Daily prayer in the Kingdom Season: 27, Thursday 27 November 2025

‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and distress … among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves’ (Luke 21: 25) … sunset on the sea at Rethymnon in Crete (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

We are in the Kingdom Season, the time between All Saints’ Day and Advent, and this week began with the Sunday next before Advent and the Feast of Christ the King (23 November 2025).

Later today I hope to be involved with rehearsals with a play-reading group in Stony Stratford. But, before the day begins, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars’ (Luke 21: 25) … a broken piece of pottery in the Vandeleur Gardens in Kilrush, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 21: 20-28 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 20 ‘When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country must not enter it; 22 for these are days of vengeance, as a fulfilment of all that is written. 23 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people; 24 they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

25 ‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’

A refugee child clambers to the rocks seeking safety

Today’s reflection:

The scene for the Gospel reading at the Eucharist this morning (Luke 21: 20-28) has been set in the verses that immediately precede today’s reading. Christ is sitting in the Temple precincts, where he speaks about the Temple, the Nation, and the looming future.

Today’s Gospel reading includes frightening, terrifying words from Jesus, who says: ‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken’ (Luke 21: 25-26).

These are not the sort of comforting words that we might want to hear as we prepare for Advent Sunday and to begin the countdown to Christmas.

My generation is a generation that grew up with muffled sounds of apocalyptic fear, developed through listening to the whispered anxieties of parents and teachers. I was still only 10 when the Cuban Missile Crisis reached its height in October 1962, and I still remember asking, ‘Is this going to be the end of the world?’

The Cold War was at its height, and we were still less than two decades from the end of World War II. Of course, many people feared another world war was about to break out, with catastrophic consequences for the world.

The threat seemed to have abated for some time after the end of the Cold War. But it has come to the fore again this year with Donald Trump’s erratic decision -making and foreign policy Trump. Meanwhile, despite the end of the Cold War, the stockpiles of nuclear weapons continue to grow and accumulate, both the US and Russia are walking away from key arms limitation agreements, and war is continuing in Ukraine and Russia, the violence has not ended in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Syria, and all respect for the international legal conventions and rules on the conduct of war seem to have been discarded in Trump’s latest proposals for the war between Russia and Ukraine and the failure to make Netanyahu answerable for what has happened to Gaza.

A new generation also wonders whether the world is facing apocalyptic catastrophe because of climate change and the destruction of the planet, a crisis that was not properly tackled at the Cop30 convention in Brazil. And all of us must fret for the future when we hear that the inquiry into the Covid-19 crisis warns that we are not adequately prepared for future and inevitable pandemics , while we have let down our guards and think vaccinations have made our lives safer.

These fears accumulate and multiply and they become:

• short-term fears: are we going to have a normal Christmas this year?

• medium-term fears: what uncertainty and destruction can Trump unleash while he remains in office?

• long-term fears: what faces us all for the future?

In our fears and anxieties, we try to read the ‘signs of the times’ and wonder how to respond to ‘signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.’

And yet, I realise how so self-obsessed I can be as I realise the immediate terror that continues to face people – families, fathers, mothers and children – who get caught in the precarious Channel crossing between France and England. How they must continue to be ‘confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.’

All their hopes of a better life for themselves and their children, as they fled wars and persecutions in Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and North Africa, yet risk being drowned in one horrific, apocalyptic moment on the seas.

But even then, had they arrived on the shores of the land they hoped to reach, would they have been met with the compassion and care refugees ought to expect, not only in terms of Christian love, but under the terms of international law?

Have the recent riots and ugly street marches organised by the far right in both Britain and Ireland faded and gone away? Or is there worse yet to come?

The Christmas Gospel is a reminder that Mary and Joseph and the Child Jesus were refugees too: Mary and Joseph were forced to move from Nazareth to Bethlehem in the cold of winter, yet found no welcome at the inn; and then, when the Child Jesus was born, they were forced to flee Herod, and seek exile in Egypt.

Where do we find hope as we wait in Advent for Christ at Christmas?

Our Gospel reading ends not in doom and disaster, but with the promise that Christ is coming. Our Advent faith is that Christ is coming in glory, and that with him he is bringing the Kingdom of God, with its promises of justice and mercy, peace and love.

‘They will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives …’ (Luke 21: 24) … the Ceremonial Sword of the former Mayors of Youghal in Saint Mary’s Collegiate Church, Youghal, Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 27 November 2025):

The theme this week (23 to 29 November) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Gender Justice’ (pp 58-59). This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections by Rachael Anderson, former Senior Communications and Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today invites us to pray:

Lord, we pray that women might receive greater acknowledgement for their role in sustaining our churches and our communities.

The Collect:

Eternal Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven
that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:
keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit
and in the bond of peace,
and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

Stir up, O Lord,
the wills of your faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may by you be plenteously rewarded;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God the Father,
help us to hear the call of Christ the King
and to follow in his service,
whose kingdom has no end;
for he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, one glory.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars’ (Luke 21: 25) … a winter sunset at Cross in Hand Lane in Lichfield (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 Easter 2025: 12, Thursday 1 May 2025, Saint Philip and Saint James

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … street art seen in Iraklion during Easter weekend (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Our Easter celebrations continue in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Second Sunday of Easter (Easter II). Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost.

The Church calendar today celebrates the feast of Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles. This is May Day (1 May), and there are local elections in many parts of England today. However, there are no local elections in Milton Keynes this year, although there is a vacancy on Stony Stratford Town Council. Meanwhile, 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.

An icon of the Mystical Supper in a shop window in Rethymnon … was Philip asking awkward questions at the Last Supper? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 14: 1-14 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 1 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ 5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ 6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9 Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.’

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … reflections at the Marina in Kilrush, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Gospel reading (John 14: 1-14) is set within the context of the Last Supper, Christ’s Passover meal with the Disciples, and introduces his ‘Farewell Discourse’ in Saint John’s Gospel, in which he responds to the disciples’ questions by telling them he is the way, the truth and the life.

Judas Iscariot has left the table and the upper room and has gone out into the dark (John 13: 30), about to betray Christ.

