Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 38, Sunday 14 June 2026, Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity II)

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

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this is the Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity II, 14 June 2026). I hope to be involved in the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church this morning, reading one of the lessons, leading the intercessions and singing with the choir. Later in the day, Folk on the Green, Stony Stratford’s own music festival, is taking place on Horsefair Green from 12 noon until 7 pm.

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.

‘The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee’ … the great East Window in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth, depicting the Twelve Apostles (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Matthew 9: 35 to 10: 8 [9-23] (NRSVA):

35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’

1 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.’

[9 ‘Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for labourers deserve their food. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town.

16 ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 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. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.’]

‘Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority’ (Matthew 10: 1) … the Twelve Apostles depicted in an icon in a church in Panormos, east of Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

In the Calendar of the Church, we are in what is known as Ordinary Time, the time between Trinity Sunday and the beginning of Advent.

This morning’s Gospel story this morning begins with an image of Christ in ordinary, everyday situations, going ‘about all the cities and villages’ (Matthew 9: 35), mixing with ordinary people. These are people who need hope, people who are sick, sore and sorry, people who are distressed, marginalised and suffering, and Christ has compassion for these weary and worn-down people, because they are harassed and helpless, ‘like sheep without a shepherd’ (Matthew 9: 36).

They are ordinary people, indeed, in ordinary places, in ordinary time, but suffering and often isolated and marginalised in their everyday lives.

And to answer their plight, to carry out his mission, Christ chooses 12 disciples, 12 ordinary people, with ordinary backgrounds and careers: Peter, who denies him three times; Andrew his brother, a fisherman; James and John, ‘Mammy’s boys’ who jockey for position, unsure of what the Kingdom of God is about; Philip, who could easily turn away Greek-speaking Gentiles; Matthew, despised as a tax collector; Thomas who doubts him; Judas who betrays him … (see Matthew 10: 2-4).

In our ordinary everyday lives, Christ calls us to follow him, not for our own self-satisfying feeling of being good, chosen, select or even elect, but to proclaim the Good News; not for our own advantage and enrichment, but because that is what the suffering world needs today.

We are called as ordinary people to do that; our Baptism is our commission to do that; our Confirmation is our ‘Amen’ to that.

In the reading from the Book of Genesis today (Genesis 18: 1-15 ), Abraham and Sarah, in the extraordinary circumstances of the time, being childless and now going into old age, must still have thought they were living through a very ordinary day when they were visited that day at the oaks of Mamre.

God visits us in very extraordinary circumstances, in the midst of our very ordinary, everyday lives.

At first, Abraham sees ‘three men’ standing near him, and they seem to be human in appearance. But he addresses them as ‘my lord’ and offers them courtesy and hospitality, washing their feet, providing shelter from the mid-day heat, bringing ‘a little bread’ and then preparing a full meal.

As they accept this hospitality, it becomes clearer who they are. One of them speaks, promises to return and promises that Sarah will have a son.

In the second part of that reading, which provides an optional ending to this story next Sunday (Genesis 21: 8-21), we hear how God keeps his promise.

This reading has often been read as an early understanding in the Bible of the Trinity, and so is an appropriate reading in these Sundays after Trinity.

In the Gospel reading, Christ sends the 12 out in mission to the marginalised and the outcast. They are to proclaim the ‘good news,’ as Saint John the Baptist announced, that ‘the kingdom of heaven has come near’, is at hand.

We might ask, as we prepare to welcome a new Rector to Stony Stratford next month, whether we are preparing too to welcome back once regular worshippers, churchgoers and parishioners. But we might also ask whether we are ready to delight in meeting strangers in our midst and bringing them into our tent, to share the kindness, friendship and hospitality found within. For the kingdom of God is at hand.

I find myself thinking about a well-known prayer by Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711):

O God, make the door of this house
wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship,
and a heavenly Father’s care;
and narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and hate.
Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling block to children,
nor to straying feet,
but rugged enough to turn back the tempter’s power:
make it a gateway to thine eternal kingdom.

The Twelve Apostles … an icon in the Cathedral in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 14 June 2026, Trinity II):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 14 to 20 June 2026 (pp 10-11), is ‘Rooted in Compassion’. This theme is introduced today with a reflection from the Ven Titus Oluwalusi, the Anglican Chaplain at Saint John’s Church in Casablanca, Morocco:

To mark Refugee Week, we turn to Morocco, where the Venerable Titus Oluwalusi ministers to a diverse congregation from more than 20 countries. Many are migrants from sub-Saharan Africa or temporary residents, navigating life in a new and often challenging environment.

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus teaches us about love for our neighbours. The story shows that the root of love is compassion. True compassion goes beyond mere sympathy; it combines heartfelt concern with action. Mercy has no measure and requires no qualification. The Samaritan crossed boundaries to meet human need.

Jesus saw the crowds and was filled with compassion for them. He healed the sick and cared for those who were like sheep without a shepherd. He calls all of us to follow His example of compassion, outreach, and missionary care.

In Casablanca, many people are transient, isolated, or navigating new lives far from home. Here, every opportunity to care, disciple, and provide pastoral support is vital, helping people remain grounded in faith and connected to a supportive community.

There is always a chance to be kind. If we miss it, others may not. For the sake of the lost and for the glory of God, we need hearts full of compassion. To grow in love, we must first grow in compassion. A compassionate person will be more useful in God’s hand than a gifted one who lacks it.

