Mary’s Church, St Neots, Cambridgeshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XV). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (15 September 2026) remembers Saint Cyprian (258), Bishop of Carthage and Martyr.

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 resurrection of the young man of Nain, by Lucas Cranach (1569)

Luke 7: 11-17 (NRSVA)

11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ 14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’ 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus[b] gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’ 17 This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

Jesus Raising the Widow’s Son at Nain (James Tissot, ca 1890)

Today’s Reflection:s

Funeral stories and the stories of children being raised to life, like the story in the Gospel reading this morning, are not always the most cheerful Bible readings. This reading was particularly difficult when I was preaching one Sunday morning many years ago in Saint Patrick’s Church, Donabate, north Co Dublin, when I was baptising a little baby boy.

But at the moment in the lectionary each weekday morning we are working our way through Saint Luke’s Gospel. It is full of stories about healing and wholeness. And I found myself that morning asking who does Jesus bring healing and wholeness to in this reading.

When we look at any Gospel story it is always good to ask a few basic questions, like who, what, where, when and why.

If you want to watch a movie on Netflix this evening, you would probably ask a few basic questions before making your choice:

• What’s the story all about?

• Who are the principal characters, the main actors?

• In other words, is there anything in this for me?

In a similar way, if we are to find anything in a Gospel story that not only makes it interesting but makes it relevant for me, then I suppose I could approach a Gospel reading with the same questions:

• What’s the story all about?

• Who are the main characters?

• Where’s the action?

In today’s Gospel story, there is a lot of action, and a lot of people. In fact, there are two large crowds, and the drama is created in the way they meet each other, in an unexpected and unplanned way.

The first crowd is made up of those following Jesus, who have just arrived after a long, 20-mile walk with him from Capernaum.

This group includes not just those who are his disciples. But a lot of other people too – people are there to see what he is doing, what’s going on. Like Netflix viewers after a hard day’s work, they are looking for the entertainment, looking for the drama, perhaps even hoping for a miracle or too … after all, at Capernaum they have seen him heal the centurion’s servant.

And we ought not to be too dismissive of this crowd following Jesus, or their motives. After all, that is the way a lot of people end up coming to church. They go with the flow, they like what is on offer for their children, it gives them a sense of identity. And, in coming along, they find out who Jesus really is, why it matters to follow him.

Perhaps they were expecting nothing. Perhaps they were just tired, and after a 20-mile walk are anxious about whether there are enough beds in the tiny village of Nain for them all to stay overnight.

And, unexpectedly – in a way that no-one could have planned – this large crowd bumps into another, second large crowd. Nain is called a town here, but it was more like a village, about nine or ten miles south of Nazareth. Until the mid-20th century, it had a population of less than 100 or 200, so we can imagine a tiny place in the days of Jesus.

So, one large crowd bumps into another large crowd. And it is bad news for the large crowd that has been following Jesus.

In a tiny place like Nain, to have a large crowd they must have been drawn from every house and dwelling place, every family in the village. If they are all in mourning, not only are they unlikely to be able to offer anyone bed and breakfast for the night, they probably are ritually unable to do so: a dead body, a corpse, a funeral, a burial, all make a practising, observant Jew ritually unclean.

The disciples and the other people who are following Jesus on the road from Capernaum to Nain must have taken pity on themselves. Where are they going to go tonight? What can they do? Where can they stay?

Perhaps the appeal of following Jesus, waiting for the miracle to happen, suddenly evaporated as this reality dawned on them.

Perhaps they even thought that Jesus should have pity on them, pity on their plight.

But instead, Jesus takes pity, not on them, and not even on the poor young lad who has died either. Instead, he takes pity on the boy’s widowed mother. He has compassion for her, he tells her not to weep.

However, having compassion and doing something about it make two separate sets of demands.

The love of a mother for her young son is incomparable, as people knew too that Sunday morning at the baptism in Donabate, Co Dublin.

Jesus recognises, Jesus identifies with, Jesus is consumed with, the love of this widowed, probably young widowed, mother. As a widow, left financially ruined, her only hope of survival in this world may have been in the livelihood her son would eventually attain.

She has already been widowed, now her son has died. She faces not only emotional devastation, but financial destruction and social ruin … she will have no-one to work her fields, no-one to provide an income, no-one to guarantee her safety and security.

Jesus recognises her plight … and he does something about it. First he does something that is shocking in his day, shocking behaviour for a rabbi in those days. He touches the bier, he touches the dead body. It is no wonder the bearers stood still. He has identified so much with the widow’s plight that he too becomes ritually unclean. In Christ, God’s identification with our humanity is so complete that he takes on everything about us. God so identifies with us in Christ that he even identifies with us in birth, in life, and in death.