Christ then gives his disciples the new commandment, ‘that you love one another’ (John 13: 34). In response to questions from Peter, Thomas, Philip and Jude, Christ now prepares his disciples for his departure.

This Gospel reading includes some well-known sayings, including:

• ‘In my Father's house are many mansions’ (KJV), translated in the NRSV and NRSVA as ‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2)

• ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6), the sixth of the seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings in Saint John’s Gospel

• ‘If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it’ (John 14: 14)

Saint Philip and Saint James have been associated since ancient times: an ancient inscription shows the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Rome had an earlier dedication to Philip and James.

In Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure (III, ii, 204), a child’s age is given as ‘a year and a quarter old, come Philip and Jacob,’ meaning, ‘a year and a quarter old on the first of next May, the feast of Philip and James.’ This day has also given us the word ‘popinjay’ for a vain or conceited person or ‘fop.’

But, despite the cultural legacy they have left us, the Philip and James recalled on 1 May are, to a great degree, small-bit players – almost anonymous or forgotten – in the New Testament, and in the Church calendar.

The Western Church commemorates James the Greater on 25 July, and James the Brother of the Lord on 23 or 25 October. But James the Less has no day for himself, he shares it with Philip, on 1 May. Philip the Apostle who has to share that same commemoration is frequently confused with Philip the Deacon (Acts 6: 7; 8: 5-40; 21: 8 ff) – but Philip the Deacon has his own day on 6 June or 11 October.

The Saint James that the Church remembers on May Day is James, the Son of Alphaeus. We know nothing about this James, apart from the fact that Jesus called him to be one of the 12. He is not James, the Brother of the Lord, later Bishop of Jerusalem and the traditional author of the Letter of James. Nor is he James the son of Zebedee, also an apostle and known as James the Greater. He appears on lists of the 12 – usually in the ninth place – but is never mentioned otherwise.

Philip the Apostle, not Philip the Deacon, came from the same town as Peter and Andrew, Bethsaida in Galilee. When Jesus called him directly, he sought out Nathanael and told him about ‘him about whom Moses … wrote’ (John 1: 45).

Like the other apostles, Philip took a long time coming to realise who Jesus was. On one occasion, as we shall read tomorrow (John 6: 1-15), when Jesus sees the great multitude following him and wants to give them food, he asks Philip where they should buy bread for the people to eat. We are told Jesus says ‘this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do’ (John 6: 6). Philip answers unhelpfully, perhaps in a disbelieving way: ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little [bit]’ (John 6: 7).

When Christ says in today’s reading, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life … If you know me, then you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him’ (John 14: 6a, 7), Philip then says: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied’ (John 14: 8).

Satisfied?

Enough?

Jesus answers: ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14: 9a).

Yet, despite the near-anonymity of James and the weaknesses of Philip, these two became foundational pillars in the Church. They display total human helplessness, yet they become apostles who bring the Good News into the world. Indeed, from the very beginning, Philip has an oft-forgotten role in bringing people to Christ. Perhaps because he had a Greek name, some Gentile proselytes came and asked him to introduce them to Jesus.

We see in James and Philip ordinary, weak, everyday, human, men who, nevertheless, become pillars of the Church at its very foundation. They show us that grace, holiness and the call to follow Christ come to us not on our own merits, or as special prizes to be achieved. They are entirely the gift of God, not a matter of human achieving.

We need not worry about questions and doubts … there are many dwelling places in God’s house, and faith grows and develops and matures, just as a child learns, through questions.

Questioning is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of willingness to learn.

It is OK not to have all the answers. It is OK not to have all the answers. For Christ is ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6).

In following Christ, we need not worry about our human weakness or that others may even forget us. God sees us as we are, and loves us just as we are. It is just as we are that we are called to follow Christ.

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

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … reflections in steel and concrete in Milton Keynes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 1 May 2025, Saint Philip and Saint James):

‘Become Like Children’ 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 by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 1 May 2025, Saint Philip and Saint James) invites us to pray:

Lord, we thank you for the apostles, Philip and James; may their faith inspire us to boldly share your love and truth in our lives.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
whom truly to know is eternal life:
teach us to know your Son Jesus Christ
as the way, the truth, and the life;
that we may follow the steps
of your holy apostles Philip and James,
and walk steadfastly in the way that leads to your 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.

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

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … apartments and tower blocks by the river bank in Valencia (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: 21 July 2022 (Psalm 148)

‘Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shing stars’ (Psalm 148: 3) … in the Vandeleur Walled Gardens in Kilrush, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

In the Calendar of the Church, we are in Ordinary Time. Before today begins, 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 148:

Psalm 148 is the third of the five final concluding praise Psalms in the Book of Psalms (Psalm 146 to Psalm 150). In Latin, Psalm 148 is known as ‘Laudate Dominum de caelis.’

Psalms 146 to 150 form the culmination or crescendo of the Book of Psalms as a whole. These six psalms correspond to the six days of creation. These psalms are not attributed to David. In the Septuagint, Psalms 145 to 148 are given the title ‘of Haggai and Zechariah.’

Psalms 148, like all five ‘hallelujah’ closing or final psalms, exhorts us to praise the Lord. Psalm 148 is a creation psalm. The entire universe sings a song of praise to God.

The first half of the psalm is about the heavens, the second half about the earth.

The heavens – including the Sun and Moon – shall praise God for creating them.

All created things – from the lowest in the form of sea monsters, to the highest, in the form of humans – shall praise God. The wind or ruah – which could also mean the Spirit or God’s will – does God’s will.

Each is a voice in the choral symphony of creation, in which all that exists testifies to its Maker.

Whatever our experiences in the past have been, whatever our expectations of the future may be, the praise of God remains our shared, common, constant call, introducing us to the prospect of a covenant with God and with one another.

The Midrash Tehillim identifies the entities to which the opening verses are addressed. ‘Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights!’ (verse 1) is addressing the ministering angels; ‘praise him, all his host!’ (verse 2) is addressed to those who fulfil God’s will. ‘Praise him, sun and moon’ (v. 3) refers to the Biblical Patriarchs and Matriarchs who are likened to the sun and moon in Joseph’s dream (see Genesis 37: 9). ‘Praise him, all you shining stars!’ (verse 3) refers to righteous individuals, as Daniel said, ‘Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever’ (Daniel 12: 3).