The USPG prayer diary today (Sunday 14 June 2026, Trinity II) invites us to pray:

Read and meditate on Colossians 3: 12: As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

The Collect of the Day:

Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Figures of the 12 Apostles surround the 16th century tomb of a knight and lady in the churchyard at Saint Mary’s Church, Thurles, Co Tipperary (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 Apostles and Evangelists in two sets of icons in the tiny Church of the Twelve Apostles on the island of Gramvousa off the north-west coast of Crete (Photographs: Patrick Comerford; click on images for full-screen view)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 33, Tuesday 9 June 2026

‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste how can its saltiness be restored?’ (Matthew 5: 13) … ‘Sal Sapit Omnia’ (‘Salt Savours All’), the motto of the Worshipful Company of Salters at the former gates of Salters’ Hall in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the First Sunday after Trinity (Trinity I, 7 June 2026).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remember Saint Columba (597), Abbot of Iona, Missionary, and Saint Ephrem of Syria (373), Deacon, Hymn Writer, Teacher of the Faith. 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.

‘But if salt has lost its taste how can its saltiness be restored?’ (Matthew 5: 13) … salt on a café table in Cobh, Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 5: 13-16 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 13 ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

14 ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.’

‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden’ (Matthew 5: 14) … the lights of the Monastery of Serra do Pilar in Vila Nova de Gaia above Luiz I Bridge, the River Tagus and the city of Porto (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 5: 13-16) continues a series of weekday readings from the Sermon on the Mount that began with the Beatitudes yesterday. The scene opens with Christ leaving the crowds and climbing up the mountain, like Moses in the Book Exodus leaving the crowd behind him, and climbing Mount Sinai. In the Sermon on the Mount in Chapters 5 to 7, Saint Matthew presents us with a covenant renewal document.

The images of salt and light as explanations of true discipleship and true religion offer interesting illustrations of what true religion is.

In today’s reading, Christ uses two metaphors to show the disciples the essential qualities of being his followers.

The disciples are to be ‘the salt of the earth’ (verse 13). In reality, despite what is said here, salt does not easily lose its taste. However, in Judaism, salt symbolised purity and wisdom and was used to season incense and offerings to God in the Temple. Should it become ritually unclean, it had to be thrown out and was no longer to be used by the worshipping community or in its liturgies. Similarly, if Christians lose their faith they are no longer part of the worshipping community and its liturgy, and may as well be discarded or thrown out.

Roman soldiers were given salt rations and this sal is the origin of the word ‘salary.’ A soldier failing in battle or falling asleep at his post was ‘not worth his salt.’

The disciples are to be ‘the light of the world’ (verses 14-16). They are to stand out, like a city on a hill, and to lead others to Christ, who is a light to the Gentiles (see Luke 2: 32) and the true Light of the World (see John 8: 12).

As people of faith, let us be worth our salt; let us never lose our taste for justice, let our light shine before others, so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven.

‘No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket’ (Matthew 5: 15) … candles in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Rethymnon on the Greek island of Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 9 June 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 7 to 13 June 2026 (pp 8-9), is ‘Safe Churches in Zambia’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from Fran Mate, Senior Regional Manager for Africa, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Tuesday 9 June 2026) invites us to pray:

God of hope, bless the knowledge being shared across the Church in Zambia. Raise up a new generation committed to safeguarding, justice, and faithful witness.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who filled the heart of Columba
with the joy of the Holy Spirit
and with deep love for those in his care:
may your pilgrim people follow him,
strong in faith, sustained by hope,
and one in the love that binds us to you;
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:

Holy Father,
who gathered us here around the table of your Son
to share this meal with the whole household of God:
in that new world where you reveal
the fullness of your peace,
gather people of every race and language
to share with Columba and all your saints
in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5: 16) … light lights up the parish church in Laytown, Co Meath, in the darkness (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

‘Silence seems to us to to be the worst thing we can do on these issues’

Antifa graffiti in the narrow streets of Rethymnon … the people of Crete have been marking the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Crete and the struggle against fascism (Photographs: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

There have been two important anniversaries over the past week or two: the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Crete in 1941, and the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings in 1944.

Both recall the sacrifices made by so many. It is important remember that both the D-Day landings and the Battle of Crete were key landmarks in the struggle against the anti-democratic, far-right racism that had enslaved most of Europe and that by 1944 threatened too to engulf or overwhelm Britain which had not yet been invaded by the forces of fascism.

The D-Day landings marked the beginning of the end of fascism, for that generation. As the far-right tries to stir up hatred against people fleeing in small boats across the Channel, victimising vulnerable people who are seeking sanctuary from oppression, at home, I remind myself that 82 years ago a flotilla of boats in the Channel on D-Day marked the turning of the tide against racism and the far-right across Europe.

But victory is only of the day, at best of the generation. The anti-democratic and racist far-right must be named, shamed, and stopped once again. The collaborators with fascism in Britain in the 1930s, Oswald Moseley and his blackshirt thugs, were humiliated at the Battle of Cable Street 90 years ago in 1936, but they still had to be locked away for the duration of World War II.

Meanwhile, in the small and petty minds of JD Vance and Pete Hegseth, Europe is under siege, civilisation is collapsing, western values are in retreat, migration is threatening social cohesion, and the future of Europe hangs in the balance.

Pete Hegseth, who wants us all to call the US Defence Department the US War Department, tried during the weekend to warp and twist the meaning and significance of the D-Day landings and to hijack the anniversary for his own twisted and warped political agenda.

