Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 40, Thursday 14 May 2026, Ascension Day

The Ascension depicted in a window in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (5 April 2026) and continuing until the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday in ten days’ time (24 May 2026). This week began with the Sixth Sunday of Easter (Easter VI, 10 May 2026), and today is Ascension Day (14 May 2026).

There is an Ascension Day Eucharist in All Saints’ Church, Calverton, later this morning, but many parishes and churches are probably going to celebrate the Ascension next Sunday (17 May 2026).

Later today (5 pm), I hope to take part in ‘Threads, Echoes, and Ink: Uncovering Minority Voices in Medieval Spain, Sefarad and al-Andalus’, a seminar organised by the Woolf Institute in Cambridge, with three talks, each looking at Spain and Medieval Mediterranean culture from a different perspective, and a panel discussion between the speakers and questions from the audience.

Before today begins, however, I am taking some quiet time at home 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 Ascension depicted in a fresco in the ceiling in the parish church in Piskopianó in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 24: 44-53 (NRSVA):

44 Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah[a] is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’

50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

The Ascension depicted in the East Window by Alexander Gibbs in the chapel of Keble College, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Our view of the universe, our understanding of the cosmos, shapes how we image and think of God’s place in it, within it, above it, or alongside it. And sometimes, the way past and outdated understandings of the universe were used to describe or explain the Ascension now make it difficult to talk about its significance and meaning to today’s scientific mind.

In his occasional series, ‘Theology Matters’, Professor Andrew Davison of Oxford wrote in the Church Times last weekend (8 May 2026) of ‘the many rather embarrassed sermons that I have heard on Ascension Day over the years.’

When we believed in a flat earth, it was easy to understand how Christ ascended into heaven, and how he then sat in the heavens, on a throne, on the right hand of the Father. But once we lost the notion of a flat earth as a way of explaining the world and the universe, we failed to adjust our images or approaches to the Ascension narrative. Ever since, intelligent people have been left asking silly questions:

When Christ went up through the clouds, how long did he keep going?

When did he stop?

And where?

Standing there gaping at the sky could make us some kind of navel-gazers, looking for explanations within the universe and for life, but not as we know it. In our day and age, the idea of Christ flying up into the sky and vanishing through the great blue yonder strikes us as fanciful.

Does Jesus peek over the edge of the cloud as he is whisked away like Aladdin on a magic carpet?

Is he beamed up as if by Scotty?

Does he clench his right fist and take off like Superman?

Like the disciples, would we have been left on the mountain top looking up at his bare feet as they became smaller and smaller and smaller?

But the concept of an ascension was not one that posed difficulties in Christ’s earthly days. It is part of the tradition that God’s most important prophets were lifted up from the Earth rather than perish in the earth with death and burial.

Elijah and Enoch ascended into heaven. Elijah was taken away on a fiery chariot. Philo of Alexandria wrote that Moses also ascended. The cloud that Christ is taken up in reminds us of the shechinah – the presence of God in the cloud, for example, in the story of Moses receiving the law (Exodus 24: 15-17), or with the presence of God in the Tabernacle on the way to the Promised Land (see Exodus 40: 34-38).

Saint Luke makes a clear connection between the ascension of Moses and Elijah and the Ascension of Christ, when he makes clear links between the Transfiguration and the Ascension. At the Transfiguration, he records, a cloud descends and covers the mountain, and Moses and Elijah – who have both ascended – are heard speaking with Jesus about ‘his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem’ (Luke 9: 30-31).

So, Saint Luke links all these elements as symbols as he tells this story. There is a direct connection between the Transfiguration, the Ascension and the Second Coming … the shechinah is the parousia. However, like the disciples in this reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we often fail to make these connections. We are still left looking up at the feet … an enigma posed by Salvador Dali almost 70 years ago in his painting, The Ascension (1958).

Let us just think of those feet for a moment.

In the Epistle reading that is provided in the Lectionary today (Ephesians 1: 15-23), the Apostle Paul tells says that with the Ascension the Father ‘has put all things under [Christ’s] feet and has made him the head over all things’ (Ephesians 1: 22).

‘Under his feet’ … Salvador Dali’s painting of the Ascension, with its depiction of the Ascension from the disciples’ perspective, places the whole of creation under Christ’s feet. Of course, Isaiah 52: 7 tells us: ‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns”.’

Feet are important to God … there are 229 references to feet in the Bible and another 100 for the word foot. When Moses stands before God on Mount Sinai, God tells him to take his sandals off his feet, for he is standing on ‘holy ground’ (Exodus 3: 5) – God calls for bare feet on the bare ground, God’s creation touching God’s creation.

Later, when the priests cross the Jordan into the Promised Land, carrying the ark of the Lord, the water stops when they put their feet down, and the people cross on dry land (Joshua 3: 12-17): walking in the footsteps of God, putting our feet where God wants us to, is taking the first steps in discipleship and towards the kingdom.

The disciples object when a woman washes and anoints Jesus’ feet and dries them with her hair, but he praises her faith (Luke 7: 36-50). On the night of his betrayal, the last and most important Christ Jesus does for his disciples is wash their feet (John 13: 3-12).

Footprints … many of us have learned off by heart or have a mug or a wall plaque with the words of the poem Footprints in the Sand. We long for a footprint of Jesus, an imprint that shows where he has been … and where we should be going. The place where the Ascension is said to have taken place is marked by a rock with what is claimed to be the footprint of Christ. And, as they continue gazing up, after his feet, the disciples are left wondering whether it is the time for the kingdom to come, are they too going to be raised up.

Yet it seems that the two men who stand in white robes beside them are reminding them Christ wants them not to stay there standing on their feet doing nothing, that he wants us to pay more attention to the footprints he left all over the Gospels. Christ’s feet took him to some surprising places – and he asks us to follow.

Can I see Christ’s footprints in the wilderness?

