Daily prayer in Easter 2025: 25, Wednesday 14 May 2025, Saint Matthias the Apostle

Saint Matthias the Apostle depicted in a window in Saint Peter’s Church in Padungan, Kuching, which is being consecrated next month, 28 June 2025 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (20 April 2025) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost (8 June 2025), or Whit Sunday. This week began with the Fourth Sunday of Easter (Easter IV, 11 May 2025), and we are now halfway through the Season of Lent this year. The Church Calendar today celebrates the Feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle (14 May).

Later this evening, I hope to take part in the choir rehearsal in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

Saint Matthias the Apostle depicted in a side panel in a window in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 15: 9-17 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.’

Saint Matthias is usually missing from icons of the 12 Apostles, in which Saint Paul replaces Judas … an icon in Panormos, near Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Reflection:

‘I chose you. And … I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another’ (John 15: 16-17).

Today is the Feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle. The Acts of the Apostles recall how he was chosen as one of the Twelve to replace Judas (Acts 1: 15-26).

I sometimes wonder whether Saint Matthias saw the humour in being second choice. After all, he was the second choice – not the first choice, but the second choice – to succeed Judas among the Twelve.

Imagine how Saint Matthias might have felt. The first time round, he was not good enough to be among the Twelve. But Judas was, and he would betray Christ. So too were Peter, James, John and Thomas. They were called to be among the Twelve, but Peter would betray Christ three times before his crucifixion, James and John had ambitions beyond their station, while Thomas would refuse to believe until he met the Risen Christ on his own terms.

After the Ascension, 120 believers met to pick a successor to replace Judas Iscariot. But even then, even on the second time round, Matthias is not the first name mentioned, he is not the first choice. Instead, the first name to come forward is that of Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus.

Nobody ever since remembers Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus. His saintly life, such as it was, has passed into oblivion. It may only be as an afterthought that someone suggests the name of Matthias. And then, they cannot make up their minds. Instead, they cast lots, and the lot falls to Matthias.

I doubt any of us would be happy to hear we have been selected or nominated for any role in the Church, for example, at our Select Vestry meetings these weeks, by tossing a coin, drawing straws or rolling a dice as others pray about whether we are suitable or qualified.

Saint Matthias is unnamed before this account. He is not named in the Gospels and after one reference in Acts there is no further mention of him. He is the forgotten apostle, like the ‘Fifth Beatle.’ Having made an unexpected entrance onto the stage, Saint Matthias walks off once again. And we hear nothing more about him.

In icons and stained glass windows, Judas is generally replaced by Saint Paul, and Saint Matthias is seldom depicted. His name, identity and life story have been forgotten, apart from making him the patron saint of alcoholism and smallpox, and a few small towns. We are not sure where he died, or where he is buried.

When we were visiting Kuching six months ago, Charlotte and I presented a church bell to the people of Saint Matthias Chapel in Sinar Baru, about 21 km south of Kuching in Sarawak. They had told us how the chapel had a bell tower, but no bell, and how they were praying and hoping for one that would be heard throughout the surrounding countryside, calling people to church on Sundays.

It was our first wedding anniversary that weekend, and we thought about the possibility of a thank-offering and how it might be another way of ringing our wedding bells a year later.

We bought an old, second-hand bell at Ho Nyen Foh’s tinsmith shop in Bishopsgate Street, one of the streets running between Carpenter Street and the Main Bazaar in Kuching’s old Chinatown. It may have been a ship’s bell, or a school bell, he could not remember which. It may have been a second-hand bell, but it certainly was not second-best – it was what the people of Saint Matthias had been praying for, and it was true symbol of love in so many ways.

The Early Church writer Clement of Alexandria says the apostles are not chosen for some outstanding character, and certainly not on their own merits. The apostles are chosen by Christ for his own reasons, but not for their merits.

If Saint Matthias had not been worthy of being called first time round, how is he worthy now to join the Twelve?

Like Saint Matthias, we are often in the place where we are in life only because the person who was there before us failed: Joshua led Israel because Moses failed in the wilderness; David became King because Saul failed; Matthias became an apostle because Judas failed.

Discipleship, being a follower of Christ, is never about my worthiness, my merits. It is Christ alone who calls us.

Saint Matthias was elected not because he was worthy but because he would become worthy. Christ chooses each one of us in the same way. We have been grafted into the company of the Children of God, not through our own merits, but by God’s grace.

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

Saint Matthias depicted in a window in Saint Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 14 May 2025, Saint Matthias the Apostle):

‘Health and Hope in the Manyoni District’ provides the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from Dr Frank Mathew Haji of the Integrated Child Health and End Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Programme in Tanzania.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 14 May 2025, Saint Matthias the Apostle) invites us to pray:

Dear God, we continue to pray for positive outcomes from this new programme, especially for the health and wellbeing of HIV-negative babies.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who in the place of the traitor Judas
chose your faithful servant Matthias
to be of the number of the Twelve:
preserve your Church from false apostles
and, by the ministry of faithful pastors and teachers,
keep us steadfast in your truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

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.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Presenting a new church bell to Father Jeffry Renos Nawie, Saint Matthias Chapel and the people of Sinar Baru, south of Kuching

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 prayers during Christmas and Epiphany: 40, 2 February 2024

The Presentation depicted in a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of celebrations of Christmas and Epiphany come to an end today with the Feast of the Presentation or Candlemas (2 February).

