Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 72, Saturday 18 July 2026

The Prophet Isaiah depicted in the iconostasis in Arkadi Monastery in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VII, 19 July 2026). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Elizabeth Ferard (1825-1883), first deaconess in the Church of England and founder of the Community of Saint Andrew.

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.

‘He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break’ (Isaiah 42: 2-3; see Matthew 12: 19) … a boat among reeds on the banks of the River Shannon, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 12: 14-21 (NRSVA):

14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

15 When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, 16 and he ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

18 ‘Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
20 He will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smouldering wick
until he brings justice to victory.
21 And in his name the Gentiles will hope.’

The Prophet Isaiah (right) and Saint John the Baptist … a window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, near Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

As we continue our daily readings in Saint Matthew’s Gospel, we see how Jesus is becoming a figure of controversy. We saw yesterday how he was accused by Pharisees of condoning the disciples breaking the Sabbath on the part of his disciples (Matthew 12: 1-8). Immediately afterwards he went to a synagogue and, in spite of a challenge about healing on the Sabbath, he went ahead and cured a man with a ‘withered hand’ (Matthew 12: 9-13).

Following this, Matthew tells us that ‘the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him’ (Matthew 12: 14), because his is a severe threat to their authority.

Jesus, aware of this plotting, disappears from sight for a while. He does not go out of his way to confront people or to create trouble for himself and does not deliberately engineer his own suffering and death.

At this point, Saint Matthew compares Jesus’s behaviour with a Biblical and quotes a passage in Isaiah (42: 1-4) to portray Jesus as fulfilling of the Spirit of God campaigning for justice for peoples everywhere.

Second Isaiah, or Isaiah 40-55), often referred to as ‘Deutero-Isaiah’ or the Book of Consolation, was probably written during the Babylonian exile, between 540 and 515 BCE, offering comfort and hope to the exiled people. This section contains beautiful poetic passages, emphasising God’s mercy, faithfulness, and the promise of salvation. It foretells the coming of a ‘Suffering Servant’, the Messiah, who will bring salvation not only to Israel but to all nations.

This is the longest Old Testament citation in this gospel (verses 18-21), although it does not correspond exactly to either the Hebrew or the Septuagint reading of that passage.

Isaiah 42:1-4 describes God’s servant, chosen and empowered by God’s Spirit, who will bring justice to the nations. This servant will be gentle, not resorting to loud public displays, and will not extinguish even the smallest hope. He is going to establish justice on earth and be a light to the nations, guiding those in darkness:

1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

For Saint Matthew, Jesus is the servant whom God has chosen, ‘in whom my soul delights’. He is no demagogue and ‘will not cry out or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street’. Instead, he goes about quietly, tolerant and understanding of the weak, so gentle and kind in his behaviour that ‘a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.’

This reading, then, emphasises the meekness of Jesus, the Servant of the Lord, and foretells the extension of his mission to the Gentiles. His message, demanding thought it may be, does not crush people. Justice comes through compassion – like care for the bruised reed – not through the exercise of power and violence.

Christ will always intervene on behalf of the weak, and in a way that is sensitive to them, and that takes the limelight away from himself. His concern for justice will bring hope to all people.

In these days, we are so in need of this assurance that Christ will patiently bring justice to victory.

The Prophet Isaiah (left) and the Prophet Jeremiah (right) in a window in Saint Michael’s Church, Pery Square, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 18 July 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 12 to 18 July 2026 (pp 18-19), is ‘The Land of the Highlanders’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a reflection by the Most Revd Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church.

The USPG prayer diary today (Saturday 18 July 2026) invites us to pray

God, we hold before you the hope that the Highlands may once again be filled with Highlanders. Guide your Church to stand alongside its people and to trust in you.

The Collect of the Day:

Merciful God,
you have prepared for those who love you
such good things as pass our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love toward you
that we, loving you in all things and above all things,
may obtain your promises,
which exceed all that we can desire;
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:

God of our pilgrimage,
you have led us to the living water:
refresh and sustain us
as we go forward on our journey,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect

Creator God,
you made us all in your image:
may we discern you in all that we see,
and serve you in all that we do;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity VII:

Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
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

‘He will not break a bruised reed’ (Matthew 12: 20), ‘a bruised reed he will not break’ (Isaiah 42: 3) … reeds in the breeze on the River Shannon at Carrick-on-Shannon (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: 7, Monday 9 February 2026

‘When they got out of the boat, people at once recognised him’ (Mark 6: 54) … the Ilen, the last of Ireland’s traditional wooden sailing ships, at Foynes Harbour after sailing across the Shannon Estuary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent just over a week away (18 February 2026) and the week began yesterday with the Second Sunday before Lent (8 February 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, 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.

They ‘begged him that they might touch even the fringe his cloak’ (Mark 6: 56) … a choice of prayer shawls with fringes in the synagogue in Chania in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 6: 53-56 (NRSVA):

53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54 When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, 55 and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market-places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

‘When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat’ (Mark 6: 53) … a moored boat in the harbour in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Between now and Ash Wednesday (18 February 2026), we are in what the Church Calendar calls ‘Ordinary Time.’

Two striking emphases in Saint Mark’s Gospel are the stories of Christ healing about healing those on the margins and assuring those on the margins that they too are called into the Kingdom of God.

Those people on the margins include people who are seen as sinners, foreigners and unclean, especially women and children. The ways they are belittled is symbolised in our Gospel readings all last week:

• The healing of the ‘possessed’ man who lives among the tombs (Mark 5: 1-20, 2 February 2026, if the Presentation or Candlemas had been transferred to the day before);
• a dying girl who is only 12 years old and a woman unable to find help from doctors for 12 years (Mark 5: 21-43, 3 February 2026);
• Christ lays his hands on and curing sick people (Mark 6: 1-6, 4 February 2026);
• the disciples are sent out in all their vulnerability and poverty (Mark 6: 7-13, 5 February 2026);
• Herod’s fears and wicked response when he hears of these healings and miracles (Mark 6: 14-29, 8 February 2026);
• And then Jesus has compassion for the people who are neglected by their leaders and rulers (Mark 6: 30-34, 7 February 2026).

In today’s reading, Jesus seems to be trying to get away from all the demands and all the expectations that are being laid on his shoulders. The apostles have come back after being sent out two-by-two, and are telling him all they have done and all that has happened.