It is bewildering that this critique of life in Europe is being advanced by senior politicians from the US, where thousands of children die from gun violence every year, where mass shootings have become routine, where political polarisation is actively encouraged by the regime, and where trust in the institutions of democracy and justice continue to vaporise.

Who gave Pete Hegseth or JD Vance the right to lecture anyone or anywhere in Europe about justice, about human rights, about the risks and dangers of war, about core values and social cohesion?

My grandfather fought in the Gallipoli landings during World War I, and was then sent to Thessaloniki and the Balkan front. He caught malaria, was sent home in 1916, and my father was conceived soon after. But the malaria he caught in northern Greece was incurable, and he died a lonely and frightening death on 21 January 1921, soon after my father’s second birthday, leaving my widowed grandmother and four sons and two daughters.

Ireland was neutral during World War II, as were most European countries until they were invaded. But my father spent much of that war in a cavalry intelligence unit in the reserve army (LDF). He would later recall that when German military personnel, Nazi agents or spies were caught in Ireland, they were sent to prison camps where they spent the rest of the war; when his unit met Irish personnel who were in the British or allied forces and who were on leave for family visits, they ensured they had the fare to return to their units or their bases.

It was clear to my father whose side Ireland was neutral in favour of. He later rejoiced in the acclamation for one of his childhood friends, the journalist and writer Cornelius Ryan (1920-1974), known for his award-winning book The Longest Day: 6 June 1944 D-Day (1959), which was turned into the 1962 film The Longest Day. Both men were in their teens when they visited Rome a few years before World War II began and were shocked then by what they saw of fascism in Mussolini’s Italy.

In their own way, men like these passed on to my generation an acute awareness of the horrors and the sacrifices entailed in war, and an appreciation for others in their generation who risked their lives to save European civilisation from fascism and Nazism. In the previous generation, my grandfather had learned and experienced the horrors of war in Turkey and Greece.

The war graves at Suda Bay near Chania … a reminder of the Battle of Crete and the consequences of dangerous ideologies (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In a posting last year I recalled the names of the dead from World War II from the extended Comerford families that I have found recorded on memorials and graves by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The 19 members of this extended family I have found to date on Commonwealth War Graves include soldiers in the D-Day landings, merchant seamen torpedoed in Atlantic convoys, brothers and sisters, and prisoners of war of the Japanese in Borneo, Burma (Myanmar), Hong Kong and Japan.

They are buried or commemorated in the Phaleron War Cemetery near Athens, in Normandy, Hong Kong, Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery and the Rangoon Memorial in Burma (Myanmar), Yokohama War Cemetery in Japan, and the Labuan Memorial on Labuan Island off the coast of Sabah in Borneo, Malaysia.

Thomas Matthew Commerford, a trooper, Royal Armoured Corps, 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, was 36 when he died on 19 August 1944 after the Normandy Landings. He is named in Banneville-la-Campagne War Cemetery and left a widow in Sunbury.

In Europe, we do not need lessons on the consequences of dangerous ideologies. An entire generation was buried after World War I, millions more were buried after World War II. The Holocaust was a European experience, not confined or limited to one country. The Cold War was a European experience that lasted for half a century after World War II.

We have cemeteries, war graves and Holocaust memorials across the entire continent because of wars and because of war-mongers and extreme political ideologies. When Pete Hegseth and JD Vance warn Europe about ideological invasions, we know where the threat comes from today.

In Europe at the weekend we were reminded that are now exposed to a dangerous foreign ideology, one obsessed with culture wars, one that sees compromise as weakness, one that turns every disagreement into an existential battle, one that relies on fear and outrage and creates phantom enemies rather than developing political strategies and government programmes to meet the real needs of real people.

And just as Oswald Moseley became the mouthpiece for Hitler and Mussolini on the streets of Britain in the 1930s, Farage and Lowe have become mouthpieces for the Oval Office 90 years later, the hand-picked voices for Elon Muck, stirring up the baying mobs on the streets and in the towns of Britain.

In his weekend rant, Hegseth claimed: ‘Beaches in Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion, or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not.’ Who was praying to? What does he truly believe in?

My grandfather suffered on the beaches of Gallipoli and in the Bay of Thessaloniki as a victim of ideological war mongering 110 years ago.

The people of Crete still remember 85 years later the consequences of invasions engineered and directed by far-right regimes.

The threat of invasion across Europe today comes not from the frightened families on small boats crossing the Channel or arriving on beaches in southern Europe, or from huddled families crossing borders in the dead of night. The threat to Europe comes today in social media, cable television, political influencers and visiting politicians and moguls who pretend they are the guardians of western civilisation.

When Vance ignores the wishes of Henry Nowak’s families and lectures people here about protecting children and preserving civilisation, I cannot but realise the irony in all of this considering how thousands of children and teenagers are killed in gun violence in the US every year. When he repeats the prattling of Farage and Lowe about ‘two-tier’ policing, I cannot but realise the irony as I recall how ICE kills protesters on the streets of the US without any consideration of due process or accountability and ponder how a pompous president plots to use public funds to reward the rioters who stormed the Capitol violently on 6 January 2021. One of those rioters, Elias Irizarry, has even been given a key security role in Hegseth’s Pentagon.

Democracy survives not through fear but through restraint, not through outrage but through institutions that guarantee justice, not through cultural wars but through coexistence. My grandfather who landed on the Gallipoli beaches and went on to catch malaria in Thessaloniki, those who died in the trenches of the Somme, the brave but frightened boatloads who crossed the Channel to the beaches of Normandy, those buried in mass graves across Europe, each and very one of them continues to remind the rest of us of what happens when politics becomes a crusade and opponents become enemies.