Before today begins to get busy, I am taking some time for reflection, prayer and reading this way:

1, A reflection on the Feast of the Presentation;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

‘The Presentation in the Temple’ … a window by James Watson in the Church of the Holy Rosary, Murroe, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The feast we celebrate today has many names: the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, the Meeting of the Lord, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple … Candlemas – based on the tradition of the priest blessing beeswax candles on 2 February for use throughout the year, some of which were distributed in the church for use in the home.

Candles light our processions and stand on our altars; candles are with us at the time of our departing, at our funerals as a symbol of hope and light; but, above all, candles are with us at our baptisms, all our baptisms.

Christ is the light of the world, and to the darkness in the world he brings hope and love and light. We too are meant to be a light to others – to carry the love and light of Christ to all we meet.

Some years ago, at the celebration of Candlemas in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, instead of a sermon, I read TS Eliot’s poem, ‘A Song for Simeon’, based on the canticle Nunc Dimittis.

This is one of two poems written about the time of Eliot’s conversion in 1927. He titles his poem ‘A Song for Simeon’ rather than ‘A Song of Simeon’, the English sub-title of the canticle in The Book of Common Prayer, and it is one of four poems he published between 1927 and 1930 known as the Ariel Poems.

In ‘Journey of The Magi’ and ‘A Song for Simeon’, Eliot shows how he persisted on his spiritual pilgrimage. He was baptised and confirmed in the Church of England on 29 June 1927. ‘Journey of the Magi’ was published two months later, on 25 August 1927, and Faber published ‘A Song for Simeon’ the following year, on 24 September 1928.

Both ‘Journey of The Magi’ and ‘A Song for Simeon’ draw on the journeys of Biblical characters concerned with the arrival of the Christ-child. Both poems deal with the past, with a significant Epiphany event, with the future – as seen from the time of that event, and with a time beyond time – death.

The narrator in ‘Journey of the Magi’ is an old man, and in that poem, Eliot draws on a sermon from Christmas 1622 preached by the Caroline Divine, Bishop Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626). ‘A Song for Simeon’ is also put in the mouth of an old man, the prophet Simeon in the Temple in Jerusalem. Here too, Eliot draws on a Christmas sermon by Andrewes.

In both poems, Eliot uses significant images to explore the Christian faith, images that are also prophetic, telling of things to happen to the Christ Child in the future. In both of these poems, he focuses on an event that brings about the end of an old order and the beginning of a new one.

A detail of Harry Clarke’s ‘Presentation Window’ in Saint Flannan’s Church, Killaloe, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A Song for Simeon, by TS Eliot:

Lord, the Roman hyacinths are blooming in bowls and
The winter sun creeps by the snow hills;
The stubborn season had made stand.
My life is light, waiting for the death wind,
Like a feather on the back of my hand.
Dust in sunlight and memory in corners
Wait for the wind that chills towards the dead land.

Grant us thy peace.
I have walked many years in this city,
Kept faith and fast, provided for the poor,
Have given and taken honour and ease.
There went never any rejected from my door.
Who shall remember my house, where shall live my children’s children
When the time of sorrow is come?
They will take to the goat’s path, and the fox’s home,
Fleeing from the foreign faces and the foreign swords.

Before the time of cords and scourges and lamentation
Grant us thy peace.
Before the stations of the mountain of desolation,
Before the certain hour of maternal sorrow,
Now at this birth season of decease,
Let the Infant, the still unspeaking and unspoken Word,
Grant Israel’s consolation
To one who has eighty years and no to-morrow.

According to thy word.
They shall praise Thee and suffer in every generation
With glory and derision,
Light upon light, mounting the saints’ stair.
Not for me the martyrdom, the ecstasy of thought and prayer,
Not for me the ultimate vision.
Grant me thy peace.
(And a sword shall pierce thy heart,
Thine also).
I am tired with my own life and the lives of those after me,
I am dying in my own death and the deaths of those after me.
Let thy servant depart,
Having seen thy salvation.

The Presentation in the Temple, carved on a panel on a triptych in the Lady Chapel, Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford/Lichfield Gazette)

Luke 2: 22-40 (NRSVA):

22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

29 ‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’

33 And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’

36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

The Presentation depicted in a panel on the altar in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 2 February 2024, The Presentation, Candlemas):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is: ‘Welcoming the Stranger – A Candlemas Reflection.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Revd Annie Bolger of the Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Brussels.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (2 February 2024, The Presentation, Candlemas) invites us to pray in these words:

Radiant God, we thank you for bringing light into the world through Jesus. May we be redeemed by you.

The Collect:

Almighty and ever–living God,
clothed in majesty,
whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple,
in substance of our flesh:
grant that we may be presented to you
with pure and clean hearts,
by your Son Jesus Christ 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, you fulfilled the hope of Simeon and Anna,
who lived to welcome the Messiah:
may we, who have received these gifts beyond words,
prepare to meet Christ Jesus when he comes
to bring us to eternal life;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Lord Jesus Christ,
light of the nations and glory of Israel:
make your home among us,
and present us pure and holy
to your heavenly Father,
your God, and our God.

Yesterday’s Reflection (the Heavenly Banquet)

Continued Tomorrow

The Presentation in the Temple … a fresco in Analipsi Church in Georgioupoli 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

The Law brothers, Victorian cricketers and an actor with Comerford family links

Three sons of Patrick Comerford Law – Alexander, Patrick and Robert – went to school in Rugby in the mid-19th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The brothers Alexander Patrick Law and Patrick Francis Law were celebrated first-class cricketers in the 1850s and 1860s, while their brother Arthur Law was a celebrated actor and playwright throughout the later decades of the 19th century.