Now they need a break, and Jesus takes them on a boat and they head off to a quiet place. But there is no escaping the crowd, the people and their demands.

And they ‘bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was’. This happens wherever he goes – in villages and cities, farms and market places (Mark 6: 55-56). It is just enough for them to touch the fringe of his cloak and those who touch it are healed (verse 56).

What did they think they were doing by touching the ‘fringe of his cloak’?

This is not just an act of hope, hoping for healing, but an act of faith, claiming a place in the community of faith, reaching out for love.

Wearing a prayer shawl reminds the wearer and those who see this of all the 613 commandments in Jewish tradition, of the covenant with God.

In touching Christ’s cloak, the sick people are claiming their place at the heart of the community of faith. They are making Jesus ritually unclean, but those who touch him are healed. In touching Christ, they are ‘touched’ by God’s power, and Christ draws them into the Kingdom of God.

These people follow Jesus around everywhere. He has compassion on them because they are ‘like sheep without a shepherd.’ They need healing, not just in mind and body, but in their families and in their society, in political and religious society, in the economy and in the villages, cities, farms and marketplaces where they seek the healing that Christ offers.

Faith and healing come together.

These connections are made in a prayer or poem in the Service of the Heart, a prayer book I use regularly for my personal prayers and reflections. This poem or prayer ‘Lord God of test tube and blueprint’ is by Norman Corwin (1910-2011):

Lord God of test tube and blueprint,
Who jointed molecules of dust and shook them till their name was Adam,
Who taught worms and stars how they could live together,
Appear now among the parliaments of conquerors and give instruction to their schemes:
Measure out new liberties so none shall suffer from his father’s colour or the credo of his choice:
Post proofs that brotherhood is not so wild a dream as those who profit by postponing it pretend:
Sit at the treaty table and convoy the hopes of the little peoples through expected straits,
And press into the final seal a sign that peace will come for longer than posterities can see ahead,
That man unto his fellow man shall be a friend forever.

Norman Lewis Corwin once declared: ‘I believe in promise, just promise … any species that can weigh the very earth he’s standing on, that can receive and analyse light coming from a galaxy a billion light years distant from us, any species that can produce a Beethoven and a Mozart and a Shakespeare, and the extraordinary accomplishments of our species, scientifically and in medicine and in the humanities, there’s illimitable opportunity for promises to be delivered and met.’

I fell on the street in London around this time last year and ended up in the A&E unit in University College London Hospital with a bruised and swollen face, eye and lips. There I was acutely aware of how hospital staff, medical researchers, scientists, doctors, nurses, porters, and cheerful receptions are all working with the ‘Lord God of test tube and blueprint’ and offering hope and healing to people of faith and of none.

‘When they had crossed over, they … moored the boat’ (Mark 6: 53) … a moored boat on the shore of Canon Island, in the Shannon Estuary, near Kildysert, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 9 February 2026):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is: ‘Safe Routes’ (pp 26-27). This theme was introduced yesterday with a Programme Update by Bradon Muilenburg, Anglican Refugee Support Lead.



The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 9 February 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord, we pray for Bradon, his family, and all volunteers serving refugees. Strengthen each heart and mind with courage and compassion, guide every action with wisdom, and protect from harm and exhaustion while offering care to the most vulnerable.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,
now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God our creator,
by your gift
the tree of life was set at the heart of the earthly paradise,
and the bread of life at the heart of your Church:
may we who have been nourished at your table on earth
be transformed by the glory of the Saviour’s cross
and enjoy the delights of eternity;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Almighty God,
give us reverence for all creation
and respect for every person,
that we may mirror your likeness
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘When they had crossed over, they … moored the boat’ (Mark 6: 53) … a moored boat on the River Ouse in Old 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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 8, Monday 10 February 2025

‘When they got out of the boat, people at once recognised him’ (Mark 6: 54) … the Ilen, the last of Ireland’s traditional wooden sailing ships, at Foynes Harbour after sailing across the Shannon Estuary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent are a little more than three weeks away (5 March 2025) and the week began yesterday with the Fourth Sunday before Lent (9 February 2025).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Scholastica (ca 543), sister of Saint Benedict and Abbess of Plombariola. Later this evening, I intend to be at Evensong in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford. Before today begins, however, I am taking some quiet time 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.

They ‘begged him that they might touch even the fringe his cloak’ (Mark 6: 56) … a choice of prayer shawls with fringes in the synagogue in Chania in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 6: 53-56 (NRSVA):

53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54 When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, 55 and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market-places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

‘When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat’ (Mark 6: 53) … a moored boat in the harbour in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Between now and Ash Wednesday (5 March 2025), we are in what the Church Calendar calls ‘Ordinary Time.’

Two striking emphases in Saint Mark’s Gospel are the stories of Christ healing about healing those on the margins and assuring those on the margins that they too are called into the Kingdom of God.

Those people on the margins include people who are seen as sinners, foreigners and unclean, especially women and children. The ways they are belittled is symbolised in our Gospel readings all last week:

• The healing of the ‘possessed’ man who lives among the tombs (Mark 5: 1-20, 3 February 2025);
• a dying girl who is only 12 years old and a woman unable to find help from doctors for 12 years (Mark 5: 21-43, 4 February 2025);
• Christ lays his hands on and curing sick people (Mark 6: 1-6, 5 February 2025);
• the disciples are sent out in all their vulnerability and poverty (Mark 6: 7-13, 6 February 2025);
• Herod’s fears and wicked response when he hears of these healings and miracles (Mark 6: 14-29, 7 February 2025);
• And then Jesus has compassion for the people who are neglected by their leaders and rulers (Mark 6: 30-34, 8 February 2025).

In today’s reading, Jesus seems to be trying to get away from all the demands and all the expectations that are being laid on his shoulders. The apostles have come back after being sent out two-by-two, and are telling him all they have done and all that has happened.

Now they need a break, and Jesus takes them on a boat and they head off to a quiet place. But there is no escaping the crowd, the people and their demands.

And they ‘bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was’. This happens wherever he goes – in villages and cities, farms and market places (Mark 6: 55-56). It is just enough for them to touch the fringe of his cloak and those who touch it are healed (verse 56).

What did they think they were doing by touching the ‘fringe of his cloak’?

This is not just an act of hope, hoping for healing, but an act of faith, claiming a place in the community of faith, reaching out for love.