The Midrash adds, ‘From this you learn that every [righteous individual] has his own star in heaven, and that his star shines according to his deeds.’

The American composer Leonard Bernstein adapted the text for his Psalm 148, a setting for voice and piano and dated in 1935, his earliest surviving composition.

‘Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps’ (Psalm 148: 7) … a fresco in the Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 148 (NRSVA):

1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!

3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
4 Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.
6 He established them for ever and ever;
he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
8 fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!

9 Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
10 Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
12 Young men and women alike,
old and young together!

13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above earth and heaven.
14 He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his faithful,
for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!

Today’s Prayer:

The theme in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) this week is ‘Turning Point,’ looking at the work of the Diocese of Kurunegala in the Church of Ceylon in Sri Lanka. This theme was introduced on Sunday.

Thursday 21 July 2022:

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

Let us pray for the children in the Diocese of Kurunegala, and across the Church of Ceylon.

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 Easter: 4 May 2022 (Psalm 70)

‘Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me!’ (Psalm 70: 1) … street art in Cashel, Co Tipperary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Before this day begins, I am continuing my morning reflections in this season of Easter continues, including my morning 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 70:

Psalm 70 is known in Latin as Deus, in adiutorium meum intende. In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and in the Latin Vulgate, this psalm is counted as Psalm 69.

The entire psalm is almost identical to the closing verses of Psalm 40 (verses 14-18 in the Hebrew, 13-17 in most English translations). The opening verse in Hebrew identifies this psalm as one of remembrance (להכיר, ‘to remember’). This opening term appears in only one other psalm, Psalm 38.

Meir Leibush ben Yehiel Michel Wisser (1809-1879), from Volochysk in present-day Western Ukraine, was a rabbi, master of Hebrew grammar and Bible commentator and better known as the Malbim (מלבי"ם). He wrote that Psalm 40 was written by King David when he was fleeing from Saul, and David repeated this psalm later when he was fleeing from Absalom.

The Midrash Tehillim notes a slight discrepancy between Psalm 70: 5 (‘But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God!’) and Psalm 40: 17 (‘As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me’). The Midrash teaches that David was asking God, ‘Think of me in my poverty and in my need, and you will then make haste to deliver me, for You are my help and my deliverer.’

The opening verse says literally ‘God, to deliver me, to my help! Hurry!’ It is a sped up and abbreviated version of Psalm 40: 14. This is consistent with hasten used repeatedly in the opening. In some views, the first verses of Psalm 40 concern the coming messiah and his deliverance, while the later verses concern the desperate in general. It is the later verses of Psalm 40 carried over to Psalm 70.

The beginning of Psalm 70 was often set to music, especially as part of music for vespers. Claudio Monteverdi wrote a six-part setting with orchestra to begin his Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610), using a revised version of the opening Toccata of his opera L’Orfeo. It has been described as a ‘call to attention’ and ‘a piece whose brilliance is only matched by the audacity of its conception.’

Benjamin Britten set this psalm to music as part of the score he wrote for the play This Way to the Tomb (1945).

‘But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God!’ (Psalm 70: 5) … a memorial to ‘two friends of the poor’ in Kilcrush, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 70 (NRSVA):

To the leader. Of David, for the memorial offering.

1 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
O Lord, make haste to help me!
2 Let those be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life.
Let those be turned back and brought to dishonour
who desire to hurt me.
3 Let those who say, ‘Aha, Aha!’
turn back because of their shame.

4 Let all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you.
Let those who love your salvation
say evermore, ‘God is great!’
5 But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O Lord, do not delay!

Today’s Prayer:

The theme in this week’s prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘Truth Tellers.’ It was introduced on Sunday morning by Steve Cox, Chair of Christians in the Media.

The USPG Prayer Diary this morning (4 May 2022) invites us to pray:

Lord, let us be truthful to ourselves and to others. May we embrace each other for our authentic selves.

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

A gift of a book that recalls the story of the Methodist community in Tarbert

A plaque in Church Street, Tarbert, remembers the former Methodist Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Books are always a welcome present, and sometimes they arrive in the post as unexpected and delightful surprises. During the weekend, Pádraig Ó Conchbhair, the Ballylongford historian sent me a copy of his book, A Remote Outpost: the story of the Methodist Society in Tarbert, County Kerry, published in 2005. The wall plaque refers to the fact that there was a Wesleyan Methodist chapel at this location in 1830.

Pádraig Ó Conchbhair has also written books on Robert Emmet and the 1798 Rising in Co Kerry. He points to the coincidence that ‘it was because of the Rebellion of 1798 that the Methodist Connexion began to use Irish speaking preachers, which in turn led to the establishment of the Tarbert Society, a community of Christian Witness in North Kerry for over 140 years.’

Although John Wesley often visited Rathkeale and Adare in Co Limerick, he never visited Tarbert, nor did he ever visit any other part of Co Kerry, making it the only country in Ireland that Wesley never visited.

Instead, ‘Methodism came to Kerry through the Rev Charles Graham (1750-1824), ‘The Apostle of Kerry,’ an Irish speaker who was born in Sligo. He was sent to Kerry in 1790 at John Wesley’s express wish, although there is no evidence that he ever preached in North Kerry.

A preaching house was built in Tralee in 1795, and the first point of contact for Methodists with Tarbert may have been the Revd Adam Averell’s visit on 9 June 1790.

One of the earliest Methodist preachers to minister in Tarbert was the Revd Gideon Ouseley, an Irish speaker from Dumore, Co Galway. He rowed across the Shannon from Kilrush, Co Clare, to Tarbert, one day in 1820, and as he came ashore on Tarbert Island he declared aloud: ‘I take Tarbert in the name of the Lord Jesus.’

The Revd William Foote held regular Methodist services in Tarbert from 1820, and his twin sons were baptised in Saint Brendan’s Church, Kilnaughtin (Tarbert) on 4 April 1821.