These three brothers were what we might today call sporting and stage ‘celebrities’ of the Victorian era, and they had strong Comerford family connections through their father, the Revd Patrick Comerford Law, and both were born in his Norfolk rectory. A fourth brother followed their father and two grandfathers into parish ministry.

The Revd Patrick Comerford Law (1797-1869) was born to Irish parents in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, on 21 August 1797. His father, the Revd Francis Law (1768-1807), was a curate of Newcastle, Co Wicklow (1790); Vicar of Attanagh, on the borders of Laois and Kilkenny (1801-1807), and Rector of Cork. He in turn was a son of Canon Robert Law (1730-1789), Rector of Saint Mary’s, Dublin (1772-1789), Rector of Middleton, Co Cork, and Treasurer of Cloyne.

Patrick Comerford Law’s mother, Belinda Isabella Comerford, was one of the two surviving daughters of Patrick Comerford, a Cork wine merchant who was also related to the Hennessy family of Cognac fame. Belinda Comerford’s sister was the poet and author Mary Teresa (Comerford) Boddington (1776-1840). Belinda Comerford and Francis Law were married on 3 November 1795.

Patrick Comerford Law was educated at Trinity College Dublin (BA 1818), and at first he practised at the Irish Bar. He was then ordained deacon in 1828, priest in 1829, and was an army chaplain in Birr, King’s County (Offaly), Rector of Samlesbury, Lancashire (1829), Rector of Northrepps (1830-1869) on the north coast of Norfolk, Rural Dean (1842), and chaplain to the Marquis of Cholmondeley.

His second cousin, Michael Law, was the father of Sir Edward Fitzgerald Law (1846-1908) of Athens, who was involved in reforming the Greek economy in the 1890s and in the negotiations leading to the eventual reunification of Crete with Greece state. He gave his name to a street in Athens and is buried in the First Cemetery, Athens.

Patrick Comerford Law married Frances Arbuthnot on 17 October 1828 in Saint George’s Church, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, where the Revd George Hamilton was the rector. She was a daughter of the Right Revd Alexander Arbuthnot, Bishop of Killaloe, and his wife Anne (Bingham). Frances Comerford Law was born at Clarisford House, the bishop’s palace in Killaloe, Co Clare. Frances died at Northrepps Rectory on 19 November 1857, Patrick Comerford Law died there on 15 April 1869.

They were the parents of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, including the cricketers Alexander and Patrick Law and the actor and playwright Arthur Law.

Corpus Christi College, Oxford … Alexander Patrick Law (1832-1895) matriculated in 1851 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Alexander Patrick Law (1832-1895) was the eldest of four surviving sons of the Revd Patrick Comerford Law and his wife Frances. He was born on 14 January 1832 at his father’s rectory in Northrepps in Norfolk. He was educated at Rugby School, before going up at the age of 19 to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in June 1851 as a commoner at New Inn Hall (BA, MA, 1860).

While he was an undergraduate at Oxford, Law made his debut in first-class cricket for the Gentlemen of England against the Gentlemen of Kent at Lord’s. Four years into his studies at Oxford, Law made his debut for Oxford University in first-class matches against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).

He played first-class cricket three times in 1856 for the Gentlemen of England against various combined gentlemen teams. He appeared in two first-class matches for Oxford University in 1857, against the MCC and Cambridge University in the University Match, and also appeared for the Gentlemen of England against the Gentlemen of Kent and Sussex.

After graduating from Oxford, Law made several first-class appearances for the MCC, the Gentlemen of England and the Gentlemen of the North. He played a total of 19 first-class matches, scoring 488 runs at an average of 15.74 and a high score of 59. With his right-arm roundarm medium bowling, he took 19 wickets at a bowling average of 27.15, with best figures of 5 for 72.

Alexander Patrick Law later died at Kew on 30 October 1895.

A plaque in Dorset Square recalls the beginnings of Marylebone Cricket Club in 1787 … Alexander and Patrick Law played for MCC from the 1850s to the 1870s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

His brother, Patrick Francis Law (1836-1909), was also a celebrated cricketer. Patrick was born at Northrepps Rectory on 28 August 1836, was also educated at and later worked as a clerk at the War Office.

Patrick played cricket for Rugby School (1854-1855), the Gentlemen of Norfolk (1855-1868), the Civil Service (1864), CL Bell’s Civil Service XI (1866), Marylebone Cricket Club (1866-1872), and the Gentlemen of Warwickshire (1871).

He married Julia Taylor Jones in Walsingham on 9 July 1868, when the wedding was conducted by his brother, the Revd Robert Arbuthnot Law.

The playwright, actor and scenic designer Arthur Law (1844 -1913), a younger son of the Revd Patrick Comerford Law

A younger brother was the playwright, actor and scenic designer William Arthur Law (1844 -1913), better known as Arthur Law. He was born in their father’s Norfolk rectory on 22 March 1844 and was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

After eight years in the Royal Scots Fusiliers (1864-1872), Arthur Law went into acting, making his debut at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, in 1872. After two years touring the provinces, he came to London in 1874 and joined the German Reed Company. While performing with the Reeds he wrote comic theatre works that became part of the German Reed repertoire.

Law married the actress and popular concert singer Fanny Holland (1847-1931) at Saint Mary Abbott’s, Kensington, London, on 7 July 1877. They appeared together with the German Reeds at the Gallery of Illustration and Saint George’s Hall. She also appeared briefly at the Opera Comique as Josephine in HMS Pinafore in December 1879 and January 1880.