Wearing a prayer shawl reminds the wearer and those who see this of all the 613 commandments in Jewish tradition, of the covenant with God.

In touching Christ’s cloak, the sick people are claiming their place at the heart of the community of faith. They are making Jesus ritually unclean, but those who touch him are healed. In touching Christ, they are ‘touched’ by God’s power, and Christ draws them into the Kingdom of God.

These people follow Jesus around everywhere. He has compassion on them because they are ‘like sheep without a shepherd.’ They need healing, not just in mind and body, but in their families and in their society, in political and religious society, in the economy and in the villages, cities, farms and marketplaces where they seek the healing that Christ offers.

Faith and healing come together.

These connections are made in a prayer or poem in the Service of the Heart, a prayer book I use regularly for my personal prayers and reflections. This poem or prayer ‘Lord God of test tube and blueprint’ is by Norman Corwin (1910-2011):

Lord God of test tube and blueprint,
Who jointed molecules of dust and shook them till their name was Adam,
Who taught worms and stars how they could live together,
Appear now among the parliaments of conquerors and give instruction to their schemes:
Measure out new liberties so none shall suffer from his father’s colour or the credo of his choice:
Post proofs that brotherhood is not so wild a dream as those who profit by postponing it pretend:
Sit at the treaty table and convoy the hopes of the little peoples through expected straits,
And press into the final seal a sign that peace will come for longer than posterities can see ahead,
That man unto his fellow man shall be a friend forever.

Norman Lewis Corwin once declared: ‘I believe in promise, just promise … any species that can weigh the very earth he’s standing on, that can receive and analyze light coming from a galaxy a billion light years distant from us, any species that can produce a Beethoven and a Mozart and a Shakespeare, and the extraordinary accomplishments of our species, scientifically and in medicine and in the humanities, there’s illimitable opportunity for promises to be delivered and met.’

I fell on the street in London on Friday afternoon and ended up in the A&E unit in University College London Hospital with a bruised and swollen face, eye and lips. There I was acutely aware of how hospital staff, medical researchers, scientists, doctors, nurses, porters, and cheerful receptions are all working with the ‘Lord God of test tube and blueprint’ and offering hope and healing to people of faith and of none.

‘When they had crossed over, they … moored the boat’ (Mark 6: 53) … a moored boat on the shore of Canon Island, in the Shannon Estuary, near Kildysert, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 10 February 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Founders’ Day.’ USPG and SPCK are celebrating ‘Founders’ Day’ in Saint James’s Church, Picadilly, next week (Monday 17 February 2025). This theme was introduced yesterday with a Reflection by Dr Jo Sadgrove, Research and Learning Advisor, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 10 February 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord, forgive us for the ways in which your Church has been complicit in systems of oppression and death. Shine your light upon the darkness of our past and lead us into true repentance and healing.

The Collect:

O God,
you know us to be set
in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature
we cannot always stand upright:
grant to us such strength and protection
as may support us in all dangers
and carry us through all temptations;
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:

Go before us, Lord, in all we do
with your most gracious favour,
and guide us with your continual help,
that in all our works
begun, continued and ended in you,
we may glorify your holy name,
and finally by your mercy receive everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:
Lord of the hosts of heaven,
our salvation and our strength,
without you we are lost:
guard us from all that harms or hurts
and raise us when we fall;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

‘When they had crossed over, they … moored the boat’ (Mark 6: 53) … a moored boat on the River Ouse in Old 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

Ten photographs from Clare and Kerry in new visitor guides for tourists

The Cascades at Ennistymon … one of my photographs in the new ‘Co Clare Visitor Guide’ edited by Sally Davies (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The site SmartTraveller365 is an online tourist service in Ireland providing tourists and visitors to Ireland with free online services and information on what to see and do in Ireland.

The SmartTraveller365 website and service include smart phone coupons that offer shopping and entrance discounts at many of Ireland’s top attractions, shops and experiences.

Sally Davies, Senior Manager of Irish County Visitor Guides with SmartTraveller365, is producing a new series of colourgul, slimeline, ocket-size and user-friendly visitor guides that now include: the Co. Clare Visitor Guide, the County Kerry Visitor Guide, the West Cork Visitor Guide and the West Cork Visitor Guide.

Nine of my photographs have been published as part of the Co. Clare Visitor Guide, and one more also appears in the County Kerry Visitor Guide.

The Harbour at Ballyvaughan … one of my photographs in the ‘Co Clare Visitor Guide’ edited by Sally Davies (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Initially, Sally Davies asked to use just one or two of my photographs from my blog. But eventually, she decided to use nine of my photographs in the 64-page Co. Clare Visitor Guide she has edited and one in her guide to Co Kerry.

I am reluctant to allow my photographs to be used commercially. Businesses need to be realistic about their costings and margins, and professional photographers need to be paid for their work, without being undercut by amateurs who use their phones for images on social media. I am also anxious to retain the copyright of my own creative work, and certainly do not want my work being used to promote religious, social, political or business values I would not otherwise endorse.

On the other hand, I firmly believe in promoting small, local enterprises of the sort that are facilitated by guides like guidebooks such as these new publications, and it is a pleasure to be involved in areas that I know so well.

During my five years in parish ministry in west Limerick and north Kerry, living in the rectory in Askeaton, my parochial areas included parts of the River Shannon and some of the islands in the estuary – although I was never quite sure which islands, such as Scattery or Canon Island were in my parishes and which were linked with my colleagues.

Tarbert in Co Kerry was at the heart of Kilnaughtin parish, and the ferry across the mouth of the Shannon to Killimer brought me directly to many of the places described in the latest Co. Clare Visitor Guide.

My role as Precentor in the chapters of the Diocesan Cathedrals also made me familiar with the two cathedrals in Co Clare, in Killaloe and Kilfenora. In addition, I was eager during those years to explore Comerford family stories in many parts of Co Clare, including Miltown Malbay, Spanish Point and Ballyvaughan.

So I was delighted that Sally Davies has used nine of my photographs in her Co. Clare Visitor Guide, which arrived a few days ago. These photographs are of:

• the Duck Inn in Sixmilebridge (p 7)

• the Teardrop Memorial, Kilkee (p 26)

• the Cascades at Ennistymon (p 36)

• Quin Abbey (p 38)

• Canon Island Abbey (p 38)

• Canon Island (p 46)

• Scattery Island (p 47)

• and two photographs of the beach and harbour at Ballyvaughan (p 49).

