Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 148, Saturday 3 October 2026

‘See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes’ (Luke 10: 19) … a Moroccan snake charmer in Tangier (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and tomorrow is the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVIII). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the life and work of George Bell (1881-1958), Bishop of Chichester, Ecumenist and Peacemaker.

In the Jewish calendar, Shemini Atseret or Shemini Atzeret (שְׁמִינִי עֲצֶרֶת) began at sunset last night (2 October) and ends at nightfall this evening (3 October). Shemini Atzeret is an intimate, sacred Jewish holiday on the 22nd day of Tishrei that immediately follows the seven days of Sukkot.

The word Shemini (שְׁמִינִי) means ‘eighth’, meaning it is the Eighth Day, or the ‘Eighth day of Assembly’, and it acts as a transition from the public celebrations of Sukkot to a quiet, personal closing moment with God. Atzeret (עֲצֶרֶת) comes from a Hebrew root that implies a ‘halt’ or ‘detention’, symbolising God asking the Jewish people to stay one extra day before returning to their regular routines. The customs and practices associated with Shemini Atzeret include a special prayer for winter rains, marking the start of the agricultural water season.

The holiday of Simchat Torah (שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה), which follows immediately after Shemini Atzeret, begins at sunset this evening (3 October) and ends at nightfall tomorrow (4 October), involves joyous Torah-dancing of Simchat Torah.

Later this morning, I hope to go to Το Στεκι Μασ / Our Place, the ‘pop-up’ coffee shop in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford, from 10:30 to 3 pm today. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

In search of the 70 on the way to Jerusalem … on Bridge Street, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 10: 17-24 (NRSVA):

17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ 18 He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

21 At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’

23 Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.’

The early 19th century Gothic door at No 70 Bridge Street, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

In our Gospel reading on Thursday (Luke 10: 1-12), when they were on the road to Jerusalem, Christ sent out the 72 – or the 70 – in mission, two by two. In the Gospel reading this morning (Luke 10: 17-24), they return, filled with joy and boasting, perhaps even exaggerating their experiences.

As I was saying two days ago, whether we speak of them as the 72 or the 70 depends on the translation we are reading and, in turn, the manuscripts the translations give greater weight to. In the Eastern Christian traditions, they are known as the 70 or 72 apostles, while in Western Christianity they are usually described as disciples.

The number 70 may derive from the 70 nations in Genesis 10, while the number 72 may represent the 12 tribes, as in the significance of the number of translators of the Septuagint, the symbolism of three days (24 x 3), and understanding the meaning of 144 (12 x 12), to appear again in the 144,000 in the Book of Revelation.

In translating the Vulgate, Saint Jerome selected the reading of 72. In modern translations, the number 72 is preferred in the NRSV, NIV, ESV and the New Catholic Bible, for example, but 70 figures in the NRSV Anglicised (NRSVA) and the Authorised or King James Version.

Some years back, when these two readings came together as one Sunday Gospel reading (Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20), I searched for a photograph that would illustrate the story of the 70, sent out in mission by Christ ahead of his journey on the road to Jerusalem.

I could find no speed signs for 70 kph on roads in Ireland or 70 mph in England – perhaps there are none, although they might have been suitable for a story about setting out on the road. Perhaps then, I thought, I might find a number 70 on a house or a shop on the streets of Cambridge.

It was hard to figure out where No 70 Sidney Street was in Victorian Cambridge. The older houses and shops have gone, and they have been replaced with an arcade of shops that includes Boots.

It would have suited my purpose if the former No 70 stood at the place where two plaques mark Charles Darwin’s lodgings on Sidney Street for his first year as an undergraduate at Christ’s College. But nothing was clear about the numbering on this part of Sidney Street, and I had to press on.

But later, as I made my way from Saint John’s College and the Round Church along Bridge Street towards the corner of Jesus Lane and Sidney Street and Sidney Sussex College, I came across Lindum House on 70 Bridge Street … a single doorway that I might have missed if I did not have this purpose in mind.