Law and Holland performed on tour as ‘Mr & Mrs Arthur Law’s Entertainment’ from 1879 to 1881, but their venture was not a success.

Some of Law’s plays for the German Reeds include A Night Surprise (1877), under the pseudonym, ‘West Cromer’, A Happy Bungalow (1877), with music by Charles King Hall; and Cherry Tree Farm (1881) and Nobody’s Fault (1882), both with music by Hamilton Clarke.

In 1881, he wrote Uncle Samuel, a curtain-raiser for the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company played at the Opera Comique, with music by George Grossmith. It played along with Patience in 1881, and Law appeared in the role of John Bird. This was his only association with D’Oyly Carte.

Law later appeared on stage at the Savoy Theatre as Mr Wranglebury in the Desprez & Faning companion piece Mock Turtles (1882), and as Major Murgatroyd in Patience (1882), filling in for Frank Thornton.

From then on, he devoted himself to writing for the stage. His first ‘serious’ drama, Hope, was produced at the Standard Theatre in London in 1882. That year he also wrote a musical farce, Mr Guffin’s Elopement, in collaboration with George Grossmith, for Toole’s Theatre, starring JL Toole. In 1885, Grossmith and Law wrote The Great Tay-Kin, produced at Toole’s.

Law went on to wrote dozens of other plays. His best-known include an adaptation of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab at the Princess’s Theatre (1888); The Judge at Terry’s Theatre (1890); The Magic Opal, an operetta with music by Isaac Albéniz at the Lyric Theatre and the Prince of Wales’s Theatre (1893); The New Boy at Terry’s and the Vaudeville Theatre (1894); The Sea Flower at the Comedy Theatre (1898), A Country Mouse at the Prince of Wales’s (1902); The Bride and Bridegroom at the New Theatre (1904); and Artful Miss Dearing at Terry’s (1909).

A few of Law’s plays were also produced on Broadway, including The New Boy at the Standard Theatre (1894) and A Country Mouse at the Savoy Theatre, New York (1902). He also created the scenic design for The Bachelor, by Clyde Fitch at the Maxine Elliott Theatre (1909).

Law lived for a time in Killaloe, his mother’s home town in Co Clare, and at Hill Cottage, Pulborough, Sussex. He died on 2 April 1913 in Parkstone in Poole, Dorset, at the age of 69; his wife Fanny Holland died on 18 June 1931 in Bournemouth, at the age of 83.

Their son, Hamilton Patrick John Holland Law (1879-1960), was educated at Clare College, Cambridge, and was a professional musician who lived in Bournemouth. He married Frances Dora Brereton (1887-1973), only daughter of the Revd Cecil Brereton (1856-1939), Rector of Hardham, in Saint Mary’s Church, Pulborough, Sussex, on 9 October 1907, and they were the parents of three daughters.

The actress and popular concert singer Fanny Holland (1847-1931) married Arthur Law in 1877

The fourth surviving brother in this family was the Revd Robert Arbuthnot Law (1842-1889). He was born at Northrepps Rectory on 28 February 1842 and was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was the curate of All Saints’ Church, Hertford (1866-1869), Rector of Larling, Norfolk (1870-1875), and of Gunthorpe with Bale, Norfolk (1875-1889).

He married Agnes Sparke (1834-1882), only daughter of Canon John Henry Sparke of Gunthorpe Hall and granddaughter of Sir Jacob Henry Astley. They were married at All Souls’ Church, Langham Place, London, on 20 January 1870 with her uncle, Canon Edward Bowyer Sparke, officiating.

Robert Law died at Gunnersbury Lodge, Acton, Middlesex, 11 December 1889 and was buried at Gunthorpe; Agnes died at Burgh Hall, Melton Constable, Norfolk, on 18 June 1892. They were the parents of three sons: Arbuthnot Patrick Astley Law (1872-1938), Hubert Henry Bingham Law (1873-1936), and Alexander Delaval Hamilton Law (1874-1938.

The playing fields of Rugby … three sons of Patrick Comerford Law – Alexander, Patrick and Robert – played cricket there (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Daily prayers during the 12 Days of Christmas: 2, 26 December 2023

Two turtle doves … a detail in the Presentation window by the Harry Clarke Studios in Saint Flannan’s Church, Killaloe, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is Saint Stephen’s Day (26 December 2023). Many people here also all it ‘Boxing Day’. But this is not the ‘Day after Christmas.’ Christmas is a season, and my reflections each morning during the ‘12 Days of Christmas’ are following this pattern:

1, A reflection on a verse from the popular Christmas song ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’;

2, the Gospel reading of the day;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple … a stained-glass window by the Harry Clarke Studios in Saint Flannan’s Church, Killaloe, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The 12 Days of Christmas: 2, Turtle Doves:

Today is 26 December, Saint Stephen’s Day and the Second Day of Christmas. In many places, this day is also known as Boxing Day, for on this day Christmas boxes were given to service workers, such as postal workers and trades people. It is a holiday in several countries, and whatever the explanation for the name ‘Boxing Day,’ it is a reminder that this is a day to be generous to those who are less fortunate than we are. The day after Christmas Day is a particularly good day to put the spirit of giving into practice.

Giving is so appropriate, for this day celebrates the first person to give his life for Christ, Saint Stephen, who was also one of the first deacons ordained to serve the poor.

Another saint closely associated with this day is Saint Wenceslas of Bohemia whose charity to the poor on Saint Stephen’s Day is remembered in John Mason Neale’s well-loved carol.