The Nazi spies my father helped to track down and put away for the duration of World War II in supposedly neutral Ireland were searching for collaborators and potential provocateurs among people whose political heirs and descendants today are in the parties led by Farage and Lowe.

Hegseth’s rambling rant at the weekend in Normandy was described by the historian Simon Schema as a ‘special kind of loathsomeness: a blend of historical deafness, grotesque stupidity and comically ludicrous self-importance. As if the little people’s rage immigration is somehow superior to to the war against the Third Reich and entitles this comic-book nobody to lecture the actual heroes.’ One local resident Colleville-sur-Mer is quoted in The Guardian today as saying: ‘The words must be spoken, he must be called out for who he is, for the values he represents: colonial, warmongering, racist, far-right values. Silence seems to us to be the worst thing we can do on these issues.’

Anti-Nazi graffiti on the streets of Exarchia in Athens … Europe needs no lessons from Washington on the dangers of extreme ideologies and invasions (Photographs: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in the Ordinary Time 2026: 30, Saturday 6 June 2026

‘He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury’ (Mark 12: 41) … the Treasury at Delphi (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the First Sunday after Trinity (7 June 2026). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Ini Kopuria (1945), Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood.

Stony Live 2026, Stony Stratford’s Festival of music, dance, recitals, readings and the arts, begins today (6 June 2026) and continues until next Friday (14 June 2026), and today’s events include live music and dance on the streets. Also today, Το Στεκι Μας, Our Place, the pop-up Greek café that opens every first Saturday of the month, is open from 10:30 am and 3 pm. in the Swinfen Harris Church Hall beside the Greek Orthodox Church on London Road, Stony Stratford. 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.

‘A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny’ (Mark 12: 42) … small coins for sale in an antique shop in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 12: 38-44 (NRSVA):

38 As he taught, he said, ‘Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! 40 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.’

41 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’

A two lepta coin issued in Greece in 1857 … the widow’s two lepta were the smallest coins in the Mediterranean world

Today’s reflections:

There is a saying in the US that refers to something as rare or as odd as a $2 bill – although that saying may change if Donald Trump pursues his vanity project of printing $250 dollar notes with his own image on them.

$2 bills or notes actually exist, but their scarcity means many people are not aware they are still being printed and in circulation. This has inspired several urban legends and misinformation about $2 bills and people often find it difficult if not impossible to spend them.

Some shops and businesses are unfamiliar with $2 bills and question their validity or authenticity. Significant numbers of the notes are removed from circulation and collected by people who believe $2 bills are scarcer and more valuable than they actually are.

In the mid-20th century, $2 bills acquired a negative reputation as it was said they were widely used for betting at horse races, tips at strip clubs, and for bribery when politicians were seeking votes. For most of their history, $2 notes have been unpopular, and are seen as unlucky or awkward to spend. $2 notes were often returned to the Treasury with corners torn off, making them mutilated currency and unfit for reissue.

So, during my brief visits to Singapore I was curious to find a $2 note is in common circulation there and the most common small note in general use.

In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Mark 12: 38-44), the poor widow at the Treasury in the Temple donates not a $2 dollar bill but two small copper coins, two lepta. Saint Mark’s Gospel says these two small copper coins are worth a κοδράντης (kodrantes), the smallest Roman brass coin, rendered as a penny in the NRSV translations and a farthing in the KJV (Mark 12: 41-44). It was also equal to one-sixty-fourth of a denarius, which was considered a fair day’s wage.

This poor widow arriving at the Treasury in the Temple would have had nothing of her own. All her husband’s (husbands’) wealth has gone to her husband’s (husbands’) family. Without children, she is left with no visible means of support.

All she has are two of the smallest coins known in the Mediterranean basin – two lepta in Greece are worth only two cent. Until recently there were 100 lepta to the drachma, and until the drachma was withdrawn from circulation there were 370 drachmés to the Euro.

At any time in history, the two lepta coins she had were worthless. But they are all she has. She has little to live for, and she has little to live on. Yet all she has to live on she offers to God. Christ-like, she gives up everything.

In the Kingdom of God, there will be neither lost lepta nor squandered zillions, neither high priests nor widows. All that will matter is whether we have lived our lives as lives that point to the Kingdom of God.

The wealth of the Sadducees, like their faith, died at death. The wealth of the woman, like her faith, multiplied beyond calculation in the Kingdom of God.

Generosity, as in this reading, must always be freely given, but should never be sought.

When it is sought, it becomes coercive, and can never be properly measured.

When it is freely given, it can never be measured but always becomes a sign, a real expression not just of the generosity of the giver, but of the faith of the giver. And then, God becomes the true giver, and the true receiver.