The Methodist Conference approved building a chapel in Tarbert in 1830, and a site on Church Street, east of the Rectory, was leased from John Leslie of Tarbert House. The new chapel and school opened for worship on 30 October 1830. It was a year after Catholic Emancipation and, by coincidence, this was the same year work began on building the first Roman Catholic church in Tarbert.

At the opening of the new Wesleyan chapel, the preachers included the Revd Elijah Hoole, a former missionary in India, and the Revd James Gillman, a Methodist minister in Limerick. The Clare Mission, based in Kilrush, once covered five counties – Clare, Galway, Tipperary, Limerick and Kerry – and ministers based in Kilrush regularly rowed eight miles across the Shannon Estuary to preach in the chapel in Tarbert, often exposing themselves to great danger.

Unlike the Palatine families in Co Limerick, many of whom became Methodists, the Palatine families in north Kerry largely remained members of the Church of Ireland.

The Methodist congregations in Kilrush and Ennis, Co Clare, were joined to the Limerick circuit based in Bedford Row, Limerick, in 1885. The Limerick Circuit was reorganised in 1903, and by 1908 Tarbert was transferred from the Clare Mission to the Rathkeale Circuit.

Pádraig Ó Conchbhair’s book also includes the stories of some unusual Methodist ministers. The Revd Michael Fitzelle Boveneizer of Rathgar, originally from Rathkeale, was an occasional preacher in Tarbert, and his name is included in list of lessees when the chapel in Tarbert was transferred from the Clare Mission to the Rathkeale Circuit in 1908. But he retired from the Methodist ministry at an early age, became a minister in the Congregationalist Church in England, and later developed an interest in spiritualism.

On one occasion, Boveneizer wrote to Ireland to find out the exact date of the death of the Revd P Donovan, saying he had been in touch with him at a séance the previous night. The reply came with glee the next day, saying Donovan was still alive and living in Dalkey, where he could be contacted directly without the necessity of a séance.

At the high point of Methodism in Ireland, there were three Methodist chapels in Co Kerry on the Tralee Circuit: Tralee, Ballymacelligot and Killorglin; and three on the Killarney Circuit: Killarney and Kenmare in Co Kerry and Allihies in Co Cork. The Tarbert ‘Mission Station,’ on the other hand, was linked with Kilrush Circuit, based in Co Clare.

The 1911 census shows eight Methodists living in Tarbert, including the six members of the Whitell family of the coastguard officer on Tarbert Island.

The Hill family of Church Street and later of Woodlands, had a large corn trade and were the principal Methodist family in Tarbert. They originally came from Mount Pleasant near Askeaton, Co Limerick. The story is told of a Miss Hill of Woodlands, who played the harmonium in Tarbert Chapel. She was walking through Tarbert one day and found a halfpenny lying on the ground. She picked it up, but her piety prohibited her from spending it on herself as she had neither earned it nor been given it as a gift … and so she chose to use it for the work of the Lord.

She bought a halfpenny spool of sewing cotton and used this to crochet a piece of lace which she then sold for 2/6 – sixty times the cost of the cotton. With the proceeds, she bought wool and knitted stockings. The money she received for them was enough to buy a new-born calf which she put out to graze for a year in the field behind the house. By that time the calf had grown into a heifer and was sold.

Miss Hill then had enough money to buy a small harmonium which she gave to the Methodist Church in Tarbert where it accompanied the worship for many years. She died in 1946, and was buried near Pallaskenry.

Finally, the Methodist chapel in Tarbert closed in 1962, was sold to the Downey family and was demolished, and some of the memorial plaques were moved to Saint Brendan’s Church, the nearby Church of Ireland parish church in Tarbert.

The Wesleyan Methodist Community in Tarbert had given witness for almost a century and a half. A plaque in Church Street on the site where the Methodist Chapel once stood was unveiled in 2010 at an event organised by the Tarbert Historical and Heritage Society. The speakers included Patrick Lynch and Pádraig Ó Conchúir.

A Hill family memorial in Saint Brendan’s Church, Tarbert, originally in the former Methodist Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

‘But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart’

‘But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart’ (Luke 1: 19) … ‘Divine Teardrop’ by Peter Cassidy … part of his exhibition at the Wexford Festival in 2016 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday 27 December 2020

The First Sunday of Christmas (Christmas I)

(Saint John the Evangelist)

The Readings: Isaiah 61: 10 to 62: 3; Psalm 148; Luke 2: 15-21.

There is a link to these readings HERE.

A prayer over a cup of wine announces the baby’s Hebrew name At circumcision, and the parents drink some of the wine … cups used for this ceremony on display in the Museum of Jewish Culture in Bratislava (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

May I speak to you in the name of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

The English singer Des O’Connor, who died last month (14 November 2020), was born in Stepney to an Irish father and a Jewish mother, and joked that he was the first O’Connor to celebrate his bar mitzvah.

A boy’s bar mitzvah celebrates his adult undertaking of the responsibilities he has as a ‘child of the covenant.’

The concept of covenant is one of the most important concepts when it comes to understanding the Bible.

At the heart of the difference between a covenant and a contract are the concepts of love and relationship. A contract is between two or more parties who retain their separate identities; a covenant aspires in literally a flesh-and-blood way to the very revolutionary concept that the two parties become one.

In the Bible, a covenant establishes the basis of a relationship, conditions for that relationship, promises in the relationship and the consequences if these are violated.

One of the most familiar examples of a covenant for us is marriage. A good marriage is less about contract and all about love and relationship. In this way, the Prophet Isaiah, in our first reading, compares the Biblical covenant with a wedding, and the fruit of this wedding between God and the People is a family with a new name, and the children of this family become a light to ‘all the nations’ (see Isaiah 61: 11).

The Biblical covenants provide the framework for holding together the whole biblical story, and they provide the keys to understanding the Bible. As this story unfolds, we see God makes covenants, keeps covenants and fulfils covenants. These are the ways God unfolds his redemptive plan.