The second verse of the traditional song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, says:

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …
two turtle doves,
and a partridge in a pear tree.

The Christian interpretation of this song often sees the two turtle doves as figurative representations of the Old Testament and the New Testament. But two turtle doves also appear in the Christmas story as the poor offering in the Temple after the birth of Christ:

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’ (Luke 2: 22-24, NRSVA)

The law provided for two turtle doves as a substitute for the offering of a lamb in the case of poor families (see Leviticus 12: 8). In other words, Luke sees the two turtle doves representing or prefiguring the lamb, or even the Lamb of God.

People who were even poorer, and who could not afford two turtle doves, could offer a portion of fine flour, but without the usual fragrant accompaniments of oil and frankincense, as it represented a sin offering (see Leviticus 12: 6-8; 5: 7-11). In other words, the intermediate offering of’ ‘a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons’ indicates Joseph and the Virgin were in poor circumstances, but not living in abject poverty.

However, in these three verses, Luke fuses two discrete ritual observances. In Luke 2: 24, Luke describes the doves or pigeons as a gift on the occasion of the presentation, when according to Leviticus 12: 6 they were the gift prescribed for the purification.

After childbirth, the mother (not both parents) took part in a rite of purification that includes the offering of a lamb and either a pigeon or turtledove – or, if the woman’s poverty requires less, two pigeons or turtledoves – after seven days of ritual impurity and the boy’s circumcision on the eighth day (see Leviticus 12: 2-8).

The narrator connects this sacrificial offering to the presentation of Jesus as the firstborn son (see Exodus 13: 2, 11-16), rather than to the mother’s purification. The two rituals are fused in an arrangement that places the presentation of Jesus – as the firstborn son, ‘holy to the Lord’ (Luke 2: 23) – at the centre of the unit and the sacrificial offering of two birds at the end (Luke 2: 24).

Luke’s notice of the offering of two turtle doves is also a curtain-raiser to the priority his Gospel gives to the poor – an emphasis that ought to inform all our giving and all our priorities at Christmas-time.

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, with two turtle doves on the table … a stained-glass window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Matthew 10: 17-22 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 17 ‘Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.’

Saint Stephen before the Council … a window by CE Kempe (1837-1907) in the south aisle in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 26 December 2023, Saint Stephen’s Day):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Love at Advent and Christmas.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (26 December 2023, Saint Stephen, First Martyr) invites us to pray in these words:

Gracious Father, who gave the first martyr Stephen grace to pray for those who took up stones against him: grant that in all our sufferings for the truth we may learn to love even our enemies and to seek forgiveness for those who desire our hurt. Amen (adapted, Church of England Collect).

The Collect:

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

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Merciful Lord,
we thank you for the signs of your mercy
revealed in birth and death:
save us by the coming of your Son,
and give us joy in honouring Stephen,
first martyr of the new Israel;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Two turtle doves … a detail in the Presentation window in Saint Mary’s Church (the Hub), Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

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

A journey through Lent 2023 with Samuel Johnson (12)

Inside Saint Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe, Co Clare … Samuel Johnson was a friend of Thomas Barnard when he was Bishop of Killaloe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

During Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on words from Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), the Lichfield-born lexicographer and writer who compiled the first authoritative English-language dictionary.

This morning [5 March 2023] is the Second Sunday in Lent, and I hope later this morning to attend the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Parish Church, Stony Stratford.

For five years, until I retired last March, I was the Precentor of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, Saint Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe, Co Clare, and Saint Brendan’s Cathedral.

I preached, spoke and took part in services regularly in Saint Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe, during those five years.

Samuel Johnson’s circle of friends in London included Thomas Barnard (1727-1806) while he was Bishop of Killaloe (1780–1794). Barnard, who later became Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert and Aghadoe (1794-1806), was a member of the Literary Club, and his other friends in London included Johnson’s biographer James Boswell, and their friend David Garrick, Oliver Goldsmith, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, Bishop Thomas Percy, and other literary figures of the day.

In conversation with Boswell, Dr Johnson once said of Bishop Barnard: ‘No man ever paid more attention to another than he has done to me … Always, sir, set a high value on spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate his friendship of his own accord, will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you.’

Barnard, for his part, wrote some verses about Johnson that conclude:

Johnson shall teach me how to place
In fairest light each borrow’d grace;
From him I’ll learn to write:
Copy his clear familiar style,
And by the roughness of his file
Grow, like himself, polite.

In 1783, Johnson wrote a charade as a tribute to Bishop Barnard:

My first shuts out thieves from your house or your room,
My second expresses a Syrian perfume,
My whole is a man in whose converse is shar’d
The strength of a Bar and the sweetness of Nard.

Continued tomorrow

Yesterday’s reflection

The Precentor’s stall in Saint Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Praying through poetry and with USPG: 2 February 2023

The Presentation depicted in a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Christmas is not a season of 12 days, despite the popular Christmas song. Christmas is a 40-day season that lasts from Christmas Day (25 December) to Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation today (2 February).

Throughout the 40 days of this Christmas Season, I have been reflecting in these ways:

1, Reflecting on a seasonal or appropriate poem;

2, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’

‘The Presentation in the Temple’ … a window by James Watson in the Church of the Holy Rosary, Murroe, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The feast we celebrate today has many names: the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, the Meeting of the Lord, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple … Candlemas – based on the tradition of the priest blessing beeswax candles on 2 February for use throughout the year, some of which were distributed in the church for use in the home.