Discreetly located on the south-west side of Bridge Street, between 69 and 71 Bridge Street, the entrance archway to No 70 has a good early 19th century Gothic door. In the yard behind, No 70 was once the Flying Stag, a former public house, built in 1842 of brick, but incorporating a timber framed 17th century cell and 18th century fragments.

The door was firmly closed, and had the look of not being opened for years. But I understand this is a three-storey and three-storey building with attic ranges, sashes with glazing bars, and a tiled roof on an early lower build.

The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner notes that it is an 18th century building. The Survey of Cambridge by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments In 1959 described it as a mainly early 19th century building incorporating part of an 18th century structure.

I looked at the significance of the number 72 in my reflections on Thursday morning. But is there a further significance to the number 70 as 70 disciples go out on mission into Gentile territory?

The number 70 is assigned to the families of Noah’s descendants (see Genesis 10: 1-32). In Jewish tradition, 70 is the number of nations of the world, and this is repeated in the Book of Jubilees (44: 34), although it is not regarded as Biblical in almost every tradition. The Septuagint lists 72 names, and some translations of Saint Luke’s Gospel enumerates the 70 as 72. Could the number 70 represent a future mission to all nations?

In the wilderness, Moses was aided by 70 elders (see Exodus 24: 1, 9; Numbers 11: 16, 24-25).

The Septuagint or Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, takes its Latin name, abbreviated to LXX, the Roman numeral 70, from the Greek name for the translation, Ἡ τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα μετάφρασις (ton evdomekonta metaphrais), ‘The Translation of the Seventy.’

The Letter of Aristeas in the Second Century BCE says the Septuagint was translated in Alexandria at the command of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247 BCE) by 70 Jewish scholars (or, according to later tradition, 72 – six scholars from each of the Twelve Tribes) who independently produced identical translations.

Once again, we can see the confusion between the numbers 70 and 72. Is Saint Luke saying the 70 (or 72) represent the true words of God?

The Great Sanhedrin is described in rabbinic texts as the Court of 71, although no Biblical text ever refers to such an institution. It was regarded as the supreme authority in matters religious and civil, including the appointment of kings, authorising offensive wars, punishing idolatry and teaching Torah.

Do Jesus and the 70 – or the 72 – represent the new 71, the new Sanhedrin?

The figure 70 as a speed limit in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 3 October 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 27 September to 3 October 2026 (pp 42-43), has been ‘Power of Language’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a reflection by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

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

Gracious God, bless the Anglican Church in Mexico as it honours Spanish and Indigenous languages in worship and mission. May its work foster inclusion, preserve cultural identity, and bring hope and dignity to all communities.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
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, we pray that your grace
may always precede and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Gracious God,
you call us to fullness of life:
deliver us from unbelief
and banish our anxieties
with the liberating love of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity XVIII:

Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind
and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments
and win the crown of everlasting joy;
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

‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning’ (Luke 10: 18) … Sir Jacob Epstein’s Saint Michael and the Devil on the façade of Coventry Cathedral (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

59 million metres of waterways, 59 million tonnes of waste food, 59 million pages in a dictionary, 59 million readers of this blog

There are 59,000 km (59 million metres) of total waterways in England … boats on the Trent and Mersey Canal in Rugeley, Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

This month has been an exceptionally busy time on this blog, with a steady, overwhelming rise in viewing and reading figures. These figures reached 59 million late yesterday afternoon (28 September), having reached 58 million five days before that (23 September), 57 million five days earlier (18 September), and 56 million three days before that (15 September).

This is the eleventh time these figures have passed the million mark since the end of last month. In a steady climb, the figures reached 55 million on 12 September, 54 million two nights before that (10 September 2026), 53 million hits the day before that (9 September 2026), 52 million hits two days previously (7 September), 51 million on 5 September, 50 million on 4 September and 49 million on 31 August.