Our Gospel reading (Luke 2: 15-21) tells of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus. In one short, closing verse it tells of three events:

1, the naming of the Christ Child;

2, the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham ‘and his children for ever,’ thus Christ’s keeping of the Law;

3, the first shedding of Christ’s blood.

The most significant of these events in the Gospels is the name itself. The name Jesus means ‘Yahweh saves’ and so is linked to the question asked by Moses of God: ‘What is your name?’ ‘I am who I am,’ was the reply, and so the significance of the ‘I AM’ sayings in the Fourth Gospel.

Saint Luke recalls the Circumcision and Naming of Christ in a short, terse summary account in one, single verse (Luke 2: 21).

But he does not say where the Christ Child was circumcised, but artists often located it in the Temple, linking the Circumcision and the Presentation, so that Christ’s suffering begins and ends in Jerusalem.

Jesus is circumcised so he begins life living and fulfilling the Covenant. But it also shows clearly that he is fully human as well as fully God – God does not appear to take on our human appearance, but is actually born a human. God has made a covenant with humans; now in our human form, with all its frailty and all its weakness, God takes on our part of the Covenant too.

A covenant is a sign of God’s grace. God does not make a covenant with us because we deserve it, but because God loves us first.

Names are important starting points in covenant stories: Abram becomes Abraham, Jacob becomes Israel, Saul becomes Paul, and so on.

In Jewish tradition, a boy child is given a Hebrew name when he is circumcised. When the Christ Child is circumcised, he is formally given the name Jesus (‘God saves’), the name given to him through the message of the angel. Naming the child signifies not only a new start in the Covenant story, but that this too is a story that tells us that God saves.

In this story, we are at the beginning of redemption, the beginning of the New Covenant, the beginning of the New Year.

The Gospel account of the naming and circumcision of Jesus is not only a reminder of the incarnation, but is very specific in its detail: Jesus is born a Jew, and on the eighth day receives an ineradicable mark of this identity, which is both religious and ethnic. The prayers at circumcision include a prayer that the child may grow to instruct ‘his children and posterity to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right’ (see Genesis 18: 19).

We are coming to the end of a year that marked the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II and the end of the Holocaust. Yet, throughout this year, there have been disturbing reports of the rise in anti-Semitism, across Europe and in the US.

According to a survey by the non-partisan American Jewish Committee this year, 88 per cent of American Jews believe anti-Semitism is a problem in the US, and 82 per cent think it has increased over the past five years.

Vlad Khaykin of the Anti-Defamation League points to QAnon and the ‘normalisation’ in political debates of terms like ‘globalist’ and the use of Jewish philanthropists like George Soros as scapegoats, and how this ‘makes for a dangerous resurgence of political anti-Semitism.’

The AJC survey shows that 75 per cent of Jews in the US feel that the extreme right represents a very or moderately serious threat.

More anti-Semitic incidents were recorded last year than ever before in the US. American Jews feel they are increasingly being targeted online because they are Jews.

The rift in the Labour Party in Britain is just one dimension to the many reports of the rise in anti-Semitism there. In the first six-month period of 2020, online anti-Semitic incidents rose 4% in the UK, when the pandemic and lockdown measures fostered an ‘explosion of anti-Semitic discourses.’

Similar reports are heard across Europe.

Today’s Gospel reading reminds us that Jesus is born a Jew, but offers an opportunity at the end of this year’s 75th anniversary to remind us never to forget the horrors of the Holocaust and the obligation to take a firm stance against anti-Semitism, racism and religious prejudice, so that future generations may grow to instruct their ‘children and posterity to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right’ (see Genesis 18: 19).

And so, may all we think, say and do be to the praise, honour and glory of God, + Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Elijah’s Chair in the Museum of Jewish Culture, Bratislava … used at the circumcision of a Jewish boy when he is eight days old (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Luke 2: 15-21 (NRSVA):

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

21 After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

The instruments of circumcision, used at the circumcision of a Jewish boy when he is eight days old … exhibits in the Museum of Jewish Culture, Bratislava (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Liturgical Colour: White or Gold

Penitential Kyries:

Lord God, mighty God,
you are the creator of the world.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary,
you are the Prince of Peace.

Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Holy Spirit,
by your power the Word was made flesh
and came to dwell among us.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
who wonderfully created us in your own image
and yet more wonderfully restored us
through your Son Jesus Christ:
Grant that, as he came to share in our humanity,
so we may share the life of his divinity;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Introduction to the Peace:

Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and his name shall be called the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9: 6)

Preface:

You have given Jesus Christ your only Son
to be born of the Virgin Mary,
and through him you have given us power
to become the children of God:

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Heavenly Father,
you have refreshed us with this heavenly sacrament.
As your Son came to live among us,
grant us grace to live our lives,
united in love and obedience,
as those who long to live with him in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessing:

Christ, who by his incarnation gathered into one
all things earthly and heavenly,
fill you with his joy and peace:

‘Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shing stars’ (Psalm 148: 3) … in the Vandeleur Walled Gardens in Kilrush, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Hymns:

119, Come, thou long expected Jesus (CD 8)
170, Love came down (CD 10)

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

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.



In line with Government and Diocesan guidelines, all churches in the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe are closed this morning due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This sermon was part of a celebration of the Eucharist in the Rectory, Askeaton, Co Limerick.

Reminders of words and dictionaries while waiting for the ferry at Killimer

Two Ogham sculptures with the names of Clare and Kerry at the ferry point in Killimer (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

On the way back from Doonbeg to Askeaton on Saturday, two of us stopped for about half an hour at Killimer, Co Clare, enjoying the sculptures overlooking the Shannon Estuary and enjoying ice creams as we waited to cross on the ferry to Tarbert, Co Kerry.

Killimer, on the north bank of the Shannon Estuary, is known for the car ferry service, operated by Shannon Ferries, and for the Moneypoint coal-fired electricity station west of the village, beside the road to Kilrush.

According to the geographer Samuel Lewis, the parish had over 3,000 residents in 1837. Today, about 500 people live in Killimer.