$2 bills are the smallest banknotes in general circulation in Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 6 June 2026):

A new edition of Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), was published last week, in time for the USPG conference in the High Leigh, Hertfordshire, which took place from Tuesday to Thursday (2-4 June). The theme this week, from 31 May to 6 June 2026 (pp 6-7), has been ‘Peacebuilding in the Gulf’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a reflection from Saint Christopher’s Cathedral in Bahrain.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 6 June 2026) invites us to pray:

God of light, may your Church continue to bear witness through prayer, presence, and care, showing that even in danger, hope endures. Help us, too, to be the ‘salt of the earth’ and the ‘light of Christ’ (Matthew 5: 13-14) in our daily lives.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
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 and eternal God,
you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
and live and reign in the perfect unity of love:
hold us firm in this faith,
that we may know you in all your ways
and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory,
who are three Persons yet one God,
now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Holy God,
faithful and unchanging:
enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,
and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,
that we may truly worship you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity I:

O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Old 1, 5 and 10 lepta postage stamps from Greece … the widow’s two lepta were the smallest coins in the Mediterranean world

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 27, Wednesday 3 June 2026

The Seven Brothers Taverna at a corner in the old Venetian harbour in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Since the 50-day season of Easter came to an end with the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday (24 May 2026), we have returned to Ordinary Time once again. This week began with Trinity Sunday (31 May 2026), and tomorrow is the Feast of Corpus Christi (4 June 2026). But the liturgical colour today remains the Green of Ordinary Time, and today the calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship recalls the Martyrs of Uganda (1885-1887, 1977).

Later today (3 June 2026), I hope to take part in the choir rehearsals 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.

A sign at the Seven Brothers Taverna in the old Venetian harbour in Rethymnon, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 12: 18-27 (NRSVA):

18 Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, saying, 19 ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; 21 and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; 22 none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died. 23 In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her.’

24 Jesus said to them, ‘Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? 27 He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.’

The old Venetian harbour in Rethymnon, with the Seven Brothers Taverna to the left (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s reflections:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist in the lectionary today (Mark 12: 18-27) offers an opportunity to reflect both on how we treat the marginalised today and how we how we imagine heavenly life.

This account is set in the Temple in Jerusalem in Holy Week, on the day after Christ has overturned the tables of the moneychangers. There, as were read yesterday (Mark 12: 13-17), Christ is challenged by both the Pharisees and the Herodians, the people who supported Herod, the Roman puppet king, when they put to him was one of great questions at the time: should religious and pious Jews pay taxes to Rome?

Next, along come the Sadducees, who said there is no resurrection, but come with contorted questions about the afterlife.

When I read this passage, I also think of an old Hollywood musical, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), starring Jane Powell and Howard Keel, of the many superstitions about the seventh son of a seventh son, and even about a restaurant I know in the old Venetian harbour in Rethymnon in Crete called ‘The Seven Brothers’ (Τα Επτά Αδέρφια).

But this reading about seven brothers and one bride is primarily a story about questions about the resurrection (for parallel readings see also Matthew 22: 23-33; Luke 20: 27-40).

After his arrival in Jerusalem, Christ is in the Temple each day, teaching kingdom values. But his teaching is ignored by those who see him as a threat to their power and their privilege, by those who want to get rid of him at any cost … without realising that their choice, their actions, are part of the climax that ushers in Christ’s reign.

As an example of his kingdom values, his rejection of the either-or options, the black-or-white, the take-it-or-leave-it values of the world, Christ refuses to enter the debate about paying Temple taxes with imperial Roman coins (Mark 12: 13-17).

So another trap is set – this time by the Sadducees, the Temple priests. They held that only the first five books of the Bible, the Torah or the Pentateuch, were authoritative. They had very traditional views of the Law and rejected what they saw as the novel idea of life after death. They saw it as a dangerous innovation, an importation from the Babylonian exile, a Persian idea adapted by the Pharisees. The more traditional view accepted that people were rewarded or punished by God in this life.

So, seeking to trap Jesus into speaking against the Law, they pose this puzzle about a woman who ends up marrying seven brothers, each of whom dies in turn. In the new life, whose wife will she be?

The apostles later have a similar encounter with the Sadducees when they are preaching the Resurrection (see also Acts 4: 1-4), as does the Apostle Paul when he faces the council (Acts 23: 6-10).

This question about ‘levirate’ marriage is not about the marriage of Levites, but comes from the Latin word levir, meaning a brother-in-law. There was a sense in which a man was seen to live on in his son. So, if a man died without sons and heirs, his brother was required to marry his widow and give her a son, thus continuing the family line (see Deuteronomy 25: 5-10; see also Genesis 38: 8).

Saint Mark makes the same point that human relations in the home do not exist in the same way beyond death. Christ distinguishes two ages and kinds of existence. Mortals are part of this age by the very fact of our physical birth, and of the age to come by resurrection (see also Romans 1: 4).

Christ argues for life after death, and for the resurrection, from the Pentateuch, the very five books to which the Sadducees limited their understanding of what is Scripture. In the story of the Burning Bush, God tells Moses: ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ (verse 26; see Exodus 3: 6). Because God says he is (not was), Abraham is alive now. He died, so he must have been brought back to life, resurrected. God is truly ‘God … of the living’ (verse 27). God is not frustrated by physical death.

What happens afterwards?

According to Saint Luke’s version, some scribes, who are believers in resurrection, are pleased with Jesus’ argument. The Sadducees ‘no longer dared to ask him [Christ] another question’. Christ has evaded the trap that was set for him. What does this say about how we should deal with those who question and challenge the Christian faith?

This reading also poses some pastoral questions for the practice of pastoral ministry in parish life. In all the discussion, no-one refers to the right of the woman to her own integrity, her own inherent or intrinsic value, her own right to eternal life with equality in the eyes of God.

The woman who was married off to seven brothers never made herself the victim, never chose her own misfortune. She is an object, a chattel, perhaps merely a trafficked sex slave, in the eyes of the interlocutors. But for Christ, she is to be seen as a child of God.