Georgie Comerford is remembered as Miltown Malbay’s greatest-ever footballer … he played for four counties and two provinces

In addition, the pages on Miltown Malbay in this new publication include the story of Georgie Comerford (p 31), a sporting star in the 1930s, drawing on biographical details and images on my blog:

Teenage Years
Underage Success

• In 1929 George captained Clare to win the inaugural All Ireland minor championship

.. In the Munster final Clare defeated Waterford 1-6 to 0-4

.. In the All-Ireland final Clare defeated Longford 5-3 to 3-5, with George scoring 1-2 of the Clare total from full forward

.. This remains Clare’s only All-Ireland title at this grade.

• In 1930 George was on the Clare minor team that retained the Munster title defeating Tipperary 2-1 to 1-3, but Clare were unable to repeat success at All-Ireland level.

Georgie Comerford is remembered as Miltown Malbay’s greatest ever footballer and played for four counties and two provinces …

In addition, Sally Davies has used one of my photographs in another guide to Co Kerry. My photograph of the Daniel O’Connell Memorial Church in Cahersiveen appears on p 42 in the 76-page County Kerry Visitor Guide.

The ‘Duck Inn’ at Sixmilebridge … one of my photographs in the ‘Co Clare Visitor Guide’ edited by Sally Davies (Photograph: Patrick Comerford,)

• The SmartTraveller365 guides are available to read online and to download HERE

Bourke’s House: a chapter in a new local history book on Athlunkard Street in Limerick

The Bourke House or Castle Friary … one of the oldest surviving houses on King’s Island, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I missed the lauunch of Denis O’Shaughnessy’s new book on the history of Athlunkard Street, Limerick, which was launched in Limerick last month while I was in Crete. The book marks the bicentenary of the opening of the street and as part of the Athlunkard Street 200th anniversary celebrations.

The Story of Athlunkard Street 1824-2024 by Denis O’Shaughnessy (Limerick: 2024) was launched in Saint Mary’s RFC clubhouse by Councillor Conor Sheehan on Friday 19 April 2024. The evening included readings and music. The book sells at €15 in Saint Mary’s Credit Union office and in McMahons Butcher. Proceeds are going to Saint Mary’s Branch Vincent de Paul.

My four-page contribution to this new resource on local history in Limerick is:

Bourke’s House

Patrick Comerford

Local lore says that Bourke House (top of Athlunkard Street) is as old as Saint Mary’s Cathedral, and that it was built ca 1168 by Domhnall Mór O Brien, after he donated his palace as the site for Saint Mary’s Cathedral.

However, the name of the house and its remains date from a much later period. Bourke House probably received its name from John Bourke, a Roman Catholic alderman who owned the house and lived there in 1641. The house was listed in 1654 in the Cromwellian ‘Civil Survey’ of Limerick City as the house of William Bourke of Limicke [sic] Irish Papist. During the Penal Laws, Bourke House was used as a Franciscan friary from 1730 to 1780, so that the house was also known as the Castle Friary.

Much of the original mediaeval house was demolished in 1824 to allow the construction of Athlunkard Street. The name Athlunkard comes from the Irish Ath an Longphuirt, ‘the town of the naval fortress.’ After the demolition of the Walls of Limerick in 1760, the new bridge became an economic and social necessity with demands to expand the city into the surrounding countryside.

The new street and new bridge were improvements that were much needed in Limerick in the first decades of the 19th century. The project followed immediately after Wellesley Bridge – now known as Sarsfield Bridge – and opened up new sites for housing development.

Athlunkard Bridge opened another route from the city into Co Clare. It was the first of the Limerick bridges designed by the Pain brothers, and was soon followed by Baal’s Bridge, replacing an older bridge in 1829, and Thomond Bridge in 1838. Only one wall of Bourke House survived this major development in town planning in Limerick, with the internal façade facing onto Athlunkard Street. Work began on laying out Athlunkard Street on 26 April 1824. The new road cut through two mediaeval houses on Mary Street that had been built in the style of fortified tower houses. One of these houses was fully demolished, while only the north gable of Bourke House remained.

Athlunkard Street by-passed Sir Harry’s Mall and George’s Quay and opened up a direct route into Newtown Pery through Bridge Street and the New Bridge that was rebuilt in 1844-1846 as Mathew Bridge.

In 1860, a Gothic-style drinking fountain was inserted into the façade of the building as a gift to the city by the Malcolmson family. A section of Bourke House survives to this day with the interior of the house gable facing onto Athlunkard Street. Preservation work on the house was carried out by Limerick Civic Trust through a FAS Teamwork Scheme in 1989.

The Gothic-style drinking fountain inserted into the façade of Bourke House in 1860 was a gift to the city by the Malcolmson family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Another view

Seamus O Cinneide, historian and columnist in the Limerick Leader, wrote a series in that newspaper headed Photonotes of Old Limerick. In the edition of 20/11/1982, he traced the history of Bourke’s Castle or House, portion of which is still extant at the top of Athlunkard Street, as follows:

The remains are of a medieval castle, which according to the Civil Survey of 1651, was the residence of Alderman John Bourke, of St. Mary’s Parish, Limerick City. The ruins today are seen between Devane’s Pub and Pal Electronics premises at the head of Athlunkard Street. While the historic site is popularly called Bourke’s Castle, the medieval building was really a tower town house – a fortified residence.

From its many robistic handsome fortified medieval residences of this type, Limerick was called “Limerick of the Castles. ”They were the residences of Limerick’s urban aristocrats or rich merchants after the 1169 invasion of the Normans to the Treaty of 1691.

Citizens of lesser ranks lived in wickerwork and clay plaster type dwellings known in Gaelic as ciseachs. Both types are listed in the Civil List of 1641. (Ciseach is closely related to the Gaelic word cisean: a wickerwork basket).

The Bourkes or Burkes came as de Burgos with the Normans in 1169 in Limerick City. Herbert de Burgho (who died in 1250) was a distinguished bishop of Limerick. He was one of the “Six Prelates” buried at St Saviour’s great Dominican Priory on the King’s Island of the city. He was commemorated in a Latin verse on a sepulchral monument at that medieval priory.