Can I see Christ walking on the wrong side of the street with the wrong sort of people?

Can I see Christ walking up to the tree, looking up at Zacchaeus in the branches (Luke 19: 1-10), and inviting him to eat with him?

Can I see his feet stumbling towards Calvary with a cross on his back, loving us to the very end?

Am I prepared to walk with him?

Since that first Ascension Day, the body of Christ is within us and among us and through us as the Church and as we go forth in his name, bearing that Good News as his ‘witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1: 8).

Meanwhile, we are reminded by the two men in white: ‘This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven’ (Acts 1: 11). Between now and then we are to keep in mind that the same Jesus is ‘with [us] always, to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28: 20).

The disciples who are left below are left not to ponder on what they have seen, but to prepare for Pentecost and to go out into the world as the lived Pentecost, as Christ’s hands and feet in the world, leaving behind us the footprints of Christ.

Saint Paul paraphrases Isaiah when he says: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ (Romans 10: 15). Our feet can look like Christ’s feet. Our feet can become his feet until he returns in glory once again (Acts 1: 11), when he returns exactly as he ascended. And we need to keep the tracks fresh so that others may follow us in word, deed, and sacrament, and follow him.

The disciples are sent back to Jerusalem not to be passive but to pray to God the Father and to wait for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In time, the Holy Spirit will empower them, and they will be Christ’s witnesses not just in Judea and Samaria, but to the ends of the earth fulfilling that commission in Saint Matthew’s Gospel.

The disciples who are left below are left not to ponder on what they have seen, but to prepare for Pentecost and to go out into the world as the lived Pentecost, as Christ’s hands and Christ’s feet in the world.

As Andrew Davison wrote last weekend: ‘The ascension belongs to the gospel, and bears witness to the gospel, because it is so much about Christ, and about God’s unshakeable commitment to being with us and for us. It is good news because it shows that our humanity has been taken into God’s presence: Christ going ahead of us rather than abandoning us, and interceding for us there … The gospel is proclaimed in the ascension as “God is with us.” We can add that “We are with God”.’

Andrew Davison is Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford and a canon of Christ Church. In that column in the Church Times, he wrote: ‘Paradoxically, then, the ascension of Christ proclaims the good news of Christ’s presence, not his absence. Christ takes our humanity into the presence of the Father for all eternity, and in that he goes from being, to some, locally present to being universally present to all.’

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

The Ascension depicted in a tile frieze designed by William Butterfield in All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 14 May 2026, Ascension Day):

The theme this week (10-16 May 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘Parenting with Purpose’ (pp 54-55). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update from Ella Sibley, former Regional Manager for Europe and Oceania.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 16 May 2026, Ascension Day) invites us to pray:

Heavenly Father, on this Feast of Saint Matthias and Ascension Day, we give thanks for apostles and leaders called to witness your love. Inspire us, by your power, to do the same.

The Collect:

Grant, we pray, almighty God
that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ
to have ascended into the heavens,
so we in heart and mind may also ascend
and with him continually dwell;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

God our Father,
you have raised our humanity in Christ
and have fed us with the bread of heaven:
mercifully grant that, nourished with such spiritual blessings,
we may set our hearts in the heavenly places;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Risen Christ,
you have raised our human nature to the throne of heaven:
help us to seek and serve you,
that we may join you at the Father’s side,
where you reign with the Spirit in glory,
now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The Ascension depicted in a window in Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Olney, Buckinghamshire (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 Ascension Window in the North Transept (Jebb Chapel), Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Lent 2026: 11, Saturday 28 February 2026

‘For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good …’ (Matthew 5: 45) … sunset on Cross in Hand Lane in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We have come to the end of February and the end of the first full week in Lent. Lent began last week on Ash Wednesday, and tomorrow is the Second Sunday in Lent (Lent II, 1 March 2026).

Having missed Ireland’s Six Nations championship victory over England last Saturday I there is a rest in the championship until next weekend, and so I have no anxieties about missing any more matches while this visit to Kuching continues.

Later today, we plan to visit some more family member in the Kuching area. Meanwhile this morning, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time 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.

‘But I say to you, Love your enemies … so that you may be children of your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5: 44-45) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 5: 43-48 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’

‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ (Matthew 5: 44) … the Good Samaritan in a stained glass window in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 5: 43-48) continues our readings from the Sermon on the Mount. This is one of the passages chosen by the Revd Bonnie Evans-Hills, a priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, for a Bible study at the annual residential conference of USPG conference in High Leigh back in 2018.

In an earlier Bible study that week, she had brought us through the Beatitudes (Matthew 5: 1-12) with reflections on her own experiences in international peace work and interfaith dialogue. Having challenged us with the significance of the Beatitudes, her reflections on the closing day of the conference were based on two passages in the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5: 17-19 and 43-48.

Bonnie reminded us that the command to love is the summary of the law and the prophets and that not one tiny little bit of that commandment will be lost. The law and the prophets are summed up in that one tiny word, Love. Every other commandment depends on this.

She pointed out that other than verse 43 here there is nowhere in the Bible that it is said to ‘hate your enemy’.

Returning to her idea the previous day that peace-making needs to engage both the perpetrators and the victims, she recalled a story told by Ruth Scott of a US soldier in Vietnam who came across an ‘enemy soldier’ in a hammock. The other soldier smiled, reached into his pocket, and the American shot him immediately, only to find the Vietnamese soldier had not been reaching into his pocket for a gun but was gripping a photograph of his family that he wished to share.

There is nothing that cannot be forgiven, and there is no-one who is not worth forgiving, she said, commenting on The Book of Forgiving by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter, the Revd Mpho Tutu.

There are times when each and every one of us has needed to forgive, and when we have needed to be forgiven, and there will be many times like these in the future too. We are all broken and in need of being on the path to wholeness.