These viewing and readership figures are still overpowering, and this blog continues to reach volumes of readers I never expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 38 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone, and 10 million so far this month (September) soon after 10 pm last night.

This means half of all hits or reader figures have been within the past six months or so, with 29.5 million hits since 27 March 2026. I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year, the daily figures have often been overwhelming. September is already the busiest month for traffic on this blog, with 10 million hits so far in September, the highest total in any single month since I began blogging.

Of the 10 days of busiest traffic on this blog, seven of them have been in this month alone (1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 September), two were in May (1 and 14 May) and one was in April (29 April):

• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 671,341 (10 September 2026)
• 647,187 (5 September 2026)
• 618,234 (8 September 2026)
• 583,320 (11 September 2026)

• 563,301 (9 September 2026)
• 557,448 (12 September 2026)
• 525,719 (14 May 2026)
• 513,725 (7 September 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)

Although traffic has slowed down in the past week or so, the daily average this month has been more than 350,000 hits a day. Yet, I recall how 10 years ago, back in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000, or 30,000 a month.

The second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 20 volumes in 1989, with 59 million words of text (Photograph: Dan, mrpolyonymous on Flickr / CC BY 2.0 Wikimedia)

Some curious though random statistics help to put this new figure of 59 million into perspective:

Measles vaccination saved almost 59 million people, mainly children, from death between 2000 and 2024, according to figures from the World Health Organisation.

In Europe, 59 million tonnes of food are either lost or wasted every year. At the same time, 42 million people cannot afford a nutritious meal every other day.

The OED2, the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, was published on paper in 20 volumes in 1989, with 59 million words of text, 21,730 pages and 290,500 entries.

Italy has an estimated population of 59 million people.

It is estimated that 59 million adults in the United States are unpaid family caregivers for aging members of their families.

An estimated 59 million people require urgent protection and assistance in the Middle East and North Africa region.

There are 59 million millionaires in the world today and about 2,780 billionaires.

59 million metres is 59,000 km. There are 59,000 km of total waterways in England, but public access is highly restricted and heavily contested. While the total network spans tens of thousands of kilometres, the vast majority consists of non-navigable streams, tributaries, and rivers flowing through private land.

According to advocacy groups like Paddle UK (formerly British Canoeing), only 3.4% of rivers in England and Wales have an uncontested public right of navigation. Under English law, the banks and beds of most non-tidal rivers are privately owned, with landowners holding the right to restrict access for paddlers, swimmers and other recreational users.

Out of the 59,000 km, only 4,500 km are classified as Statutory Navigations. These include most managed canals and major rivers, such as the River Thames and River Trent, where legislation explicitly grants public access, usually managed through a licensing system.

59 million minutes amounts to 112 years, 2 months and 4 days. This means that if this blog was receiving just one hit a minute, I would need to have started blogging back in early July 1914, before the beginning of World War I.

I retired from active parish ministry 4½ years ago, on 31 March 2022. These days, though, about 150 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning, or more than 1,000 people each week. As this blog moves beyond 59 million hits, I am truly grateful today to the real readers among that 59 million. In particular, I am thankful for the faithful core group of people who join me in prayer, scripture reading and reflections each day.


How can tourists behave responsibly in Venice? … Italy has an estimated population of 59 million people (Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 141, Saturday 26 September 2026

A mask for the Carnival in Venice … do we hide our personae behind masks before other people … before God? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVII, 27 September). Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in this week in the Church Calendar have been known as Ember Days. The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Wilson Carlile (1847-1942), founder of the Church Army.

Today in the Jewish Calendar is Sukkot 5787, with Yom Tob Day 1 starting at sunset last night (25 September) and ending this evening (26 September), and Yom Tob Day 2 starting this evening and ending tomorrow evening (27 September).