The miracle is amazing. The fact that God identifies so much with us is even more amazing. God’s compassion should be more amazing than God’s miracles. It is because of his love and compassion in the first place that there are miracles.

No wonder the crowds, the two large crowds, all of them, are seized with fear. It is awesome.

And yet, in telling this story, Luke rises to some of his most poetic language in this Gospel.

He looks back to the words of the pregnant Mary and ageing Zechariah in the canticles Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, when Saint Luke says they glorified God (7: 16, cf Luke 1: 47-48), when they realised a great prophet had risen among them (cf Luke 1: 69-70), when they said God has looked favourably on his people (cf Luke 1: 48), when they realised a new day had dawned. She has been shown mercy, she has been saved from the hands of her enemies, she has received the tender mercy of God.

Saint Luke looks forward to that moment when the suffering Christ meets the weeping women outside the gates of Jerusalem (Luke 23: 28-29). And he looks forward to that moment on the Cross, in Saint John’s Gospel, when the dying Jesus takes pity on his widowed mother and entrusts her and the Beloved Disciple to the mutual care of each other (John 19: 26-27).

What we are invited to be witnesses to is not some old-fashioned miracle show. That’s what the large crowd was hanging around Jesus for what the large crowd was hanging around the funeral procession for.

What we are being invited to is the realisation that in his compassion, in his actions, in his caring, Jesus shows us that God loves us, each of us individually, as a mother loves her only and precious child.

If you imagine for one moment the love that little boy who was being baptised in Donabate that morning could expect from his parents, then you can catch, just catch, a glimpse of the love that God has for each of us, individually. God loves you and God loves me as if were the only child in the world that matters … and even more than that.

This is a new dawn. That is what the promise of Baptism is: it is about dying to sin, to the old ways, rising to new life in Christ, and continuing for ever.

The raising of the son of the widow of Nain … a modern icon in a Greek Orthodox church

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 15 September 2026):

The theme this week (13 -19 September 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Witness as With-ness’ (pp 38-39). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by the Revd Canon Dr Peniel Rajkumar, Director of Global Mission and Theologian, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 15 September 2026) invites us to pray:

God of the margins, open my eyes to the many ‘Simons’ around me who feel unseen and unwanted. Help me to walk beside them with humility and compassion.

The Collect:

Holy God, who brought Cyprian to faith in Christ,
made him a bishop in the Church
and crowned his witness with a martyr’s death:
grant that, after his example,
we may love the Church and her teachings,
find your forgiveness within her fellowship
and so come to share the heavenly banquet
you have prepared for us;
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:

Eternal God,
who gave us this holy meal
in which we have celebrated the glory of the cross
and the victory of your martyr Cyprian:
by our communion with Christ
in his saving death and resurrection,
give us with all your saints the courage to conquer evil
and so to share the fruit of the tree of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

or

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

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Saint Cyprian’s Church on Glentworth Street, Marylebone … the Church calendar remembers Saint Cyprian (258), Bishop of Carthage and Martyr, on 15 September (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 129, Monday 14 September 2026, Holy Cross Day

The Elevation of the Holy Cross … an icon in the Monastery of Arkadi in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

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

Today in the Church Calendar is Holy Cross Day. 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.

The Elevation of the Holy Cross … an icon in Analipsi Church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 3.13–17 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said to Nicodemus] 13 ‘No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.’

The Elevation of the Holy Cross … an icon in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The cross on which Christ was crucified has become the universal symbol of Christianity, replacing the Ichthus or fish symbol of the early Church. After the early persecutions ended, early in the fourth century, pilgrims began to travel to Jerusalem to visit the places associated with the life of Christ. Saint Helena, the mother of the emperor, was a Christian and, while she was overseeing excavations in the city, it is said, she uncovered a cross she believed to be the Cross of Christ. A basilica was built on the site of the Holy Sepulchre and dedicated on this day, 14 September 335.

Nicodemus only appears in Saint John’s Gospel, and in today’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (John 3: 13-17) we read the first of his three appearances. He is a leading Jew of the day, a Pharisee and a rabbi, a doctor of the law, a member of the ruling Sanhedrin. He comes to visit Jesus at night, and he comes with a bundle of questions.

But, despite his erudite learning, he finds it difficult to understand the answers Christ gives. Yet, it is all so simple: ‘God so loved the world …’ (verse 16).