The de Burgh’s became Gaelicised as de Burca’s. They were Lords of Catleconnell. Becoming “more Irish than the Irish”, the de Burca’s, Lords of Claonghlas (now Springfield) near Dromcollogher, in West Limerick, were patron hosts of a Bardic School of Poets. Their most famous “Poet Laureate” was Daithi O Bruadair who idolized General Patrick Sarsfield who defended Limerick against the English Williamite forces.

The de Burca’s were mostly faithful to the Catholic Faith after the Reformation. Sir John Burke of Brittas Castle near Murroe was hanged in Limerick for sheltering a Catholic priest in Elizabethan times.

In 1824 a road to link Limerick City with the “salubrious suburbs of Corbally”, as described by Maurice Lenihan, the famous historian, who described that “across the Abbey River area was cut through the mediaeval Roche castle at the head of what’s now Athlunkard Street.

The façade is of exceptional interest to students of historical architecture. The “v” shaped corbels – which supported the floor beams of the mediaeval residcence – can be seen high up on the façade.

In the romantic conservationist 19 th century manner the corbels – flagged by flag stones - support an assembly of surplus stones from the original building.

Typical medieval recesses can also be seen. There is a large one at the extreme right lower end.

A delightful (sadly inoperational) water fountain was erected into the wall of the castle, a relic of the times before Limerick citizens had a Corporation water supply. An inscription says it was erected in 1860 and adds an appeal “to protect what is erected for your benefit.” The arch around the water fountain is coruscated as is the upper arch. Above the upper arch’s keystone another inscription tells us “This drinking fountain erected AD 1860.”

A final reminder, it’s the inside wall if a medieval tower house you see at the head of Athlunkard Street. Also, about twenty years ago, during work to install new machinery at Tubridy’s Bakery premises (now occupied by Pal Electronics) some vaulted medieval cellars – with broken wine bottle fragments of the same era – were uncovered. The medieval wine bottle fragments – thought to be of French type – weren’t surprising as Limerick (like other Irish coastal cities) shipped its wine in from continental European cities like Bordeaux.

• The Story of Athlunkard Street 1824-2024 by Denis O’Shaughnessy (Limerick: 2024) was published in April 2024, to mark the bicentenary of the opening of the street and as part of the Athlunkard Street 200th anniversary celebrations. The book was launched in Saint Mary’s RFC clubhouse by Councillor Conor Sheehan at 8 pm on Friday 19 April 2024. The evening included readings and music. The book sells at €15 in Saint Mary’s Credit Union office and in McMahons Butcher. Proceeds are going to Saint Mary’s Branch Vincent de Paul.

Praying in Ordinary Time with USPG: 12 February 2023

‘Earth may not pass till heaven shall pass away’ (Christina Rossetti) … sunset on the River Shannon in Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today [12 February 2023] is the Second Sunday before Lent. In the past, this Sunday was known as Sexagesima, one of those odd-sounding Latin names once used in the Book of Common Prayer for the Sundays in Ordinary Time between Candlemas and Lent: Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima.

These weeks, between the end of Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, are known as Ordinary Time. We are in a time of preparation for Lent, which in turn is a preparation for Holy Week and Easter.

Later this morning, I hope to be at the Parish Eucharist in Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton. But, before today becomes a busy day, I am taking some time for prayer and reflection early this morning.

In these days of Ordinary Time before Ash Wednesday later this month (22 February), I am reflecting in these ways each morning:

1, reflecting on a saint or interesting person in the life of the Church;

2, one of the lectionary readings of the day;

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

For my reflection this morning, I am reading Christina Rossetti’s poem, ‘Sexagesima,’ which takes its title from the name once used for the Second Sunday before Lent.

We are more likely to associate Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) with Christmas rather than Ordinary Time or Lent because two of her poems, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ and ‘Love came down at Christmas,’ are among the best-loved and most popular Christmas carols.

She was born in London, the daughter of Gabriele Rossetti, an exiled Italian poet, and she was a sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelite artist and poet. Their brother William Michael Rossetti and sister Maria Rossetti were writers too.

When she was 14, Christina Rossetti suffered a nervous breakdown and left school. Bouts of depression and related illness followed. During this period she, her mother and her sister became absorbed in the Anglo-Catholic movement that developed in the Church of England, and religious devotion came to play a major role in Christian Rossetti’s life.

Her time spent alone, in prayer, in a single life, devoted to Christ and to working with the marginalised, might be compared with Mary in this evening’s Gospel reading, who devotes her wealth to Christ but is criticised by Judas.

She is honoured in the liturgical calendar of the Church of England and other Anglican churches on 27 April. Her writings have strongly influenced writers such as Ford Madox Ford, Virginia Woolf, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Elizabeth Jennings and Philip Larkin.

Christina Rossetti, by her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Sexagesima, by Christina Georgina Rossetti:

Yet earth was very good in days of old,
And earth is lovely still:
Still for the sacred flock she spreads the fold,
For Sion rears the hill.

Mother she is, and cradle of our race,
A depth where treasures lie,
The broad foundation of a holy place,
Man’s step to scale the sky.

She spreads the harvest-field which Angels reap,
And lo! the crop is white;
She spreads God’s Acre where the happy sleep
All night that is not night.

Earth may not pass till heaven shall pass away,
Nor heaven may be renewed
Except with earth: and once more in that day
Earth shall be very good.

The miracle of the loaves and fishes in a fresco in Analipsi Church in Georgioupoli, Crete … there are only two fish, but the loaves of bread have already been multiplied (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 6: 25-34 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.’

A variety of bread gathered in a basket in a restaurant in Panormos, near Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

USPG Prayer Diary:

The theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week is ‘Bray Day.’ This theme is introduced this morning by Jo Sadgrove, USPG’s Research and Learning Advisor, who shares the challenges of uncovering USPG’s archives:

‘We are living in a time in which questions about history have never been more heightened or charged. What do we know of the past? How do we uncover and educate ourselves about histories that have been lost? How do we respond as people of faith to historical injustices? How we approach the figure of Thomas Bray, USPG’s founder, is now a much more complicated prospect than it was ten years ago.

‘Over the past two years, at USPG we have been working on our archives to better understand the complex and challenging history of this former slave owning organisation. The USPG correspondence archive is vast, and we have only managed to analyse a tiny proportion of letters, records and accounts. We are now very pleased to have recruited a full time PhD candidate, the Revd Garfield Campbell from Jamaica, who will be developing this work in dialogue with USPG and with the Church of the Province of the West Indies, whose own stories and experiences of this shared history are profoundly different from our own. It is only by doing this work in dialogue with those most brutally impacted by the legacies of slavery that we have any hope of approaching an understanding of what true reparation might mean.’