In those days it was never a woman’s choice to be a widow or, for that matter, to be divorced. At the time, women could often only acquiesce to what their husbands wanted to do.

What response to this reading might we expect from people in a parish who are widowed or divorced, or in difficult or broken marriages, or people who have never married?

A sign at the Seven Brothers Taverna in the old Venetian harbour in Rethymnon on Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 3 June 2026):

A new edition of Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), was published last week, in time for the USPG conference in the High Leigh, Hertfordshire, which opened yesterday (2 June) and continues until tomorrow (4 June). The theme this week, from 31 May to 6 June 2026 (pp 6-7), is ‘Peacebuilding in the Gulf’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection from Saint Christopher’s Cathedral in Bahrain.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 3 June 2026) invites us to pray:

God of hope, sustain Anglican churches across the Gulf, from the UAE to Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar and elsewhere, as they navigate daily anxieties and dangers. May the rhythms of prayer, the hope found in Scripture, and fellowship with one another anchor them in your presence.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
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:

Gracious God, lover of all,
in this sacrament
we are one family in Christ your Son,
one in the sharing of his body and blood
and one in the communion of his Spirit:
help us to grow in love for one another
and come to the full maturity of the Body of Christ.
We make our prayer through your Son our Saviour.

Additional Collect:

Holy God,
faithful and unchanging:
enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,
and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,
that we may truly worship you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Collect on the Eve of Corpus Christi:

Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament
you have given us the memorial of your passion:
grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries
of your body and blood
that we may know within ourselves
and show forth in our lives
the fruits of your redemption;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The sign at the Seven Brothers family taverna at the old Venetian harbour in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 26, Tuesday 2 June 2026

Christ Pantocrator … a fragment from a 13th century mural in a museum in Iraklion in Crete … where do we see the face of Christ? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Since the 50-day season of Easter came to an end with the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday (24 May 2026), we have returned to Ordinary Time once again. This week began with Trinity Sunday (31 May 2026) and the Feast of the Presentation (transferred this year from 31 May to 1 June yesterday), but the liturgical colours once return today to the Green of Ordinary Time today (2 June 2026). Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The denarius with the image of Caesar represented a day’s labour … Roman coins in a private collection in Callan, Co Kilkenny (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 12: 13-17 (NSRVA):

13 Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. 14 And they came and said to him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? 15 Should we pay them, or should we not?’ But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, ‘Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.’ 16 And they brought one. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ 17 Jesus said to them, ‘Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ And they were utterly amazed at him.

Christ the Pantocrator depicted in church domes in Rethymnon, Panormos and Iraklion in Crete (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Reflections:

This morning’s Gospel reading (Mark 12: 13-17 ) challenges us to ask where we see the face of God. When Christ asks whose face is on the coin presented to him, he may also be challenging us to consider where we too see the face of God, or which gods we see and fashion te replace the one and true God.

This account is set in the Temple in Jerusalem in Holy Week, on the day after Christ has overturned the tables of the moneychangers.

The moneychangers were in the Temple because Roman coins had images, such as the image of Caesar, who called himself ‘lord’ and ‘divine’ when those titles truly belong to God alone, and ‘priest’ when that title challenges the ritual purity of the Temple. Today's analogiy might be finding Donald Trump's image on a $250 banknote, realising how he has posted memes of himself in role of Christ and made golden statues of himself, and then asking whether it was appropriate or acceptable such a $250 banknote on the collection plate in a church on Sunday morning.

Images like those were forbidden in the Temple, and so coins had to be changed outside by the moneychangers. In the Temple, Christ is challenged by both the Pharisees and the Herodians, the people who supported Herod, the Roman puppet king.

The question they put to him was one of great debates at the time: should religious and pious Jews pay taxes to Rome?

Jewish opinion was divided on this question. But the question put to Christ is also loaded with presuppositions, with built-in fallacies and false dichotomies, like the sort of question all lawyers know not to ask in court: ‘When did you stop beating your wife?’

The question allows only one of two answers, ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. But it is only a question about law. It does not ask, for example, whether it is moral to pay those taxes, or, indeed, whether it is folly not to pay those taxes.

If Christ answers ‘Yes’, those who are hostile to Roman rule are going to turn against him. But if he says ‘No’, he risks arrest for inciting rebellion.

The coin they present is a denarius, a day’s pay for workers and Roman troops. It is the ‘D’ that gives us the ‘D’ in the old formulaic £SD for British coinages. The denarius was a silver coin and the most common Roman coin of the time, and it is mentioned in the Bible more often than any other coin.

Having looked at the head on the denarius, Christ then looks at the inscription.

The obverse of the denarius of Tiberius carries an image of Tiberius with a laurel crown and lettering around it that proclaims ‘Tiberius Caesar, the Divine Augustus, Son of Augustus’ (Ti Caesar Divi Avg F Avgvstvs).

The reverse side depicts a seated woman as Pax. This was Livia Drusilia, the mother of Tiberius. She died in AD 29 and was later deified by her grandson Claudius with the title Diva Augusta. On the coin, Diva Augusta holds a palm branch and an inverted spear in her hands, and the inscription on this side refers to Tiberius as Pontif[ex] Maxim[us] or the ‘High Priest’ of Rome.

Christ does not even get around to flipping over the coin to read the inscription referring to Caesar as the High Priest. But both inscriptions are affronts to people who worship the one true God. This coin should never have been in the hands of anyone who has entered the Temple.