She told of a young Israeli who was a peace activist but who accepted conscription believing he could make a difference. But he was killed almost immediately. His mother’s immediate response was to tell his fellow soldiers: ‘Do not take revenge in the name of my son.’ His death was a test of the family’s commitment to building peace. ‘The worst has happened to us. The only thing we have left is to reach our hand out to offer to help build peace.’

‘Forgiveness is the radical act of a freedom fighter,’ she said. And she urged us to let go of the pain and the need to punish, and to hate, and to have revenge.


‘For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good …’ (Matthew 5: 45) … five minutes at sunset on the Sarawak River in Kuching (Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 28 February 2026):

The theme this week (22-28 February 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been: ‘Behold, I make all things new!’ (pp 30-31). This theme was introduced last Sunday with Reflections by the Right Revd Jorge Pina Cabral Jorge, Diocesan Bishop of the Lusitanian Church (Portugal).

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 28 February 2026) invites us to pray:

Creator God protect the forests of Portugal and Spain from wildfire. May the churches be inspired to show greater commitment to the care of your creation.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are, yet without sin:
give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit;
and, as you know our weakness,
so may we know your power to save;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord God,
you have renewed us with the living bread from heaven;
by it you nourish our faith,
increase our hope,
and strengthen our love:
teach us always to hunger for him who is the true and living bread,
and enable us to live by every word
that proceeds from out of your mouth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Heavenly Father,
your Son battled with the powers of darkness,
and grew closer to you in the desert:
help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer
that we may witness to your saving love
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Lent II:

Almighty God,
you show to those who are in error the light of your truth,
that they may return to the way of righteousness:
grant to all those who are admitted
into the fellowship of Christ’s religion,
that they may reject those things
that are contrary to their profession,
and follow all such things as are agreeable to 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.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow


‘For he … sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous’ (Matthew 5: 45) … three minutes watching tropical rain on the rooftops of Kuching (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

A changeover that left no time to get into Kuala Lumpur or to visit the Anglican cathedral

Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur (Photograph: Flaming Ferrari / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Patrick Comerford

After a furtive flurry rushing through Kuala Lumpur International Airport, dashing from a flight from Muscat to catch a flight to Kuching late on Thursday night and early on Friday morning, I put aside entertaining any dreams of snatching a few hours in the Malaysian capital, of perhaps even visiting the Anglican cathedral in Kuala Lumpur.

The Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin or Saint Mary’s Cathedral is the cathedral of the Diocese of West Malaysia in the Anglican Church of the Province of South-East Asia. From one small congregation in a simple wooden building in the 19th century on the present site beside Independence Square or Dataran Merdeka, the cathedral community has grown into 10 diverse and active congregations that form one cathedral community.

The original church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and was consecrated by Bishop George Frederick Hose, Bishop of Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak, on 13 February 1887. This early church was built of timber on Bluff Road, on top of a hill now known as Bukit Aman, where the headquarters of the Royal Malaysian Police are now located. It served a small number of Anglicans in Kuala Lumpur at the time, and the parishioners at that time included the British Residents of Selangor, Sir William Hood Treacher (1849-1919) and Sir Frank Swettenham (1850-1946), later Resident-General of the Federated Malay States and Governor of the Straits Settlements.

With a growing congregation, a decision was taken in 1893 to build a new church and a new site was found beside the Padang or Parade Ground of the Selangor Club, now known as Dataran Merdeka or Independence Square. The congregation raised the funds to build a new church a further 5,000 Straits dollars came as a gift from the government of Selangor with the support of the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840-1916), a grandson of the composer Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) who lived at the end of his life in Lichfield in Lincroft House, now the Hedgehog Vintage Inn.

The foundation stone was laid on 3 February 1894 by the British Resident of Selangor, Sir William Treacher, and the service was led by Bishop Hose. It was the first brick church in the so-called native States of the Malay Peninsula and it was consecrated by Bishop Hose on 9 February 1895.

The church was designed by the government Arthur Charles Alfred Norman (1858-1944), whose design was based on Early English Gothic architecture. Norman contributed to the design of some of Malaysia’s most important buildings in the historic core of Kuala Lumpur lining the perimeter of Merdeka Square, including the Sultan Abdul Samad Building (1897), the Royal Selangor Club, the Residence of the British Resident of Selangor (1888), the Victoria Institution (1893) and Kuala Lumpur Library (1909).

Norman designed Saint Mary’s Church with a nave that is 87 ft long by 28 ft wide, and a chancel 29 ft long by 22 ft wide with an octagonal end, along with a vestry and organ chamber. The nave can hold a congregation of 180 people and the chancel a choir of 20.

The back of the main sanctuary was extended in 1958 to accommodate a hall named the Jubilee Hall. Later developments have included a multi-purpose hall, as well as offices for the clergy and a studio apartment.

The pipe organ in the church is a second-hand built in 1898 by Henry Willis (‘Father Willis’), the English organ maker who also built the organ of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, and the original grand organ in the Royal Albert Hall. One of his organs is also in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.

The organ was originally bought by Frederic Duberly, the Acting Resident of Pahang, for his personal use in 1898. Duberly died of a heart attack on 3 April 1903, and his organ was packed up and shipped to Kuala Lumpur. It was installed in Saint Mary’s in 1904 and dedicated on 7 August 1904 but it was soon dismantled after a dispute over its legal ownership. The church eventually paid Duberly’s executors $2,000 in 1915, and the organ was then installed on the north side of the church.

The organ was damaged in two floods in 1925 and 1926 and repaired and then moved to its present position in the loft. The organ was rebuilt in 1927, when most of the wooden pipes, the pedal board, the wind chest, and some of the keys were replaced. It was badly damaged again during World War II and was completely rebuilt in 1951.

Canon Paul GT Samuel laid the foundation stone for a two-storey annexe on 28 April 1968. This annexe replaced the ‘old wooden parish hall on stilts’ was dedicated by Bishop Chiu Ban It, Bishop of Singapore and Malaya, on 5 February 1969.