Killimer is one of the smallest parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe, and is part of the Killimer and Knockerra parish, with two parish churches: Saint Imy in Killimer and Saint Senan in Knockerra. These two saints are said to have been born in the townland of Molougha in the parish.

The Ogham scultptures at the ferry point are reminder of Killimer’s past. Lisroor (Lios Ramhar), a double ringfort in Killimer, is the second largest in Ireland, and another unique fort is at Cathair na gCat.

Peter O’Connell, who was born in Carne or Carradotia near Killimer in 1755, was a schoolteacher and lexicographer and a near contemporary of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) from Lichfield, who published the first standard English dictionary in 1755, the year O’Connell was born.

O’Connell travelled throughout Ireland, Wales, the Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides tracing rare and unusual words as he compiled his dictionary. He completed his epic work in 1819, but failed in his attempts to get his dictionary published. His manuscript was pawned in Tralee, and Peter’s nephew, Anthony O’Connell, later sold the unpublished work to James Hardiman, who hired John O’Donovan to copy the manuscript.

Peter O’Connell’s original manuscript was sold to the British Museum by Hardiman and there is a copy in the library of Trinity College Dublin. He died on 24 February 1826 and is buried in the old churchyard at Burrane, near Killimer.

Ellen Hanly, the ‘Colleeen Bawn,’ who was washed ashore at Moneypoint, was buried in the same grave in July 1819.

In the mid-19th century, ferries sailed up and down the Shannon, rather than across the estuary. The writer William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) described his fellow passengers in 1842: ‘There was a piper and a bugler, a hundred of genteel persons coming back from donkey-riding and bathing at Kilkee … a score of women nursing children, and a lobster vendor.’

Moneypoint, with an output of 915 MW, is Ireland’s largest electricity generation station and only coal-fired power station. It was commissioned in 1985-1987, and was built at a cost of more than £700 million, making it one of the largest capital projects in the history of the state.

The station operates largely on coal, making it Ireland’s single largest emitter of greenhouse gases. It is capable of meeting around 25% of customer demand across the country. The power station chimneys, at 218 metres, are the tallest free-standing structures in Ireland.

The Shannon Ferries crossing – on the Shannon Breeze and the Shannon Dolphin – from Killimer, Co Clare, to Tarbert, Co Kerry, has been operating since 1969. It takes 20 minutes, leaving Killimer every hour on the hour and Tarbert every hour on the half hour, between 7 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. It saves people 137 km and 1½ hours as they drive from Tralee, Dingle or Killarney to Loop Head, the Burren or the Cliffs of Moher along the Wild Atlantic Way.

The Shannon Estuary at Killimer, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

A double espresso and watching life pass by

A new coffee stop in Askeaton, Co Limerick, on Friday mornings (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

One of the simple joys in life is sitting down with a double espresso and watching life go by.

And one of the simple joys of life that have been restored with the gradual lifting of the pandemic lockdown is being able to go out for a double espresso and watch life go by.

This weekend, it is a joy to see that the Rathkeale House Hotel is open once again. It had been closed and sold before the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, and the lockdown delayed its refurbishment and reopening. But it is open once again, with many of the former staff back at work.

And so, it was a joy to sit in the Rathkeale House Hotel and spend time over a double espresso once again on Friday afternoon (24 July 2020).

A recycling message accompanies a double espresso in the Vandeleur Gardens in Kilrush, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

In the past few weeks there have been coffees and something to eat in the Green Onion in Limerick and the Vandeleur Walled Gardens in Kilrush, Co Clare, coffee in the Coast Café in Ballybunion, Co Kerry, and a late afternoon lunch in Keating’s in Kilbaha at the end of the Loop Head peninsula in Co Clare last Sunday (19 July 2020).

But Askeaton also has a new venue for double espressos too.

Patrick Mullins and his enterprising daughters have opened Mulmacs, a new coffee shop in a converted horsebox that they bring to the farmers’ market in Askeaton every Friday morning.

Sometimes, just sometimes, it’s just the simple pleasures in life that bring a smile to my face.

‘Mulmacs’ … a new coffee stop in Askeaton on Friday mornings (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Are you right there, Michael? Do you think you’ll get to Kilrush before the night?

The Percy French Bar in Kilrush … recalling a ballad about the West Clare Railway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

On the way back from Loop Head to the ferry at Killimer on Sunday afternoon (19 July 2020), two of us stopped again in Kilrush to see the Percy French Bar on Moore Street, which recalls so many humorous memories of the West Clare Railway.

Earlier that afternoon, we had admired a monument and plaque at the Marina in Kilrush that also recalls the West Clare Railway, which ran until 1961, and became the inspiration for one of the many ballads written by the songwriter Percy French.

This was a steam driven 3 ft narrow-gauge rail that ran from Ennis along the west coast of Clare, stopping at many points along the way to two termini, one at Kilrush and the other at Kilkee.

The West Clare Railway opened on 2 July 1887. Two years earlier, Charles Stewart Parnell had turned the first sod for the tracks at Miltown Malbay.

Many attempts before 1887 to provide a rail service in west Clare failed because of this was seen as remote area and investors were reluctant to risk the capital needed. New possibilities opened when the Tramways Act was passed in 1883. A narrow gauge track halved the construction costs and guaranteed returns to the investors.

William Martin Murphy was appointed as the contractor to build the railway. Murphy later became a major newspaper proprietor and caused the cause of the workers’ lockout in Dublin in the early 20th century.

While the West Clare railway was being built, a number of the directors formed a second company to build a similar line serving Kilrush and Kilkee. The two companies worked closely and the southern part of the line was eventually completed at the end of 1892.

The locomotives were designed to pull loads at a speed of 25 mph over gradients as fierce as 1 in 50 along a track 48 miles long.

The West Clare Railway guaranteed faster delivery of goods and services and brought new life to the area. Postal services quickened, newspapers from Dublin became available on the day, Kilkee became known as the ‘Brighton of the West,’ and the Lahinch golf course was laid out at this time.

The Lisdoonvarna Festival each September gained a new lease of life as passengers could get as near as Ennistymon from all parts of Ireland. The Burren cattle trade was enhanced, and the Kilrush Horse Fair and the Lahinch Garland Day celebrations took on a new significance.