In fact, what Jesus says here is deeply profound. The Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos, the neighbouring island of Patmos, the island to which Saint John was exiled.

Most of us know about Pythagoras because of his calculations about right-angle triangles. But he also provides an insight into one of the key concepts in Saint John’s writings. His understanding of the cosmos (κόσμος) includes the earth, the planets, the stars, the whole created order.

It is an idea derived from the mathematician and philosopher, Pythageros of Samos. In Pythagorean thinking, the cosmos (κόσμος) includes the arrangement of the stars, ‘the heavenly hosts’ as the ornament of the heavens (see I Peter 3: 3). It is not just the whole world, but the whole universe, the whole created order. It is earth and all that encircles the earth like its skin.

It is as if everything is wrapped into and lives within God’s skin, that we live in God’s womb, and it is there that God loves us. It is not that God so loved the saved, or men, or humanity, or even the world. What Christ says here is that God so loved the cosmos, the whole created order, that he gave, or rather sent, his only-begotten Son.

This key phrase is often translated as ‘God so loved the world’ (John 3: 16). Indeed, in China, I was shocked to see this verse translated into Chinese in a way that it means ‘God so loved humanity’ … ‘that he gave his only Son.’

The original text tells us that God so loved the κόσμος – the whole pulsating, created order as imagined by Pythagoras and the philosophers – God so loved the cosmos that he sent his only son … [Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν Υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν …] Not that he gave insipidly, but that he sent actively, sent him on a mission.

Nicodemus is a little nonplussed, but he comes back again and again, a second time (John 7: 45-51) and a third time (John 19: 39-42), and the third encounter is on Good Friday.

When Christ dies on the Cross, and the women come to bury him, Joseph of Arimathea provides the grave (Matthew 27: 57; Mark 15: 43; Luke 23: 50-56; John 19: 39-40), and Nicodemus steps forward to provide the customary embalming spices, and he assists them in preparing the body of Christ for burial (John 19: 39-42).

Nicodemus brings a mixture of myrrh and aloes, estimated at about 33 kg, to embalm Christ’s body. In his book Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, the late Pope Benedict XVI observes that ‘the quantity of the balm is extraordinary and exceeds all normal proportions. This is a royal burial.’

So, in the story of Nicodemus, we find birth is linked with death, new birth is linked with new life, and before darkness falls Nicodemus really comes to possess the Body of Christ, to hold the Body of Christ in his hands, and in anointing him to recognise him as priest, prophet and king.

If being a priest is about presenting God through Christ to the world in word and sacrament, and presenting the world through the Christ to God in word and sacrament, then Nicodemus both receives and presents the Body of Christ, in a very Eucharistic way, and is a model for priesthood.

But we could say the same too of the women who seek to comfort and console Christ as he carries his cross to Calvary, who stay with him at the Crucifixion, who bury him, and who at great personal risk set off early on Easter morning to anoint his body, not knowing then that the Cross is not the end of the Christ story, but that it reaches its climax at the Resurrection.

The Body of Christ is the Church. Nicodemus claims his place in the Church. He acts on his faith. But he could never have known what the consequences would be for him, for the Church and for the world because he first came to Jesus in the dark, because he engaged with the fact that this Jesus would die, because he claimed the Body of Christ and because he engaged in an Epiphany-like moment, revealing that the Christ who became his teacher, the Christ who was to be betrayed, the Christ who was executed, is also the Risen Christ.

Saint Constantine and Saint Helen hold the Holy Cross … an icon in the church in Arkadi Monastery in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 14 September 2026, Holy Cross Day):

The theme this week (13 -19 September 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Witness as With-ness’ (pp 38-39). This theme was introduced yesterday with a reflection by the Revd Canon Dr Peniel Rajkumar, Director of Global Mission and Theologian, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 14 September 2026, Holy Cross Day) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, we thank you for the cross of Christ, where sin is defeated and your saving love is revealed. Help me to live in the freedom and hope won there, bearing witness with faith and courage.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who in the passion of your blessed Son
made an instrument of painful death
to be for us the means of life and peace:
grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ
that we may gladly suffer for his sake;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Faithful God,
whose Son bore our sins in his body on the tree
and gave us this sacrament to show forth his death until he comes:
give us grace to glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for he is our salvation, our life and our hope,
who reigns as Lord, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

The Emperor Constantine and Saint Helena hold the Holy Cross … a fresco in Piskopianó in Crete (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

Saint Constantine and Saint Helen hold the Holy Cross … an icon in the church in Panormos, east of Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)