The Diocese of West Malaysia, covering the entire West Malaysia, and the Diocese of Singapore were formed out of the former Diocese of Singapore and Malaya in 1970, and Saint Mary’s Church became the seat of the Bishop of West Malaysia. Saint Mary’s Church was proclaimed the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary the Virgin by the Bishop of West Malaysia, Bishop Tan Sri JG Savarimuthu on 8 September 1983.

The Church of the Province of South East Asia, with four dioceses, was formed on 2 February 1996, with the dioceses of Kuching, Sabah, Singapore and West Malaysia. It includes most of South-East Asia as well as Nepal, apart from Myanmar and the Philippines.

The cathedral was designated a National Heritage building of Malaysia in 2014. Today, Saint Mary’s stands in a strategic location in the most historical and charming section of Kuala Lumpur.

The Right Revd Dr Stephen Soe is the Bishop of West Malaysia and the Very Revd Andrew Cheah is the Dean of Kuala Lumpur Cathedral.

The cathedral has three traditional liturgical services in English on Sundays: Said Eucharist (7 am), a Sung Eucharist with choir (9 am), and a said Family Eucharist with choir (11 am). Other Sunday services include the three ‘Contemporary Sunday Services’ at 9 am off-site at Wisma Anglican, at 11 am and at 5 pm in the Multipurpose Hall beside the cathedral.

In addition. an Iban Service for the Iban congregation, made up mainly of ethnic Iban migrants from Sarawak, is held at 8 am on Sunday mornings in the Multi-Purpose Hall. There are Bahasa Malaysia services at 11 am and 3 pm in the Lady Chapel, mainly for people from Sabah and Sarawak.

After all the fuss and frenzy of changing flights and catching flights on Thursday night and Friday morning, I never did get into Kuala Lumpur and I never got to see Saint Mary’s Cathedral. Perhaps I may share some of my impressions of the airport in the next day or two. And, perhaps, I may even look at the opportunities to visit Kuala Lumpur itself on my return journey at the end of next week.

Inside Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Kuala Lumpur (Photograph: Tripadvisor)

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 25, Sunday 18 January 2026, Second Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany II)

The Lamb of God on the throne (see John 1: 36) … a stained glass window in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). Today is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany (Epiphany II, 18 January 2026), with readings that continue to focus on the Baptism of Christ by Saint John the Baptist, one of the three great Epiphany themes, alongside the Visit of the Magi and the Wedding at Cana.

Later this morning, I hope to be involved in the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, singing with the choir and leading the intercessions.

Today is also the first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU), from 18 to 25 January. This ecumenical celebration provides an opportunity to focus our prayers on Christian unity and to know that we are joining with international brothers and sisters in Christ. This year’s theme is ‘One Body, One Spirit’ -- from Ephesians 4: 1-13 – which was prepared by the Armenian Apostolic Church, along with the Armenian Catholic and Evangelical Churches.

The opening Ecumenical Service for the week in Milton Keynes is in Saint James Church, New Bradwell, at 6 pm. The preacher is Doral Hayes of Churches Together in England, and music is from One Voice, the MK Christian Community Choir. The Hope for the World Concert in Christ the Cornerstone Church, also this evening, is raising funds for two local charities, Camphill MK and Bridgebuilder Trust.

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, 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.

‘This is the Lamb of God’ … Saint John the Baptist (left) with Christ in the centre depicted as the Good Shepherd and the Virgin Mary (right) … a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 1: 29-42 (NRSVA):

29 The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ 32 And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’

35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ 39 He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). 42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).

The Lamb of God depicted in a stained-glass window in Charleville, Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections

Saint John’s Gospel has no story of the first Christmas, no child in the crib, and no Visit of the Magi. The manifestation of the Incarnate Christ in Saint John’s Gospel is revealed with the witness of Saint John the Baptist to Christ as the Lamb of God, the one who ‘existed before me,’ and as ‘the Son of God’ or ‘God’s Chosen One.’

In the Fourth Gospel, Christ first walks onto the stage, like the principal character in a Greek drama, as Saint John the Baptist is baptising in the River Jordan and talking about what is to be. And, in good dramatic style, letting us know what to expect as the drama unfolds on this stage, Saint John the Baptist uses three ways to describe Christ.

He is:

• ‘The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1: 29 and 36);
• ‘A man … who was before me’ (John 1: 30);
• ‘The Son of God’ (John 1: 34).

That manifestation of the Christ in Saint John’s Gospel will close with the witness of the Beloved Disciple – the other John – to the Paschal Lamb dying on the Cross on the eve of Passover.

His description of Christ as the ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ presents Christ as the Servant of God described by the Prophet Isaiah as being led without complaint like a lamb before the shearers, a man who ‘bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors’ (see Isaiah 53: 7-12).

With the benefit of hindsight, this is also as a reference to the Lamb sacrificed at the Passover – in Saint John’s Gospel, the crucifixion takes place at the same time as the Passover.

But the Lamb of God is taking away not just my sin, not just our sin, not just the sin of many, of Christians, or those we judge as transgressors, those we still have a grudge against – not even the sin of the world, but the sin of the κόσμος (cosmos), which means not merely planet earth, but the whole created order.

Secondly, Saint John the Baptist describes Christ (verse 30) as the one who ‘existed before me’ (RSV) or who ‘was before me’ (NRSV), which reflects a recurring theme in Johannine literature of the pre-existence of the Word.

Thirdly, he describes him as ‘the Son of God’ or ‘God’s Chosen One’ (verse 34). This is the first time in this Gospel that Christ is given the messianic title of ‘the Son of God.’ This title, ‘The Son of God’ is another reference to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah.

We then move on in this reading to find the disciples of Saint John the Baptist turning to follow Christ. So this reading links the baptism of Christ with the call of the Disciples, links seeing and believing, being and doing, baptism and discipleship.