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

From the cowardice that shrinks from new truths,
from the laziness that is content with half-truth,
from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
O God of truth, deliver us.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The miracle of the five loaves and two fish … a modern Ethiopian painting in Mount Saint Joseph Abbey, Roscrea, 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

Praying for World Peace and with USPG: Tuesday 18 October 2022

The Week of Prayer for World Peace invites prayers today on the theme of ‘A Prayer for the Earth’ … Arnaldo Pomodoro’s sculpture ‘Sphere Within Sphere’ at the Berkeley Library in Trinity College Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Church Calendar today celebrates Saint Luke the Evangelist today (18 October).

It is seven months today since I suffered a stroke (18 March 2022). Later today, I am planning to have lunch with a friend in Oxford. But, before today gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for reading, prayer and reflection.

This year, the Week of Prayer for World Peace is from 16 to 23 October. In my prayer diary from last Sunday until next Sunday, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, One of the readings for the morning;

2, A reflection from the programme for the Week of Prayer for World Peace (16 to 23 October);

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

Saint Luke the Evangelist and Physician … a stained-glass window in Saint Michael’s Church, Tipperary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Luke was a close companion of the Apostle Paul, and is mentioned by him three times in his Letters. Saint Paul describes him as ‘the beloved physician’ and, in his second Letter to Timothy, as his only companion in prison. He is believed to be the author of two books of the New Testament: Saint Luke’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Saint Luke’s narrative of the life of Christ has a pictorial quality and shows the sequential pattern from the nativity through to the death and resurrection. The developed sense of theology that comes over in Saint Paul’s writings is virtually unknown in Saint Luke’s writings. But, as a Gentile, Saint Luke makes clear that the good news of salvation is for all, regardless of gender, social position or nationality.

Luke 10: 1-9 (NRSVA):

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you”.’

The Week of Prayer for World Peace takes place this year from Sunday 16 October 2022 to Sunday 23 October 2022

Week of Prayer for World Peace 2022, Day 3:

The week of Prayer for World Peace takes place from the second to third Sunday in October each year, which this year is from Sunday last (Sunday 16 October 2022) to next Sunday (23 October 2022).

The Week of Prayer for World Peace is supported by a wide range of organisations, many of which I have engaged with over the years, including the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, Christian CND, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Pax Christi, and Quaker Peace and Social Witness.

Day 3: A Prayer for Our Earth:

We pray for the earth and all her goodness to flourish and be nurtured by humankind.

‘I visualise the earth with my inner eye, slowly revolving; I visualise the oceans, the mountains, the forests and all living beings. Whilst holding my vison of the earth in front of me, I open my angel wings of compassion and care to embrace the earth to heal the pain with love and mercy.’ – Brahma Kumaris Environment Initiative

‘Our Gaia, whose art is Nature –
abode of our life,
Your time has come, your battle won
for people’s planet – consciousness.
Teach us each day how to be and live
through observing Nature’s models,
Those models that bring us into harmony
and not into conflict with Life’s source.
Home to humanity,
in sacred diversity.
Deities in unity, our dream.’ – from The Earth’s Prayer (to intonations of the Lord’s Prayer) by Anne Palmer, Isle of Lewis, UK

‘Cease the winds from the west
‘Cease the winds from the south
‘Let the breeze blow over the land
‘Let the breeze blow over the ocean
‘Let the red-tipped dawn come with a sharpened air.
‘A touch of frost, a promise of a glorious day.’ – Traditional Maori Blessing

‘I pray for the good of the life of all the living creatures which Spirit of Wisdom has created.’ – Zoroastrian Gathas

Sunset on the River Deel and the Shannon Estuary at Askeaton, Co Limerick … the Week of Prayer for World Peace invites prayers today on the theme of ‘A Prayer for the Earth’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer (Tuesday 18 October 2022, Saint Luke):

The Collect:

Almighty God,
you called Luke the physician,
whose praise is in the gospel,
to be an evangelist and physician of the soul:
by the grace of the Spirit
and through the wholesome medicine of the gospel,
give your Church the same love and power to heal;
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.

The theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week is ‘World Food Day.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

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

Let us give thanks for the life and works of Luke the Evangelist. May we be inspired by his Christian witness.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

‘I visualise the earth with my inner eye, slowly revolving; I visualise the oceans, the mountains, the forests and all living beings’ (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

‘Study for the Calf of Saint Luke’ by Graham Sutherland in the ‘Consequence of War’ exhibition in Lichfield Cathedral in 2018 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Praying with the Psalms in Ordinary Time: 27 June 2022 (Psalm 124)

‘Then would the waters have overwhelmed us and the torrent gone over our soul; over our soul would have swept the raging waters’ (Psalm 124: 4) … ‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’ … the Four Questions (Ma Nishtanah) in a page from Arthur Szyk’s ‘Haggadah’ (Łódź, 1935)

Patrick Comerford

In the Calendar of the Church, we are in Ordinary Time. The Caleendar of the Church today commemorates Saint Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria and Teacher of the Faith. 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 124:

Psalm 124 is the fifth in a series of 15 short psalms (Psalm 120-134) known as the ‘Songs of Ascents.’ These psalms begin with the Hebrew words שיר המעלות‎ (Shir Hama’a lot). In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, this is counted as Psalm 123. It is sometimes known by its Latin opening words, Ad te levavi oculos meos.

Many scholars say these psalms were sung by worshippers as they ascended the road to Jerusalem to attend the three pilgrim festivals. Others say they were sung by the Levite singers as they ascended the 15 steps to minister at the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Mishnah notes the correspondence between the 15 songs and the 15 steps between the men’s court and the women’s courtyards in the Temple. A Talmudic legend says King David composed or sang the 15 songs to calm the rising waters at the foundation of the Temple.

One view says the Levites first sang the Songs of Ascent at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple during the night of 15 Tishri 959 BCE. Another study suggests they were composed for a celebration after Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in 445 BCE. Others suggest they may originally have been songs sung by the exiles returning from Babylon, ascending to Jerusalem or individual poems later collected together and given the title linking them to pilgrimage after the Babylonian captivity.