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

Souvenir masks from a stall in Venice … do we hide our personae behind masks before other people … before God? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 9: 43b-45 (NRSVA):

43b While everyone was amazed at all that he was doing, he said to his disciples, 44 ‘Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands.’ 45 But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

Masks made of olive wood in a shop in Rethymnon … do we hide our personae behind masks before other people … before God? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

In Gospel reading at the Eucharist in the lectionary today (Luke 9: 43b-45), after Saint Peter’s profound confession of faith following the Transfiguration, and the stern order and command to the disciples not to tell anyone what has been seen and said, we hear how the disciples hear Jesus but do understand what he is saying, nor can they perceive what he means, and they are afraid to ask him to explain what he is saying.

When the disciples find that the meaning of what Jesus says is concealed from them, the word that is used, παρακαλύπτω (parakalýptō) is a rare word in the Bible. It does not refer to some sacred or religious mystery but to something that is hidden, covered alongside or front of someone, something that has a veil pulled over it, to cover it up, to cover over, to hide or conceal it, perhaps even to disguise it. In its use in classical Greek literature it can mean to cover by hanging, to disguise, to set aside, to ignore, or it can be used when talking about covering one’s face.

A similar word παρακάλυμμα (parakálymma) is used for anything that is hung up beside or hung up before something to cover it, a covering or curtain.

The Carnival of Venice (Carnevale di Venezia), which takes place in the days before Lent, is known for its elaborate masks. It grew in prestige and developed in its revelry in the 17th and 18th centuries, to the point that it became a symbol of licence and pleasure.

Mask-makers (mascherari) had a special position in Venetian society, with their own laws and their own guild. But the masks allowed many people to spend a large part of the year in disguise, hiding their secret lifestyles. When the Emperor Francis II occupied Venice, he outlawed the festival in 1797 and masks were strictly forbidden.

It was not until 1979 that the Carnival was revived in Venice. With it came the revival of the tradition of making carnival masks, and one of the most important events at the Carnival is the contest for la maschera più bella (‘the most beautiful mask’).

So often, we all have our own masks. We are afraid that others might see us or get to know us as we really are. We hide behind a persona, which is the Latin word for a theatrical mask. We are worried, ‘What if someone saw me for who I truly am?’ ‘What if they came face-to-face with what I am really like?’

But the Transfiguration invites us to a mutual face-to-face encounter with the living God. The inner circle of disciples, Peter, James and John, have ascended the mountain with Christ, and in the clouds they saw who he truly is: he is the God of Moses and Elijah, and the vision is so dazzling that they are dazzled and overshadowed by the cloud.

When they come back down the mountain, like Moses, there is a great crowd waiting for the healing that restores them to their place in the covenant with God.

The original Greek word for Transfiguration in the Gospels is μεταμόρφωσις (metamorphosis), which means ‘to progress from one state of being to another.’ Consider the metamorphosis of the chrysalis into the butterfly. Saint Paul uses this same word (μεταμόρφωσις) when he describes how the Christian is to be transfigured, transformed, into the image of Christ (II Corinthians 3: 18), he uses the word ‘icon’ of Christ.

The Transfiguration reveals not just who Christ should truly be in our eyes, but who we should be truly in God’s eyes. It is a reminder of our ultimate destiny, the ultimate destiny of all people and all creation – to be transformed and glorified by the majestic splendour of God himself. The Transfiguration points to the fulfilment of the Kingdom of God, when all of creation shall be transfigured and filled with light.

The Transfiguration is not just an Epiphany or Theophany moment for Christ, with Peter, James and John as onlookers. The Transfiguration is a story too of a miracle that reminds us of how God sees us in God’s own image and likeness, and how God sees us for who we are and who we are going to be, no matter how others see us, no matter how others dismiss us, not matter how others fail to understand us.

Throughout life, there is a temptation to accept our human nature as it appears now. But the Transfiguration of Christ offers the opportunity to look at ourselves not only as we are now, but take stock of what happened in the past that made us so, and to grasp the promise of what we can be in the future.