The first two disciples are called to follow Jesus (verse 37) in word and action, ‘Come and see’ (verse 39). In Saint John’s Gospel, ‘seeing,’ in the true sense, means believing. Think of the later insistence by Saint Thomas that he cannot believe unless he also sees (see John 20: 24-29). And to come and see is to abide in Christ. Those first disciples come, see and stay (verse 39).

But who do the disciples say Christ is?

They have three very different descriptions from those given by Saint John the Baptist. They describe him as:

• Rabbi or Teacher (verse 38)
• the one to see and follow (verse (verse 39)
• the Messiah or the anointed one (verse 41)

Who is Christ for you?

This is a question each and every one of us must ask ourselves anew time and time again.

He must be more than a good rabbi or teacher, because the expectations of a good religious leader or a good teacher change over time.

Who is the Messiah for you?

Again, many people at the time had false expectations of the Messiah.

But who is Christ for you?

George Fox, the founding Quaker, challenged his contemporaries: ‘You may say Christ saith this, and the apostles say this, but what canst thou say? Art thou a child of the Light and hast thou walked in the Light, and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God?”

Who is Christ for you?

Is he a personal saviour?

One who comforts you?

Or is he more than that for you?

Who do you say Christ is?

It is a question that challenges Saint Peter later in Saint Matthew’s Gospel (see Matthew 16: 15, which is part of the reading on 22 August 2026, the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, Matthew 16: 13-20).

Not who do others say he is, but who do you say Christ is?

There is a difference in translations that speak of the ‘sins of the world’ and the ‘sin of the world.’

The word in this Gospel reading (see verse 29) is the singular sin of the cosmos (ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου). The word indicates being without a share in something, in this case God’s intention or design … missing the mark.

So often the world has missed the mark in terms of shaping up to Gods plan and intention for the whole creation, the whole cosmos.

Christmas has passed, and the Epiphany season concludes with the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Candlemas, in two weeks’ time (2 February 2026).

Today’s Gospel reading is a reminder at Epiphany time that Christ has come, not just as a cuddly baby at Christmas, not just to give me personal comfort, not just to give me a personal revelation, but to confront the whole created order, and to reconcile the whole created order to God’s plan.

I find it is a beautiful presentation in this Gospel that the beginning of Christ’s ministry is set out over six days. And on the seventh day of that new beginning we have a sabbath – God rests; Christ goes to the wedding at Cana, the third of the Epiphany moments. And there we have a sign, a sacrament, a token of the complete transformation of the created order, a sacramental or symbolic token of the heavenly banquet (John 2: 1-12; see John 2: 1-11, the Gospel reading on Sunday 1 February 2026, Epiphany IV).

Who is Christ for you? He confronts the evils of the world; he suffers with us; he invites you and me to come and see; he calls us into the new Creation; he makes us equal in the Kingdom of God; and we are guests at his banquet. He is God among us.

As Saint John the Baptist says, ‘I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God’ (John 1: 34)

Robert Spence (1871-1964), ‘Woe to the Bloody City of Lichfield,’ depicts George Fox preaching barefooted in the snow in Lichfield in 1651 … George Fox challenged his followers to say who Christ is for them (Lichfield Museum)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 18 January 2026, Epiphany II):

The theme this week (18-24 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Freedom Theologies’ (pp 20-21). This theme is introduced today with Reflections from Dr Thandi Gamedze, poet, theologian, and senior researcher at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice:

‘Growing up in South Africa, I was surrounded by the Church, but I didn’t know the full story of its role in our history. For decades, the voices of Black South Africans who resisted apartheid were often silenced or forgotten, even within faith communities. One of the most powerful examples is the Kairos Document, written in 1985 during a State of Emergency. It boldly confronted the Church’s complicity with apartheid and called people of faith to stand for justice. Reading it was like discovering a hidden heartbeat of courage and hope.

‘These stories inspired me to create Freedom Theologies: South Africa, a card game that brings these untold stories to life. Players explore moments like the Peace March of 1989 or the Christian Institute Agape meals, swapping stories and mapping them on timelines to see how the movement grew.

‘The game grew out of a simple idea: learning can be participatory and fun, but still deeply meaningful. These stories of everyday prophetic theologies and actions are really important because all of us have different roles to play in this work of ‘world making’. Whether that happens through art, or a march, or even something as simple as a weekly meal. That’s what the Cape Director of the Christian Institute did. The meals he hosted were more than food. It was a lively space where people connected, prayed, and planned together, fuelling the fight against apartheid with shared spirit and action. We could do with more of that.’

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 18 January 2026) invites us to pray as we read and meditate on John 1: 29-42.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of glory,
you nourish us with your Word
who is the bread of life:
fill us with your Holy Spirit
that through us the light of your glory
may shine in all the world.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Eternal Lord,
our beginning and our end:
bring us with the whole creation
to your glory, hidden through past ages
and made known
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The Lamb of God … a surviving detail in Saint Senanus Church, Foynes, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 10, Saturday 3 January 2026

‘On the Tenth Day of Christmas … Ten Lords a-Leaping’… Bishop David Walker of Manchester, who is the chair of USPG, is the Convenor of the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords

Patrick Comerford

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me … ‘ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five golden rings, four colly birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree’.

Although New Year’s Day has passed, and many of our New Year resolutions may even be forgotten, we are still in the season of Christmas, a 40-day season that lasts not until Epiphany (6 January), but until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February).

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.

‘This is the Lamb of God’ … Saint John the Baptist (left) with Christ in the centre depicted as the Good Shepherd and the Virgin Mary (right) … a stained-glass window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 1: 29-34 (NRSVA):

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and declared, ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” 31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.’ 32 And John testified, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.’

The Lamb of God depicted in a stained glass window in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Christian interpretation of the song ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ often sees the ten Lords a-Leaping as figurative representations of the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20: 1-17).