Candles light our processions and stand on our altars; candles are with us at the time of our departing, at our funerals as a symbol of hope and light; but, above all, candles are with us at our baptisms, all our baptisms.

Christ is the light of the world, and to the darkness in the world he brings hope and love and light. We too are meant to be a light to others – to carry the love and light of Christ to all we meet.

Some years ago, at the celebration of Candlemas in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, instead of a sermon, I read TS Eliot’s poem, ‘A Song for Simeon’, based on the canticle Nunc Dimittis.

This is one of two poems written about the time of Eliot’s conversion in 1927. He titles his poem ‘A Song for Simeon’ rather than ‘A Song of Simeon’, the English sub-title of the canticle in The Book of Common Prayer, and it is one of four poems he published between 1927 and 1930 known as the Ariel Poems.

In ‘Journey of The Magi’ and ‘A Song for Simeon#, Eliot shows how he persisted on his spiritual pilgrimage. He was baptised and confirmed in the Church of England on 29 June 1927. ‘Journey of the Magi’ was published two months later, on 25 August 1927, and Faber published ‘A Song for Simeon’ the following year, on 24 September 1928.

Both ‘Journey of The Magi’ and ‘A Song for Simeon’ draw on the journeys of Biblical characters concerned with the arrival of the Christ-child. Both poems deal with the past, with a significant Epiphany event, with the future – as seen from the time of that event, and with a time beyond time – death.

The narrator in ‘Journey of the Magi’ is an old man, and in that poem, Eliot draws on a sermon from Christmas 1622 preached by the Caroline Divine, Bishop Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626). ‘A Song for Simeon’ is also put in the mouth of an old man, the prophet Simeon in the Temple in Jerusalem. Here too, Eliot draws on a Christmas sermon by Andrewes.

In both poems, Eliot uses significant images to explore the Christian faith, images that are also prophetic, telling of things to happen to the Christ Child in the future. In both of these poems, he focuses on an event that brings about the end of an old order and the beginning of a new one.

A detail of Harry Clarke’s ‘Presentation Window’ in Saint Flannan’s Church, Killaloe, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A Song for Simeon, by TS Eliot:

Lord, the Roman hyacinths are blooming in bowls and
The winter sun creeps by the snow hills;
The stubborn season had made stand.
My life is light, waiting for the death wind,
Like a feather on the back of my hand.
Dust in sunlight and memory in corners
Wait for the wind that chills towards the dead land.

Grant us thy peace.
I have walked many years in this city,
Kept faith and fast, provided for the poor,
Have given and taken honour and ease.
There went never any rejected from my door.
Who shall remember my house, where shall live my children’s children
When the time of sorrow is come?
They will take to the goat’s path, and the fox’s home,
Fleeing from the foreign faces and the foreign swords.

Before the time of cords and scourges and lamentation
Grant us thy peace.
Before the stations of the mountain of desolation,
Before the certain hour of maternal sorrow,
Now at this birth season of decease,
Let the Infant, the still unspeaking and unspoken Word,
Grant Israel’s consolation
To one who has eighty years and no to-morrow.

According to thy word.
They shall praise Thee and suffer in every generation
With glory and derision,
Light upon light, mounting the saints’ stair.
Not for me the martyrdom, the ecstasy of thought and prayer,
Not for me the ultimate vision.
Grant me thy peace.
(And a sword shall pierce thy heart,
Thine also).
I am tired with my own life and the lives of those after me,
I am dying in my own death and the deaths of those after me.
Let thy servant depart,
Having seen thy salvation.

The Presentation in the Temple, carved on a panel on a triptych in the Lady Chapel, Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford/Lichfield Gazette)

Luke 2: 22-40 (NRSVA):

22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

29 ‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’

33 And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’

36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

The Presentation depicted in a panel on the altar in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

USPG Prayer Diary:

The theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week is the ‘Opening Our Hearts.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by James Roberts, Christian Programme Manager at the Council of Christians and Jews, who reflected on Holocaust Memorial Day last Friday and World Interfaith Harmony Week, which began yesterday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today invites us to pray in these words:

Let us pray for a joyous recognition of the heritage Jews and Christians share. May we offer ourselves to God, as we remember the Christ child being brought to the Temple.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The Presentation in the Temple … a fresco in Analipsi Church in Georgioupoli 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

Praying with the Psalms in Ordinary Time: 18 June 2022 (Psalm 115)

‘Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see’ (Psalm 115: 4-5) … masks in a shop window in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

I was supposed to be back in Stony Stratford this morning,. However, widespread rail disruption in and out of Milton Keynes and across the Midlands yesterday means two of us spent an extra night in Tamworth last night after two days in Lichfield and Tamworth.

We have been visiting Lichfield Cathedral and the chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield, which have been my ‘spiritual home’ since my late teens, and Tamworth, where we visited the Comberford Chapel in Saint Editha’s Church last night, and spent an afternoon in the Moat House on Lichfield Street, once a Comberford family home, as well as catching a quick glimpse of Comberford Hall the day before.

I hope to get back to Stony Stratford later this morning (18 June 2022) in time to speak later today, as President of the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), at the Peace Festival organised by Milton Keynes Peace and Justice Network.

In the Church Calendar, this is Ordinary Time. Before today begins, and before we start tring to neogiate and of today’s potential hazards on the rail network, I am taking some time this morning to continue my reflections drawing on the Psalms.

In my blog, I am reflecting each morning in this Prayer Diary in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 115:

Psalm 115 is the third of the six psalms (Psalms 113-118) comprising the Hallel (הַלֵּל, ‘Praise’). In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, this psalm forms the second part of Psalm 113, counted as verses 9-26 of Psalm 113, verses 1-8 being Psalm 114 in Hebrew numbering. In Latin, that part is known as Non nobis.