By the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, five trains ran each way between Ennis and Kilrush and Kilkee, with many stopping points along the way. More than 200,000 passengers travelled on the line, with two-thirds of the passengers travelling during the summer months, and 80,000 tonnes of freight and livestock were carried each year.

The only service lost during World War I was the excursion trips by steamboat from Limerick via Cappa Pier to Kilkee. German U-boats in the Shannon Estuary put an end to them and they were never revived.

Despite the violence of the War of Independence and the Civil War, the railway continued to run. With the grouping of Irish railways after independence, the line became part of the G&SR, and the maintenance of the locomotives was based at Limerick.

During World War II, Ireland had no coal reserves and fuel became a serious concern. The West Clare Railway used local turf that was plentiful but unsuited for a steam engines’ boilers.

In post-war economic problems of the late 1940s, many Irish railway lines were closed or changed to diesel traction. The WCR was recommended for closure, but there was strong local opposition and the line became the only narrow-gauge line to receive significant investment in diesel traction, line, signalling and operating improvements.

The national railway Córas Iompair Éireann (CIE) replaced the steam engines with diesel engines. However, Clare was still losing population and emigration was, indeed, increasing. There was just not enough traffic and the last steam passenger train departed from Ennis on 15 March 1952. The line finally closed on 31 January 1961.

The plaque at Kilrush Marina recalling the West Clare Railway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Percy French wrote ‘Are ye right there Michael’ in 1902, parodying the reputation of the West Clare Railway. He was inspired by an actual train journey in 1896.

Because of a slow train and the decision of the driver to stop for no apparent reason, French, who had left Sligo in the early morning, arrived so late for an 8 pm recital that the audience had left. The ballad caused considerable embarrassment for the rail company, which was mocked in music halls throughout Ireland and Britain because of the song.

The song led to an unsuccessful libel action against French. It is said that when French arrived late for the libel hearing, the judge chided him for being late. French reportedly responded, ‘Your honour, I travelled by the West Clare Railway,’ and the case was thrown out.

Are ye right there Michael, by Percy French (1902)

You may talk of Columbus’s sailing
Across the Atlantical Sea
But he never tried to go railing
From Ennis as far as Kilkee.
You run for the train in the morning
The excursion train starting at eight
You’re there when the clock gives the warnin’
And there for an hour you’ll wait.
And as you’re waiting in the train
You’ll hear the guard sing this refrain:

Are ye right there, Michael, are ye right?
Do you think that we'll be there before the night?
Ye’ve been so long in startin’
That ye couldn’t say for certain
Still ye might now, Michael,
So ye might!

They find out where the engine’s been hiding
And it drags you to sweet Corofin.
Says the guard: ‘Back her down on the siding
There’s a goods from Kilrush coming in.’
Perhaps it comes in two hours,
Perhaps it breaks down on the way.
‘If it does,’ says the guard, ‘by the powers
We’re here for the rest of the day!’
And while you sit and curse your luck
The train backs down into a truck.

Are ye right there, Michael, are ye right?
Have ye got the parcel there for Mrs White?
Ye haven’t, oh begorra,
Say it’s comin’ down tomorra
And well it might now, Michael,
So it might.

At Lahinch the sea shines like a jewel,
With joy you are ready to shout,
When the stoker cries out: ‘There’s no fuel
And the fire’s tee-totally out!
But hand up that bit of a log there
I’ll soon have ye out of the fix
There’s a fine clamp of turf in the bog there
And the rest go a-gatherin’ sticks.’
And while you’re breakin’ bits of trees
You hear some wise remarks like these:

‘Are ye right there, Michael? Are ye right?
Do ye think that you can get the fire to light?
Oh, an hour you’ll require
For the turf it might be drier
Well it might now, Michael,
So it might.’

Memories of the West Clare Railway by Kilrush Marina (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

A popular version by Brendan O’Dowda adds lyrics which may not have been part of the original:

Kilkee! Oh you never get near it!
You’re in luck if the train brings you back
For the permanent way is so queer
It spends most of its time off the track.
Uphill the old engine is climbin’
While the passengers push with a will
You’re in luck when you reach Ennistymon
For all the way home is downhill.
And as you’re wobblin’ through the dark
you hear the guard make this remark:

‘Are you right there, Michael, are ye right?
Do you think that you'll be home before it’s light?’
‘Tis all dependin’ whether
The old engine holds together —
And it might now, Michael, so it might! (so it might),
And it might, now, Michael, so it might.’

Memories of a ballad and a libel case in Moore Street, Kilrush, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Looking at church ruins at Cross on Loop Head and finding links with USPG

The mediaeval Church of Saint John the Baptist at Killballyowen outside Cross, Co Clare … surrounded by a graveyard and probably a mediaeval monastic site (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

On the way back to Kilrush from the tip of Loop Head on Sunday afternoon (19 July 2020), two of us stopped briefly in the Co Clare village of Cross to see the church ruins at Kilballyowen and the surrounding graveyard on the west side of village.

The village of Cross is in the middle of the Loop Head Peninsula, west of Carrigaholt and on the road to Kilbaha, and it is in the civil parish of Kilbpllyowen.

Kilballyowen is about 20 km west of Kilrush, in the extreme south-west of the Barony of Moyarta in Co Clare.

The name of Cross could be derived from a cross related to the old ruined church in Killballyowen. But it is more likely that the village takes its name from a once-important road crossing as Cross is in the centre of the Loop Head peninsula.

The name Kilballyowen comes from the Irish Cill Bhaile Eoghain, meaning the church of the town or townland of Saint John the Baptist.

Facing east inside the church ruins at Kilballyowen (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

The ruins of the mediaeval Church of Saint John the Baptist are surround by the graveyard.

The churchyard is notable for its many impressive family vaults and mausoleums and the former church is filled with graves too, raising its former floor level.

This is so noticeable, that the piscina at the east end of the north wall is now almost at ground level.

The piscina inside the church is now almost at ground level (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Reports dating from the 19th century show the church ruins may be the ruins of a friary, but there are no public signs that hint at its history.