In modern Roman Catholic usage, today celebrates the Holy Name of Jesus, which is marked in most other traditions, including the Anglican and Lutheran traditions, on 1 January.

When I read this morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (John 1: 29-34), I am surprised when John the Baptist says of Jesus: ‘I myself did not know him’. For this is the same John who leapt for joy in the womb of his mother Elizabeth as soon as she heard the sound of the greeting of her pregnant cousin, the Virgin Mary.

How did John not know his cousin Jesus?

Yet, John also points to Jesus as ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’.

The Advent and Christmas repertoire of the choir of Saint Mary and Saint Giles, Stony Stratford includes ‘The Lamb’, a choral work written in 1982 by John Tavener (1944-2013) and one of his best-known works. It is a setting for unaccompanied SATB choirs of William Blake’s poem ‘The Lamb’ (1789).

‘The Lamb’ had its premiere in Winchester Cathedral on 22 December 1982, and was performed again two days later at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, on Christmas Eve. Since then, it has remained popular with many churches and choirs, especially around Christmas.

Tavener often composed pieces for family and friends. He wrote ‘The Lamb’ as a birthday present for his three-year-old nephew, Simon, without any intention of commercial success. He wrote ‘The Lamb’ on a car journey from South Devon to London, and completed it within 15 minutes. He said the work came to him ‘fully grown so to speak, all I had to do was to write it down.’

The chordal verses of ‘The Lamb’ feature a musical device that Tavener called the ‘joy-sorrow chord’, sung on the word ‘Lamb’. He used the chord in other pieces too, including ‘Funeral Ikos’ and ‘Ikon of Light’.

‘The Lamb’ is part of William Blake’s collection Songs of Innocence and Experience (1789). Blake’s poem draws primarily on the Agnus Dei and the concept of Jesus as the Lamb of God. His text highlights various binaries, including the contrast between youthful innocence and older age, and the pairing of lamb the animal with the Lamb of God.

Inspired by ‘The Lamb’ while reading Blake’s poetry, Tavener said ‘I read the words, and immediately I heard the notes.’

After finishing the composition, Tavener sent it to his publisher Chester Music, asking if they could share it with King’s College, Cambridge, for the service of Nine Lessons and Carols in 1982. When he saw the piece, Stephen Cleobury, Director of Music at King’s College, decided to include it, and ‘The Lamb’ has been popular with churches and choirs ever since.

The Lamb (William Blake and John Tavener:

Little Lamb who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee
Gave thee life and bid thee feed
By the stream and o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight
Softest clothing woolly bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice
Making all the vales rejoice!
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb I’ll tell thee,
Little Lamb I'll tell thee!
He is called by thy name
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek and he is mild
He became a little child:
I a child and thou a lamb
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb God bless thee.
Little Lamb God bless thee.

‘There is the Lamb of God’ … a detail in a window in Mount Melleray Abbey, Cappoquin, Co Waterford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 3 January 2026):

The theme this week (28 December 2025 to 3 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Mother and Child’ (pp 14-15). This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Programme Update by Imran Englefield, Individual Giving Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 3 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Loving God, we give thanks for the partnerships that make care possible at Mvumi Hospital. Bless the staff and the wider ministry of the Anglican Church of Tanzania.

The Collect:

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

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Heavenly Father,
whose blessed Son shared at Nazareth the life of an earthly home:
help your Church to live as one family,
united in love and obedience,
and bring us all at last to our home in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God in Trinity,
eternal unity of perfect love:
gather the nations to be one family,
and draw us into your holy life
through the birth of Emmanuel,
our Lord Jesus Christ.

Collect on the Eve of Christmas II:

Almighty God,
in the birth of your Son
you have poured on us the new light of your incarnate Word,
and shown us the fullness of your love:
help us to walk in his light and dwell in his love
that we may know the fullness of his joy;
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



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

How the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin became Saint Mary’s Cathedral 200 years after it was completed

Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Marlborough Street, Dublin, was the ‘pro-cathedral’ for 200 years until last month (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

During my visit to Dublin last week, I visited three churches in the north inner city: Saint Mary’s Cathedral, known for almost 200 years as the ‘Pro-Cathedral’, on Marlborough Street; Saint Francis Xavier Church, the Jesuit-run church popularly known as Gardiner Street Church, between Mountjoy Square and Dorset Street, which I wrote about on Wednesday (3 December 2025); and the former Welsh Church on Talbot Street, which I wrote about last night (6 December 2025).

Saint Mary’s Cathedral was known for 200 years as Saint Mary's Pro-Cathedral, until it was designated as the Roman Catholic cathedral for the Archdiocese of Dublin last month (November 2025).

Until 2025, Dublin had two cathedrals, both belonging to the Church of Ireland: Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, which is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland, and Christ Church Cathedral, which is the diocesan cathedral of Dublin and Glendalough. In contrast, the Roman Catholic Church had no cathedral in Dublin until last month (November 2025).

Last year, the Greek Orthodox church on Arbour Hill, the Church of the Annunciation, began serving as the cathedral of the new Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Ireland, established in 2024 under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and with the appointment of Metropolitan Iakovos. Then this year, the Romanian Orthodox Church upgraded the former Christ Church on Leeson Park as its cathedral in Dublin.

Inside Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Dublin, looking towards the liturgical east and the High Altar (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Pope Leo XIV granted cathedral status to Saint Mary’s last month (November 2025). Until then it was a ‘pro-cathedral’, meaning it was a provisional or acting cathedral. It had that title officially since 1886, although Saint Mary’s Church had used that designation unofficially since the 1820s.

Saint Mary’s Cathedral dates back to the repeal of the Penal Laws in the early 19th century. But for centuries, Roman Catholics in Dublin had been without a cathedral.

Many of the Penal Laws were cancelled by the late 18th century and early 19th century, and a number of early churches were built in the city centre, including Saint Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner Street (1829) and Saint Nicholas of Myra, Francis Street (1829-1834).