Yet, when Christ asks his inquisitors to produce a denarius in the Temple, they do so immediately. In other words, they themselves have already carried an image of Caesar and Diva Augusta, with those blasphemous inscriptions, into the Temple.

It is the Passover, and Jerusalem is filled with pilgrims who have arrived to remember and celebrate God’s liberation of their ancestors from slavery under foreign rulers.

At Passover, parallels might have been drawn between Tiberius and Pharaoh. Tiberius was a tyrant in his own right. He was Roman Emperor from AD 14 to AD 37, and spent most of the latter years of his reign in the Villa Jovis on the island of Capri.

While he was in Capri, rumours abounded about his lifestyle. There were lurid tales and graphic depictions of sexual perversion, capricious cruelty, and most of all his paranoia. Those who challenged his power or divinity were often thrown off the cliffs at the Villa Jovis onto the rocks below and into the sea.

If Christ says paying taxes to Caesar is wrong, he risks provoking immediate arrest by the Romans. If he says paying taxes to Rome is right, those who question him are ready to accuse him of betraying their faith and beliefs as the people recall their liberation from slavery and oppression.

But Christ trips up those who question him by showing that they are bearing proclamations of Caesar’s lordship and high priesthood into the very Temple of the very God they claim to be serving with ritual purity.

The obvious questions here are not about what is lawful, or even what is moral or wise, but: who is the divine son, and who is the great high priest?

Christ has won the argument. He has unmasked his critics; there is no need for any further argument, there is no need to say anything more; there is no need to answer the question.

Yet, he answers the question anyway: ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’

So what in this world is God’s?

When it comes to any worldly power that demands to be our lord – whether it is a US president, a figurehead, or a flag that ought to be a sacred symbol but has been abused for political and racist purposes by the far-right up and down this land – the exclusive claims of some nation-state nationalism or some self-obsessed head of state demanding unquestioning loyalty, these are places reserved for the Lord God alone.

And if we seek to see the face of God, we should not be looking at the faces of the despots and rulers of the world who stir up fanaticism, or at ill-gotten accumulated wealth.

We simply need to look for the face of Christ. And we meet Christ face-to-face both in word and sacrament, and when we truly love God and love one another.

Beneath the Villa Jovis in Capri, where the Emperor Tiberius threw his enemies off the cliff-top into the sea (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 2 June 2026):

A new edition of Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), was published last week, in time for the USPG conference in the High Leigh, Hertfordshire, which opens today (2 June) and continues until Thursday (4 June). The theme this week, from 31 May to 6 June 2026 (pp 6-7) is ‘Peacebuilding in the Gulf’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection from Saint Christopher’s Cathedral in Bahrain.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 2 June 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord God, we thank you for your grace as the USPG Annual Conference takes place at High Leigh this week. May all taking part be guided by your Spirit as we reflect on the theme of the Church as an agent of peace.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
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:

Gracious God, lover of all,
in this sacrament
we are one family in Christ your Son,
one in the sharing of his body and blood
and one in the communion of his Spirit:
help us to grow in love for one another
and come to the full maturity of the Body of Christ.
We make our prayer through your Son our Saviour.

Additional Collect:

Holy God,
faithful and unchanging:
enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,
and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,
that we may truly worship you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

An icon of Christ the Great High Priest, in a shop window in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 22, Friday 29 May 2026

‘He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves’ (Mark 11: 15) … abandoned tables and furniture at an abandoned house in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 50-day season of Easter, which began on Easter Day (5 April 2026), came to an end on Sunday with the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday (24 May 2026), and in the Church Calendar we have been back in Ordinary Time since Monday.

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

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The Cleansing of the Temple, Giotto, the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 11: 11-25 (NRSVA):

11 Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard it.

15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written,

“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”?
But you have made it a den of robbers.’

18 And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 19 And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.’ 22 Jesus answered them, ‘Have faith in God. 23 Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea”, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

25 ‘Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.’

‘Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it’ (Mark 11: 13) … a fig tree in Platanias near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

If I had the space and the soil, the patience and the time, the two trees I would like to try to grow are an olive tree and a fig tree.

They are signs of life and God’s blessings in creation, of life and of continuity in life. There is a very large fig tree off the High Street in Stony Stratford and small potted olive trees outside some of the restaurants in Milton Keynes. Fig trees and olive trees at any time of the year also bring back warm memories of Greece.

But during a visit to Saint Mary’s Church, Watford, last year I heard the story of one of the most unusual fig trees in an English churchyard.

The churchyard has 13 prominent tombs, including the Fig Tree Tomb, once a popular tourist attraction in Victorian Watford. Local lore says the person buried there was an atheist who had asked that something be buried in the tomb that could germinate if there was life after death. If there was a God, this would grow and burst the tomb to prove to his family that his soul was alive. If not, then nothing would happen and he would be proved correct.

The existence of God was said to have been proven when a fig tree sprouted up from the tomb and dislodged the lid. The strange sight drew visitors to the graveyard in large numbers, who came to hear the story and left taking a twig from the tree as a souvenir.

Whoever was buried in the tomb must have come from a wealthy family as the tomb is of Portland stone with an elaborate design, and the slate panel once had crisp carving with the name and details of the dead person. It is unlikely though that an atheist would have been given such an impressive tomb so close to the church. But, the slate panel is eroded, the inscription is no longer legible, and the details of the legend are impossible to verify.