These psalms are cheerful and hopeful, and they place an emphasis on Zion. They were suited for being sung because of their poetic style and the sentiments they express. They are brief, almost like epigrams, and they are marked by the use of a keyword or repeated phrase that serves as a rung on which the poem ascends to its final theme.

Psalm 124 is a short psalm of eight verses, and is sometimes known by its opening words in Latin, Nisi quia Dominus. In the slightly different numbering in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, this is Psalm 123.

This is a psalm of thanksgiving, using – as so often in the Psalms – a rapid succession of different images, recalling the Exodus and the escape from slavery in Egypt.

The people have been in danger of being swallowed up or swept away, as in a flood, a prey to the enemy’s teeth, captured in a hunter’s trap.

The images do not coalesce into one single metaphor. Rather, they combine to express a mood – in this case, the sense of sudden release from danger.

I often wonder how, during the horrors of the Holocaust, suffering Jews could possibly have sung the words of Psalm 124:

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
– let Israel now say –
if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when our enemies attacked us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us … (Psalm 124: 1-3).

Yet they maintained the hope and the expectation that God can and would act through political decision-making to protect the rights of the vulnerable, the abused and the violated. For, as the Psalmist says, and as we – and all children – should be able to sing:

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth (Psalm 124: 8).

‘Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth’ (Psalm 124: 8) … sunset on the River Deel and the Shannon Estuary at Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 124 (NRSVA):

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
—let Israel now say—
2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when our enemies attacked us,
3 then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
4 then the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
5 then over us would have gone
the raging waters.

6 Blessed be the Lord,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘Ethics and Leadership.’ It was introduced yesterday by Andy Flannagan, Executive Director of Christians in Politics.

Monday 27 June 2022:

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

Let us give thanks for the work of Christians in Politics. May we encourage our fellow Christians to get involved in the decision making process.

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

Cratloe Moyle Castle is difficult to visit but is a roadside landmark

Cratloe Moyle Castle is close to the N18, between Bunratty and Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

On the road from Ennis or Galway to Limerick, I have often noticed the ruins of a castle in Cratloe, on the north side of the N18 road, half-way between Bunratty and the tunnel at the Shannon.

I have wondered about the story of Cratloe Moyle Castle, but it is dangerous to stop at this point on the road and almost impossible to visit or view the ruins. Yet this one of the most noticeable late mediaeval ruins in the area, although it is overshadowed by neighbouring Bunratty Castle.

The area of Cratloe is first mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, which record that in 376 AD, Crimthann mac Fidaig, King of Munster and High King of Ireland died in the Cratloe area from poison administered by his sister, Mongfind, who wanted her son, Brión mac Echach Muigmedóin, to be High King.

Mongfind soon died too, as she drank the poison to convince the king to take some. In the end, however, Brian had to settle for the Kingdom of Connaught, while the High Kingship went to his half-brother, who was later known as Niall of the Nine Hostages.

The territory of the MacNamara Clan was invaded in the ninth century by warriors from the Kingdom of Aileach in Ulster. The invaders chopped down oak trees in Cratloe Woods and brought them back to Ulster for the roof of the Aileach Royal Palace. Cratloe Woods have since been known for their oak trees and this wood has been used in many important buildings throughout Europe.

An army led by Gerald Mór FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, marched on Thomond in 1510 and was met and defeated near Cratloe by an army of the O’Brien, McNamara, Sil-Aedha and Clanrickard clans led by Turlough O’Brien.

Cratloe is the location of several ruined castles and tower houses. The most notable is Cratloe Moyle Castle, a striking 16th century tower house. It is sometimes known simply as Cratloe Castle, although it is only one of four castles in the Cratloe area built by the MacNamara clan.

This tower house, on a small rocky outcrop, is five storeys high with three large halls, one over another, and it rises to a height of about 65 ft. There are traces of bartizans on the north-west and south-east angles. The ground floor has a beautiful fireplace and some blocked up windows.

Cratloe Moyle Castle was probably built in the early 16th century, although some sources say it was built as late as 1610 for its construction. It is said to have been built by Sean MacNamara, son of Donnchadh MacNamara who lived in the early 17th century. However, this is unlikely as the castle is mentioned in many documents before his time.

The castle was owned in 1570 by Sean MacConmara, son of Tadhg MacConmara and later passed to the chiefs of MacConmara or MacNamara family. It is possible that Sean MacNamara, son of Donnchadh MacNamara, carried out some of the later renovations or building work in the castle in the early 17th century.

John MacNamara was the last of the main line of the MacNamaras. He died about 1780, and had no sons to succeed him. He was probably the last person to live in Cratloe Moyle Castle. The Cratloe Moyle estate was then bought by George Quin of Quinsborough, near Limerick, and the patrimonial lands passed totally out of the hands of the MacNamara hands after almost 700 years continuous possession.

Cratloe Moyle Castle was bought by Bob Traynor, an Irish American, in 1973. He later sold the surrounding land to Bearing Components Ltd but he retained the ownership of the castle.

Access to the castle is difficult today because of the configurations of the N18, but I understand it is full of litter and the walls are daubed with graffiti.

Cratloe Moyle Castle is a 16th century tower house built by the MacNamara clan (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Praying in Ordinary Time 2021: 52, Canon Island Abbey, Co Clare

Inside the abbey church on Canon Island … an Augustinian foundation dating from 1189 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

I had planned to be in High Leigh these days for the annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). But the pandemic means the conference has become a virtual event that began yesterday and that continues until tomorrow.

Before this day becomes a busy day, with much of it devoted to the USPG conference, I am taking some time this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

During this time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am taking some time each morning before the day gets busy to reflect in these ways:

1, photographs of a church or place of worship;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

This week’s theme of island churches continues this morning (20 July 2021) with photographs from Canon Island, which I visited three months ago (25 April 2021).

Canon Island Abbey on Canon Island … the island was granted to the monks of Clare Abbey by the O’Briens of Thomond (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Canon Island is a 270-acre island in the Shannon Estuary, about 2.5 km east of Kildysart, Co Clare, and about 1.5 km from the shore on the mainland. It is the largest of 29 small islands that span the crossing of the Shannon and Fergus estuaries, and the abbey ruins stand on the north-east corner of the island.

Canon Island is home to Canon Island Abbey, a ruined Augustinian monastery built in the late 12th century at the north-east corner of the island. Canon Island, or Innisgad, sometimes referred to as Canons’ Island, was once known as Elanagranoch.