One of these ‘sprinkling pots’ or holy water fonts from Liffey Street Chapel can be seen in an outside wall of the cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Mary’s name is a reminder of Saint Mary’s Abbey, the great Benedictine and later Cistercian house in Dublin founded in the 12th century. Saint Mary’s was closed in 1539 at the Dissolution of the monastic houses during the Tudor Reformations. Marlborough Street, named after the 1st Duke of Marlborough, was the furthest eastern boundary of the abbey lands that were broken up and built on.

A new Church of Ireland parish of Saint Mary’s was formed in 1697, and Archbishop Edmund Byrne, who was in hiding, formed the Roman Catholic Parish of Saint Mary 10 years later in 1707. Father John Linegar (1671-1757), who had been ordained in Lisbon in 1694, became the first pastor of the new Saint Mary’s parish, a parish without church or chapel. He opened Saint Mary’s Chapel on Liffey Street in 1729.

Although it was listed officially as ‘Liffey Street mass-house’, it was a fine chapel with an altar, pulpit, paintings, confessionals, two galleries, several pews and two ‘sprinkling pots of black marble in chapel yard.’ One of these ‘sprinkling pots’ or holy water fonts is now inserted in the wall of the cathedral.

John Linegar became Archbishop of Dublin in 1734, and died in office on 21 June 1757.

Peter Turnerelli’s recumbent figure of Archbishop Troy is modelled on Isaia da Pisa's tomb of Pope Eugene IV in San Salvatore in Lauro, Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

When John Thomas Troy, a Dominican friar and Bishop of Ossory, was appointed Archbishop of Dublin in 1786, he petitioned Pope Pius VI to make Saint Mary’s his mensal parish, and he began to plan for a ‘dignified spacious church’ in a central location. Troy formed a committee that bought Annesley House, Lord Annesley’s Dublin townhouse on the corner of Marlborough Street and Elephant Lane (later Tyrone Place and now Cathedral Street), close to Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) in 1803. The site was chosen as the location for a new cathedral, pending the erection, when funds and the law allowed.

Troy announced a public competition in 1814, inviting designs for the new church. Lord Annesley’s townhouse was demolished in June 1814. The new church, built between 1815 and 1825, combines a number of styles: the exterior is in Greek revival style, while the interior is more Renaissance in style, based on the Church of Saint-Philippe du Roule of Paris.

Some believe the architect, known on the plans only by the initial ‘P’, was John Sweetman from Dublin, who had been living in exile in Paris since the 1798 Rising. A more likely opinion is that, although Sweetman sent the plans to Dublin, the architect was the French architect Louis Hippolyte le Bas, whose Church of Notre Dame de Lorette in Paris closely resembles Sain Mary’s, and that his identiry was kept secret as le Bas was Napoleon’s architect and Britain was at war with France.

The portico of Saint Mary’s is a copy of the Temple of Theseus or Theseion in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The design of Saint Mary’s combines a variety of styles: the exterior is Greek revival at its best, the front portico is a copy of the Temple of Theseus or Theseion in Athens, and the fluted Doric columns rise without bases from the podium or floor of the church; the interior is more Roman in style than Grecian.

A major alteration was the addition of a dome. One objector declared that ‘artistically and practically the dome was a mistake; it is no help to the preacher and constitutes a serious and unhappy departure from the graceful lines and principles of Grecian art.’ Another critic described it as ‘a beautiful deformity’.

A flag was flown from the dome in August 1821 to show that the shell of the building was completed. But money was scare, morale was low and in a renewed fundraising drive, Archbishop Troy, at the age of 83, went collecting from house to house.

Archbishop Daniel Murray celebrated the completion of the ‘Metropolitan Chapel’ 200 years ago on 14 November 1825 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The committee passed a resolution that this ‘splendid edifice be considered a National or Metropolitan rather that a Parish Chapel’ and in March 1823 Pope Pius VII sent a gold chalice, commissioned ‘for the new Cathedral being built in Dublin’. Dr Troy died two months later, on 11 May 1823. He had been the driving force behind the project, and his funeral Mass was the first Mass in the unfinished building.

Archbishop Daniel Murray of Dublin celebrated the completion of the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Chapel, as it was then called, 200 years ago on 14 November 1825, the feast of Saint Laurence O’Toole, patron saint of Dublin. The choir was directed by Haydn Corri and sang Mozart’s Grand Mass in C Minor, Ave Verum and Graun’s Te Deum. Most of the Irish hierarchy were present, and the preacher was James ‘JKL’ Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847) spoke at the reception afterwards.

To mark the end of the Penal Laws and the legislation for Catholic Emancipation, a special thanksgiving High Mass was celebrated in the cathedral in 1829. It was attended by Daniel O’Connell, who had taken took his seat as MP for Clare, having been elected the previous year.

As the first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin in centuries, O’Connell celebrated his election in 1841 by travelling in state to ‘the Pro-Cathedral’ for High Mass. When he died in Genoa on 15 May 1847, his heart was buried in Rome while his body was brought back to Dublin and laid in state in Saint Mary’s for four days before he was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

State funerals of major political figures there include Michael Collins, former presidents Seán T O’Kelly, Éamon de Valera and Patrick Hillery, and a former Lord Mayor of Dublin, Kathleen Clarke.

Cardinal Cullen’s marble monumenent is one the finest works by Sir Thomas Farrell (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Architects who worked on the cathedral over the past 200 years include Sir Richard Morrison and William Virtuvius Morrison, John B Keane, John Bourke, George Papworth and Ralph Byrne. The sculptures on the pediment by Thomas Kirk were completed in 1845 and depict the Virgin Mary flanked by Saint Laurence O’Toole and Saint Kevin of Glendalough.