Before the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, the parish was already incorporated into Kilrish parish, and the rectorial tithes were divided between the Prebendary of Tomgrany and the Prebendary of Inniscattery in the chapter of Killaloe Cathedral, and Lord Castlecoote.

Charles Henry Coote (1754-1823) succeeded his uncle, Charles Henry Coote (1725-1802), 7th Earl of Mountrath, as 2nd Baron Castle Coote in 1802; his father, the Very Revd Charles Coote, was the Dean of Kilfenora Cathedral, Co Clare – which may explain the Coote family connections with Co Clare.

Looking out of the church ruins through a door opening in the south wall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Unable to find out anything more about this church ruin or about the former priory, I went to look at the Roman Catholic Parish Church in the heart of the village. I thought how coincidental it would be if the Church in Cross were called the Church of the Holy Cross. Instead it is called Our Lady of Lourdes.

The church was built in 1959, and it seems to have some interesting stained glass. But the church was closed, and I was unable to learn anything more about it.

A grave slab with the Crucifixion and symbols of the Passion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

However – given I ought to have been at USPG’s annual conference in Swanwick this week (20 to 22 July 2020) – I was interested to learn of one distant connection between that Coote family and USPG.

The Right Revd Roderic Norman Coote (1915-2000) was a former curate of Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Ballsbridge (1938-1941) and a former minor canon (clerical vicar) of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (1940-1941). He left Ireland in the middle of World War II to become a missionary in Gambia with the Anglican mission agency SPG, now USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).

Later, he became Bishop of Gambia and the Rio Pongas (1951-1956), Bishop of Fulham (1956-1965), and then Archdeacon of Colchester (1969-1972) and suffragan Bishop of Colchester (1966-1987) in the Diocese of Chelmsford.

Bishop Coote died Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, 20 years ago on 8 July 2000.

The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes … built in Cross, Co Clare, in 1959 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

A taste of Paradise, a hint of Crete and memories of the ‘Yellow Men’ of Loop Head

The pretty harbour at Kilbaha at the western end of the Loop Head peninsula in west Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

Following Sunday afternoon’s visit to Kilrush, two of us decided to avoid Kilkee – fearing, quite rightly, that the beach would be crowded despite advice about Covid-19 social distancing – and decided, for the first time ever, to explore Loop Head and the West Clare peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic.

By accident, we found ourselves by mid-afternoon in the small fishing village and harbour of Kilbaha (Cill Bheathach, ‘Church of the Birches’), close to the south-west end of Loop Head.

Kilbaha is the very last village on the Loop Head peninsula, about 6 km east of Loop Head and about 35 km west of Kilrush. This is a place of outstanding natural beauty, surrounded by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the River Shannon.

Kilbaha Bay is a small open sweep that looks south-east across the mouth of the Shannon Estuary towards Ballybunion in the distance on the north-west coast of Co Kerry. It is far from any major road: the N67 runs 25 km east of the village, and the nearest town is Kilkee.

Keating’s claims to be ‘the nearest pub to New York’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

We were given a table overlooking the harbour and the bay at Keating’s Bar and Restaurant on Pier Road. Keating’s was founded in 1879 and claims to be ‘the nearest bar to New York.’

Keating’s is run by husband and wife team Bernie and Helen Keating, and is known its locally caught, fresh seafood, as well as its warm welcome and traditional, family-friendly, atmosphere.

Sitting over lunch on a sunny, summer’s Sunday afternoon, sipping a glass of cold white wine, and looking out onto the small harbour, with blue seas and blue skies, I imagined myself transported to one of the taverns in Panormos, east of Rethymnon, on a Sunday afternoon in Crete, at the Sunset Taverna below the Fortezza in Rethymnon, or in a bar on the cliffs above the caldera in Santorini, and enjoyed a taste of paradise.

A taste of Paradise – or of Crete – on a summer’s afternoon in Kilbaha (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Around the headland from the pier, and visible as you approach the village from the east, is a castellated turret built by the Keane family for Victorian ladies to enjoy the view. The ruins of the Keane home stand nearby on the top of the hill.

The small, picturesque pier was built in the early 19th century to cater for local people making a living from fishing, seaweed gathering and piloting large ships up the Shannon to Limerick docks. It was also used by cargo vessels bringing supplies to Loop Head lighthouse.

The Teardrop Memorial to the ‘Yellow Men’ who drowned near Kilbaha (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Over 100 shipwrecks have been recorded around the peninsula, and the Grave of the Yellow Men is a memorial to a group of sailors who died in Kilbaha Bay in the 19th century.

The names and nationality of these sailors are unknown, and they are referred to locally as the yellow men. Details are sketchy but they remain part of oral tradition in Kilbaha.

The nine or 11 ‘yellow men’ are buried in a mass grave looking over the Atlantic. It was originally thought that they were oriental, possibly from China or Japan – but only because of the phrase ‘yellow men.’

However, when the Spanish Armada landed in Ireland, the Spanish were referred to as ‘Yellow Men’ and local research suggests the men drowned here could have been from Spain or Portugal, or even to Morocco, Tunisia or Egypt would more likely be their point of departure.

The men either drowned or were smashed to pieces on the Kilcloher rocks, 1 km from Kilbaha, in the late 19th century.

The only surviving documentation is a school transcript of oral tradition dating from 1937-1938 and recorded by Stephen Hanrahan. It says that near Kilcloher ‘is the grave of the Yellow Men’ and that they were ‘nine shipwrecked Frenchmen’ who ‘were buried about 60 years ago.’

It was said their ship was in difficulties and they threw a rope ashore by which nine were saved. A local young man, however, cut part of this fine rope, which was considerably too long at first, so that when the ship drifted a little away from the shore, the cut rope was too short to save the others who were drowned.

The local community erected a memorial in July 2010 to commemorate the ‘Yellow Men.’

From there, we decided to head on to Loop Head and the Bridges of Ross. But we resolved that if we fail to get to Greece this summer, we must return to Kilbaha.

The pebbly shoreline at small bay at Kilbaha (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)