The island was granted to the Augustinian Canons of Clare Abbey in 1189 by Domnall Mór Ua Briain (Donald O’Brien), King of Thomond. The abbey was founded in the late 12th century, but it was a separate community and was not dependent on the larger Clare Abbey.

The Canons Regular of Saint Augustine originated in a reform movement instigated by Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) and aimed at restoring religious discipline among parish clergy in Italy by grouping them into regular communities. Although they lived collegially, the canons were not monks but secular clergy whose primary function was parish ministry and pastoral care.

The Augustinian canons were introduced to Ireland in the first half of the 12th century after Saint Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, visited the Augustinian canons in Guisborough, Yorkshire, ca 1126-1127, and visited the abbey of Arrouaise, in north-west France, in 1137-1138.

Many new Augustinian houses in Ireland were sponsored after 1176 both by the Irish and by the Anglo-Normans. By the end of the 12th century, the canons regular had become the predominant order in Ireland.

Clare Abbey was founded in 1189, when the short-lived diocesan status of Saint Senan’s island monastery of Iniscathaigh (Scattery) and its attached churches was under review. Scattery was too small to survive as a viable diocese. When Bishop Aodh Ó Beacháin died in 1188, this was an opportunity to revise the diocesan boundaries, Scattery became a rural deanery, and its ‘termons’ or outlying churches were subsumed into the Dioceses of Killaloe and the Diocese of Limerick on either side of the Shannon Estuary.

The foundation for Canons Regular at Clare Abbey in 1189 may have been part of redrawing and reforming diocesan boundaries, and many parishes attached to Clare Abbey were previously linked with Scattery.

Canon Island is one of the endowments included in the charter granted by Domhnall Mór to Clare Abbey, but a date for building the abbey on Canon Island is uncertain. Thomas Westropp, the Limerick historian and antiquarian, described the abbey ruins in the late 19th century. He places some portions of the buildings in the late 12th century. There is no written reference to the church, however, until the end of the 14th century. By then, it had already fallen into disrepair.

A papal document in 1393 describes the abbey as ‘so destroyed alike in respect of its buildings as of its books, chalices, and likewise of its temporal goods as to be threatened with ruin.’ The papal letter offered indulgences to any who helped repair the abbey.

In the papal letters, it is invariably called Monasterium Beatae Virginis. Later papal mandates to the abbots indicate Canon Island was one of the major religious houses in the Diocese of Killaloe.

The Mac Giolla Pádraig (Fitzpatrick) family and the Mac Mahon family frequently contested the control of the abbey in the 15th century.

Dermot Mac Giolla Pádraig was abbot from 1426-1478. Serious charges were brought against him in 1452 by Thomas Mac Mahon, ‘a deacon of Killaloe,’ who accused the abbot of wilful murder or of having aided or abetted murder, as well as breaches of the vow of celibacy and of simony.

A papal mandate was issued to the Precentor of Emly to look into the case and, if he found the complaints true, to remove Mac Giolla Pádraig, and install Thomas as abbot instead. The complainant, Thomas Mac Mahon, had received a dispensation from a ‘defect of birth’ or canonical illegitimacy as ‘a child of unmarried noble parents.’

Eleven years later, in 1463, another Dermot Mac Giolla Pádraig, perhaps the abbot’s son, also received a dispensation from ‘defect of birth’ as the son ‘of an Augustinian abbot and an unmarried woman.’ Indeed, the position of abbot remained in the Fitzpatrick family for virtually the whole of the 15th century.

For the greater part of the 15th century, the canons served as the working clergy of the surrounding parishes, including Kilmaleery on the opposite side of the Fergus estuary, and they were involved in the parochial life as far north as Kilmurry and Kilfarboy in Ibrickane.

Bishop Mahon O Griobtha of Killaloe, who died on the island in 1482, is buried in the abbey, but his tomb has not been identified.

The remaining abbey buildings include a church with Romanesque windows, two adjoining chapels, a belfry, a cloister and a large square tower. Roofs are missing from all the standing buildings. Buildings to the east would have had a sacristy, chapter house and dormitory for the monks. The south range had a kitchen and refectory.

The side chapels, tower and cloisters were added ca 1450. An early cashel wall partly surrounds the abbey. The abbey’s cemetery has several graves.

The monastery was dissolved during the reign of Henry VIII in 1540. The abbey then consisted of four acres of arable land, 14 acres of mountain and pasture, together with some islands nearby and the tithes of Kildysart and the vicarage or vicar’s share of the tithes of Kilchreest (Ballynacally).

The island, monastery and its assets and income were granted to Donogh O’Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond. But the Augustinians continued to live on the island until it was attacked by Cromewellian forces in 1651. Local folklore says the Cromwellians decided there was nothing of importance on Canon Island. They were on their way back down the river, it is said, when the monks rang the bell. The Cromwellians returned and killed 27 monks.

Tradition says three monks surviving. As they fled, they buried chalices, holy books and manuscripts, but they have never been found. The monastery ceased the function after that time.

Canon Island remained part of the Thomond estate until the late 17th century, when Henry O’Brien (1620-1691), 7th Earl of Thomond, granted the property to Richard Henn of Paradise, Ballynacally, and the island eventually passed to local families. The last families left the island in the early 1970s.

Canon Island is part of the parish of Kildysart. It has continued to serve as a place of burial and it remains a traditional pilgrim site for people on both sides of the estuary. An annual pilgrimage of island descendants and nearby villagers was revived by the late Father Michael Hillery, Parish Priest of Kildysart. Pilgrims gather in Kildysart, Bunratty, Foynes and Askeaton and travel by currach and boat to the island.

The East End of the abbey church … Canon Island may have been a key part of diocesan reorganisation in the late 12th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Matthew 12: 46-50 (NRSVA):

46 While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, ‘Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.’ 48 But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ 49 And pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’

The West End of the abbey church … there is no written reference to the abbey until the late 14th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (20 July 2021) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for the peaceful co-existence of different religions and cultures. May we particularly pray for the work of the Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

An ogee-shaped tomb niche in the abbey church … the monastery is called ‘Monasterium Beatae Virginis’ in Papal letters (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

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 modern bell at Canon Island Abbey … the Cromwellians are said to have returned to the island when the monks rang the bell (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)