Archbishop Murray and Cardinal Cullen are commemorated with two monuments in marble, among the finest work of the sculptor by Sir Thomas Farrell (1827-1900). Murray is seen in a kneeling pose. Around the base of the standing figure of Cullen are scenes depicting his life and work as archbishop, including his concern for the sick and poor, for training priests and for Catholic education.

John Hogan and other leading sculptors of the day carved memorials to the benefactors of the diocese. Among the gifts of altar plate is a silver-gilt chalice, paten and cruet set presented in 1856 in honour of Saint Laurence O’Toole by Mary Teresa Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, a descendant of the O’Toole family.

Inside Saint Mary’s Cathedral, lookingtowards the liturgical west from the apse behind the sanctuary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Mary’s was never intended to be anything other than a temporary acting cathedral, until funds were found to build a full cathedral, and a number of locations for a new cathedral were proposed. WT Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State (the equivalent of taoiseach or prime minister) from 1922 to 1932, once suggested the General Post Office on O’Connell, which had remained a burnt-out shell since the 1916 Rising. But the idea was not acted on and the GPO was restored as a post office.

John Charles McQuaid (1895-1973), who was Archbishop of Dublin in 1940-1972, bought the gardens in Merrion Square with plans to build a cathedral. But his proposals were never acted on and the gardens were eventually handed over to Dublin Corporation and opened to the public. At times, there were suggestions that one of the two Church of Ireland cathedrals in the city might be transferred to the Roman Catholic Church, but this never happened either.

In the meantime, most of the funds collected for building a new cathedral were spent on building new churches in the 1970s and 1980s in a fast-growing diocese.

Pope John Paul visited Saint Mary’s in 1992 and Pope Francis visited in 2018.

The front panel of Turnerelli’s original altar was incorprated in the new altar when it was moved after Vatican II (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Architecturally, the cathedral’s dramatic mixture of Greek and Roman styles has been controversial in the past, with different critics describing it as either an artistic gem or an eyesore.

The main aisle leads up to the High Altar, and behind it is a stained glass window of the Blessed Virgin Mary or Saint Mary. The stucco alto-rilievo of the Ascension is the work of John Smyth, while the High Altar was carved by Peter Turnerelli, a Belfast-born, Dublin-based sculptor with Italian parents.

In preparation for the Centenary of Catholic Emancipation in 1928 and the Eucharistic Congress in 1932, the floor space the church was extended on both sides in another unhappy alteration of John Sweetman’s original design. The elegant portico on the Cathedral Street side was walled up between the Doric columns, and what had once been Saint Kevin’s chapel in the north flank became simply open space within the church.

For most of its time, Saint Mary’s had a massive Victorian altar and reredos by Peter Turnerelli. They were removed in the late 1970s during reordering following the liturgical changes introduced at the second Vatican Council. The architect for these changes was Cathal O’Neill, Professor of Architecture in University College Dublin.

The reredos was removed, leaving just the tabernacle, although the front panel of the original altar was reinstated in the new altar, which was moved to the centre of a new paved area in an expanded sanctuary. The altar rails were also removed. The pulpit was moved too, to a position in a corner of the building.

The cathedral went on fire in the early 1990s, and although the fire was brought under control, there was considerable smoke damage in one corner of the building.

Looking towards the liturgical west end of Saint Mary’s Cathedral and the organ from the High Altar (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The original organ was built by the Dublin organ builder John White in the late 19th century. The present organ has some of White’s original pipework. The present façade of the organ dates from William Hill’s work around 1900. Later work was carried out by Henry Willis & Co in the 1930s, before JW Walker’s major rebuild in 1971 and a more recent refurbishment in 1995. The newly refurbished organ was inaugurated in a gala concert by Olivier Latry on 20 March 1996.

The organ is one of the finest examples in Ireland of the late 19th century grand Romantic organ, and many great organists have played it: Daniel Chorzempa, Xavier Darasse, Sir David Lumsden, Daniel Roth, Dame Gillian Weir, Arthur Wills, Olivier Latry and others.

The Titular Organist of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Gerard Gillen, was appointed in 1976; David Grealy was appointed Associate Organist in 2017. A chancel organ built by John White is on on the epistle (right) side of the High Altar.

The stucco alto-rilievo of the Ascension is by John Smyth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Mary’s is known for the resident choir, the Palestrina Choir, which had its origins in a boys’ choir formed in the 1890s by Vincent O’Brien, and Edward Martyn was the founding sponsor. Pope Pius X promoted the music of Palestrina as the standard to which liturgical music should aspire.

The Palestrina Choir was installed in the cathedral in 1903 and Vincent O’Brien was the director until 1946. The Palestrina Choir has attracted notable singers over the years, including Count John McCormack who was a member in 1904-1905. The present director of the choir is Blánaid Murphy.

During the school term, the Palestrina Choir sings at Sunday morning Solemn Latin Mass (Novus Ordo), Friday Vespers and Benediction (5:15 pm) and Mass (5:45 pm). A girls’ choir was formed in 2009.

Inside the dome of Saint Mary’s Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

More recently, there were proposals to name Saint Andrew’s Church, Westland Row, as the cathedral, but with last month’s decision, Saint Andrew’s has been declared a basilica and Saint Mary’s is now officially the cathedral of the city, the diocese and the archbishop – although it is likely to be known to generations to come in Dublin simply as ‘the Pro’.

As the architectural historian Christine Casey says, it ‘still ranks among the most powerful Greek Revival Church interiors in these islands.’

‘The Dublin Martyrs’, Margaret Ball (1584) and Francis Taylor (1621), bronze figures (2001) by Conall MacCabe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Further reading:

Christine Casey, Dublin (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005, Pevsner Architectural Guides, Buildings of Ireland series).

Peter Costello, Dublin Churches (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1989).

Dermod McCarthy, Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral Dublin (Dublin: Eason, 1988, the Irish Heritage series).

Saint Mary’s Cathedral seen from the grounds of the Department of Education, the former Model School and Scoil Chaoimhínon Marlborough Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)