Psalms 113-118 are among the earliest prayers written to be recited in the Temple on days of national celebration. They were sung as accompaniment to the Pesach or Passover sacrifice. Early rabbinic sources suggest that these psalms were said on the pilgrimage festivals – Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot.

These psalms are known as the ‘Egyptian Hallel’ because of the references in Psalm 114 to the Exodus from Egypt.

This psalm may have been composed for use in the Second Temple services after the return from Babylon. The opening words of this psalm in Latin, Non Nobis Domine, have been used for inscriptions on buildings.

Psalm 115 is the third of six psalms (113-118) of which Hallel is composed. On all days when Hallel is recited, this psalm is recited in its entirety, except on Rosh Chodesh (except on Chanukah) and the last six days of Passover, when verses 1-11 are omitted.

In verses 1-11, who hear a strong condemnation of idolatrous practices. The former Chief Rabbi, the late Lord (Jonathan) Sacks, says, ‘Worshipping impersonal objects or forces eventually dehumanises a culture and those who are part of it. Whether what is worshipped is an icon, a ruler, a race or a political ideology, the final outcome is the sacrifice of human lives on the altar of high, yet imperfect, ideals.’

He continues, ‘Idolatry is the worship of the part instead of the whole, one aspect of the part instead of the whole, one aspect of the universe in place of the Creator of all who transcends all.’

The NRSV translates verse 16 as: ‘The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings.’ However, Lord Sacks suggests the word ‘given’ is better rendered as ‘given over.’

He says the earth was placed in the guardianship of humanity: ‘We do not own the earth; we hold it in trust from God and there are conditions on that trust, namely that we respect the earth’s integrity and the dignity of the human person.’

This verse, among others, motivated peace activist John McConnell to propose Earth Day as a call to preserve the Earth and share resources. Earth Day is an annual event on 22 April. First held on 22 April 1970, the official theme for 2022 was ‘Invest In Our Planet.’

‘The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to human beings’ (Psalm 115: 16) … globes and lighting in a restaurant in Killaloe, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Psalm 115 (NRSVA):

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.
2 Why should the nations say,
‘Where is their God?’

3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does whatever he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
they make no sound in their throats.
8 Those who make them are like them;
so are all who trust in them.

9 O Israel, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.

12 The Lord has been mindful of us; he will bless us;
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron;
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord,
both small and great.

14 May the Lord give you increase,
both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens,
but the earth he has given to human beings.

17 The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any that go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the Lord
from this time on and for evermore.
Praise the Lord!

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) has been ‘Focus 9/99,’ which was introduced on Sunday by the Revd M Benjamin Inbaraj, Director of the Church of South India’s SEVA department.

Saturday 18 June 2022:

The USPG Prayer invites us to pray today in these words:

We pray for the pioneering work on child protection and ecological concerns carried out by the Church of South India. May we be inspired by our brothers and sisters there.

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

Praying with the Psalms in Lent: 31 March 2022 (Psalms 51)

‘Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow’ (Psalm 51: 7) … snow at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I am still in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford this morning after yesterday’s angiogram and other tests following my recent stroke. Later today (31 March 2022), I am retiring after five years as the Priest-in-Charge of the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes in the Diocese of Limerick, and as Canon Precentor of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, Saint Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe, Co Clare, and Saint Brendan’s Cathedral, Clonfert, Co Galway.

But, before this day begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

During Lent this year, in this Prayer Diary on my blog each morning, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, Short reflections on a psalm or psalms;

2, reading the psalm or psalms;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Psalm 51:

Psalm 51 is one of the penitential psalms. In Latin and in its many musical settings it is known as Miserere, and in Greek as Ἐλεήμων, from its opening words in Greek, ἐλέησόν με ὁ θεός, which is reflected in part of the Jesus Prayer.

In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations, this is Psalm 50.

The introduction to the text says this psalm it was composed by King David as a confession to God after he sinned with Bathsheba. Psalm 51 is based on an incident recalled in II Samuel 11-12. David’s confession is regarded as a model for repentance in both Judaism and Christianity.

The Midrash Tehillim says that one who acknowledges that he has sinned and is fearful and prays to God about it, as David did, will be forgiven. But one who tries to ignore his sin will be punished by God. The Talmud (Yoma 86b) cites verse 5 in the Hebrew version (verse 3 in English versions), ‘My sin is always before me,’ as a reminder to the penitent to maintain continual vigilance in the area in which he transgressed, even after he has confessed and been absolved.

In Patristic time, Saint Athanasius recommend some of his disciples to recite this psalm each night by some of his disciples. It is said both Thomas More and Lady Jane Grey recited this psalm at their executions. Charles Spurgeon calls Psalm 51 ‘The Sinner’s Guide’, as it shows the sinner how to return to God’s grace.

Verse 17 says: ‘The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.’ This verse (Verse 19 in the Hebrew) suggests that God desires a ‘broken and contrite heart’ more than he does sacrificial offerings.

The idea of using broken-heartedness as a way to reconnect to God was emphasised in many teachings by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. In Sichot HaRan 41, he taught: ‘It would be very good to be broken-hearted all day. But for the average person, this can easily degenerate into depression. You should therefore set aside some time each day for heartbreak. You should isolate yourself with a broken heart before God for a given time. But the rest of the day you should be joyful.’