Yet details in the story were embellished as the story of the Fig Tree grew, attracting visitors in ever-increasing numbers. Henry Williams, in his History of Watford (1884), described the fig tree growing through the tomb and how each year it ‘exhibits considerable luxuriance and sometimes produces figs.’ He said the fig tree had ‘probably grown there for close upon 100 years’, dating it to the 1790s or even the 1780s.

Williams described hundreds of people visiting the churchyard, many making long excursions to see the fig tree and taking home a leaf or small branch. However, he said that when the tomb was opened it was found that the root of the tree was four or five feet above where the dead man’s head must have been. Some tendrils had become attached to the bottom of the vault and this was said to explain the luxuriant growth of the fig tree.

Yet another theory suggests the seed of the fig tree could have been accidentally thrown into the tomb by the Revd the Hon William Robert Capel (1775-1854), Vicar of Saint Mary’s (1799-1855) and a son of William Anne Capell (1743-1799), 4th Earl of Essex. The vicar grew fig trees and had a taste for eating figs as he walked to church, spitting out the pips along his way from the vicarage.

Sadly, the Fig Tree itself died in 1963 after a long and cold winter, though some writers suggest it was helped on its way by local officials who thought it was in the way. The fig tree may be long gone, but the legend and the tomb remain with several versions of the story.

In this morning’s Gospel reading, Saint Mark uses an intentional ‘sandwich’ technique, wrapping the story of the cleansing of the Temple within the narrative of the withering fig tree (Mark 11: 12-14, 20-21).

The fig tree represents the religious leadership of the day: it has the appearance of bearing fruit, but upon closer inspection, it is barren. The cleansing of the Temple serves as an acted-out parable. The Temple has become a place of exclusion, extortion, and superficiality rather than a house of prayer for all nations.

The fate of the fig tree in this morning’s reading is in sharp contrast to the fate of the fig tree in a parable in Saint Luke’s Gospel (Luke 13: 6-9). In that parable, it seems to make logical, economic and financial sense for the owner to want to chop down the fig tree that is bearing no fruit – after all, not only is it taking up space, but it also costs in terms of time, tending, feeding, caring and nurturing. The owner knows what it is to make a quick profit, and if the quick profit is not coming soon enough he wants to cut his losses.

It takes much tender care and many years – at least three years – for a fig tree to bear fruit. Fig trees are planted in vineyards to shelter the weaker vines. An old and elegant fig tree is a common site in many Mediterranean vineyards and has its own intrinsic value. It may even have vines wrapped around it, bearing their own fruit, which are a generous bonus, beyond the purpose of planting the tree.

Even if a fig tree bears early fruit, the Mosaic Law said it could not be harvested for three years, and the fruit gathered in the fourth year was going to offered as the first fruits. Only in the fifth year, then, could the fruit be eaten. So, if Saint Luke’s fig tree was chopped down, and another put its place, it would take longer still to get fruit that could be eaten or sold. In his quest for a ‘quick buck’, the owner of the vineyard shows little knowledge about the reality of economics.

The gardener, who has nothing at stake, turns out to be the one who not only has compassion, but has deep-seated wisdom too. The gardener, who is never going to benefit from the owner’s profits, can see the tree’s potential, is willing to let be and wait, knowing what the fig tree is today and what it can do in the future.

It takes much tender care and many years – at least three years – for a fig tree to bear fruit. And even then, in a vineyard, the figs are not a profit – they are a sweet bonus.

When a tree bears fruit, the Mosaic Law said it could not be harvested for three years, and the fruit gathered in the fourth year was to be offered as the first fruits. Only in the fifth year, then, could the fruit be eaten.

In Saint Luke’s parable of the fig tree, we are called on to wait, we are urged not to be too hasty to pass judgment on those who seem in our eyes to do nothing to improve their lot.

But I can decide where I place my trust – in the values that I think serve me but serve the rich, the powerful and the oppressor, or in the God who sees our plight, who hears our cry, and who comes in Christ to deliver us.

The destruction of the Temple’s corrupt system offers hope of the birth of a new way of accessing God. Christ connects the effectiveness of prayer directly to our capacity to forgive others. Right worship of God and right relationships with our neighbours are intrinsically intertwined. This passage is a challenge to us to ensure our own spiritual lives are bearing real fruit and that our churches and communities are places of grace and mercy rather than exclusion.

In the latter part of today’s reading (Mark 11: 22-26), our focus shifts to the nature of faith, prayer, and forgiveness. We are called on to wait, to not be too hasty in our judgment on others, and to be forgiving: ‘Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses’ (verse 25).

The ‘Fig Tree Tomb’ at Saint Mary’s Church, Watford … the fig tree – and the inscription – have long disappeared (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 29 May 2026):

This week in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), from 24 to 30 May 2026 (pp 58-59), the theme is ‘Carriers of the Flame’ and was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 29 May 2026) invites us to pray:

Bring justice and dignity to the oppressed and the forgotten, and guide USPG and its partners in our mission to uphold the worth of every person.

The Collect:

O Lord, from whom all good things come:
grant to us your humble servants,
that by your holy inspiration
we may think those things that are good,
and by your merciful guiding may perform the same;
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Gracious God, lover of all,
in this sacrament
we are one family in Christ your Son,
one in the sharing of his body and blood
and one in the communion of his Spirit:
help us to grow in love for one another
and come to the full maturity of the Body of Christ.
We make our prayer through your Son our Saviour.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

A fig tree in full bloom close to the ruins of Saint Mary Magdalene Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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