Several verses from Psalm 51 are regular parts of Jewish liturgy. Verses 3, 4, 9, 13, 19, 20 and 21 in the Hebrew numbering are said in Selichot. Verses 9, 12 and 19 are said during Tefillat Zakkah before the Kol Nidrei service on Yom Kippur eve. Verse 17 (verse 15 in English), ‘O Lord, open my lips,’ is recited as a preface to the Amidah in all prayer services. Verse 20 is said by Ashkenazi Jews before the removal of the Sefer Torah from the ark on Shabbat and on Yom Tov morning. It is also said in the Atah Horaisa (‘You have been shown’) prayer recited before opening the ark on Simchat Torah. In the Sephardi liturgy, Psalm 51 is one of the additional psalms recited on Yom Kippur night.

The entire psalm is part of Tikkun Chatzot. It is also recited as a prayer for forgiveness.

Verses 12-13 have been set to music as a popular Jewish inspirational song, Lev Tahor (‘A pure heart’), commonly sung at Seudah Shlishit, the third Shabbat meal.

This is the most frequently used psalm in the Orthodox Church, in which it is known in as ‘Ἥ Ἐλεήμων He Eleḯmon,’ and begins in Greek Ἐλέησόν με, ὁ Θεός (Eléïsón me, o Theós). This psalm is also used liturgically in Western Christianity, and the Miserere was a frequent text in Catholic liturgical music before the Second Vatican Council.

In Anglican liturgy, themes in this psalm are incorporated into the Versicles and Responses in Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer:

Show us your mercy,
O Lord, and grant us your salvation …

O God, make clean our hearts within us
and renew us by your Holy Spirit.

The mediaeval application of the concept of mercy in cathedral liturgy is also reflected the original mediaeval misericords or mercy seats in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, where I retire as canon precentor today. These stalls were called misericords or mercy seats because each of the 23 seats had a ledge or lip that allowed the priest using it to tip up the seat and still rest on it, appearing to stand throughout lengthy choral services while still remaining seated.

These misericords are the only surviving examples in Ireland of this type of late mediaeval ecclesiastical furnishing. They were carved from oak from Cratloe in Co Clare, the same woods provided the oak beams for the roofs of both Westminster Hall and Saint Mary’s Cathedral.

In English Common Law, the Miserere was used for centuries as a judicial test of reading ability. This practice began as a way for a defendant to claim to be a clergyman, and so subject only to ecclesiastical courts and not to the power of civil courts. This was called pleading the benefit of clergy.

Psalm 51: 1 was traditionally used for the literacy test. An illiterate person who memorised this psalm could also claim the benefit of clergy, and Psalm 51 became known as the ‘neck-verse.’ Knowing it could save one’s neck by transferring a case from a secular court, where hanging was a likely sentence, to an ecclesiastical court, where trials and sentences were more lenient, with a sentence of penance instead of a death penalty.

At first, to claim the benefit of clergy, one had to appear before the court tonsured and wearing ecclesiastical dress. Over time, this proof was replaced by a literacy test: defendants showed their clerical status by reading from the Latin Bible. This opened the door to literate lay defendants also claiming the benefit of clergy.

Unofficially, the loophole was even larger, because the Biblical passage traditionally used for the literacy test was Psalm 51: 1, Miserere mei, Deus, secundum misericordiam tuam (‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to your abundant mercy).

During the reign of Edward III, this loophole was formalised in statute in 1351, and the benefit of clergy was extended to all who could read. The English dramatist Ben Jonson avoided hanging by pleading benefit of clergy in 1598 when charged with manslaughter.

Most settings of Psalm 51, often used at Tenebrae, are in a simple falsobordone style. Many composers wrote settings during the Renaissance. The earliest known polyphonic setting, probably dating from the 1480s, is by Johannes Martini, working in the Este court in Ferrara. The extended polyphonic setting by Josquin des Prez, written in Ferrara ca 1503-1504, may been inspired by the prison meditation Infelix ego by Girolamo Savonarola, who was burned at the stake five years earlier.

Later in the 16th century, Orlande de Lassus wrote an elaborate setting as part of his Penitential Psalms, and Palestrina, Andrea Gabrieli, Giovanni Gabrieli, and Carlo Gesualdo also wrote settings. Antonio Vivaldi may have written a setting or settings, but they have been lost.

One of the best-known settings of the Miserere is the 17th century version by Gregorio Allegri. It is said that at the age of 14 Mozart heard Allegri’s Misere performed once, on 11 April 1770, and after going back to his lodging for the night was able to write out the entire score from memory. He went back a day or two later with his draft to correct some errors. The final chorus has a ten-part harmony, showing how the young Mozart was a musical genius and prodigy.

Other settings have been written by Johann Sebastian Bach, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and Arvo Pärt.

Allegri’s ‘Miserere’ advertised as an Easter Choral Concert at the Guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 51 (NRSVA):

To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgement.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

6 You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then you will delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt-offerings and whole burnt-offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Today’s Prayer:

The USPG Prayer Diary this week, under the heading ‘Let my people go,’ focuses on the approximately 230 million Dalits living in India. Considered outcasts, these communities suffer systematic exclusion and discrimination under the caste system, a system of social stratification. The USPG Prayer Diary this morning (31 March 2022) invites us to pray:

We pray for the Church of North India’s ‘Let My People Go’ programme. May the programme participants be liberated from discrimination and oppression.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The carved wyvern biting his tail under the seat in the precentor’s stall in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick … one of mediaeval ‘misericords’ or ‘mercy seats’ (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