In the present and in the future, can we take ownership of who we have been as a child. Do we remember always that we are made in the image and likeness of God? As Saint Paul reminds us, we are icons of Christ.

We need no masks, no personae, in God’s presence. God sees us as we are: made in his own image and likeness, sees us for who we were, who we are and who we are going to be, no matter how others see us, no matter how others dismiss us.

No matter what others say about you, how others judge you, how others gossip or talk about you, how others treat you, God sees your potential, God sees in you God’s own image and likeness. God sees through all our masks and sees an icon of Christ. God knows you are beautiful inside and loves you, loves you for ever, as though you are God’s only child.

We are his beloved children in whom he is well pleased.

The Transfiguration depicted in the Church of the Transfiguration in Piskopianó, in the hills above Hersonissos in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford; click on image for full-screen viewing)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 26 September 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 20 to 26 September 2026 (pp 40-41), has been ‘For God and Country’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a reflection by Rosie Dawson, USPG Trustee and freelance journalist.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 26 September 2026) invites us to pray:

Father God, we pray for all who bear witness with perseverance such as human rights defenders, peacemakers, pastors, and communities at risk. Strengthen those who resist injustice, and sustain them with hope that does not disappoint.

The Collect of the Day:

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers
of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
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.

Collect (for the ministry of all Christian people):

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
you have taught us through your Son
that love is the fulfilling of the law:
grant that we may love you with our whole heart
and our neighbours as ourselves;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Post Communion Prayer (Ember Days):

Heavenly Father,
whose ascended Son gave gifts of leadership and service to the Church:
strengthen us who have received this holy food
to be good stewards of your manifold grace,
through him who came not to be served but to serve,
and give his life as a ransom for many,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Lord of creation,
whose glory is around and within us:
open our eyes to your wonders,
that we may serve you with reverence
and know your peace at our lives’ end,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity XVII:

Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
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

A mask from Venice in Carpe Diem café in Bray, Co Wicklow … do we hide our personae behind masks before other people … before God? (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: 134, Saturday 19 September 2026

‘When they hear the word … [they] bear fruit with patient endurance’ (Luke 8: 15) … fruit on sale in the market at Rialto in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVI). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Theodore of Tarsus (690), Archbishop of Canterbury.

Today is Stony Stratford’s Big Market Day and I may visit the Made in Stony Stratford craft fair in the Cock Hotel from 10 am to 4 pm. During the day, I hope to also pop into ‘To Steki Mas Extra’, an extra version of the Greek Community’s ‘pop-up’ café from 10:30 am to 3 pm in the Swinfen Harris Church Hall, beside the Greek Orthodox Church on London Road. In the afternoon I may catch some of the last game of the Cricket season at Stony Stratford Cricket Club. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The Sower and the Seed (see Luke 8: 4-15) … an image in the East Window in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 8: 4-15 (NRSVA):

4 When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 ‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7 Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8 Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

9 Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that

“looking they may not perceive,
and listening they may not understand.”

11 ‘Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. 14 As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.’

‘When it grew, it produced a hundredfold’ (Luke 8: 8) … blossoming trees and shaded gardens in Platanias in suburban Rethymnon, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

In the Gospel reading yesterday (Luke 8: 1-3), we hear how Jesus was going around the towns and villages, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, accompanied by the 12 disciples and a number of women who supported his work.

People from the town come to hear him, and he teaches them in this morning’s reading (Luke 8: 4-15) in the form of a parable, the well-known parable of the sower. The parable is told in two stages.

The first stage is the parable itself. The emphasis is on the sower sowing. He scatters the seed all over, as Jesus scatters his teaching among the people – in the towns and villages, in the countryside, on the mountainside, by the lakes and shore.

Some of the scattered seed falls on the path, some on rocks, some among brambles and some on good soil. Even though some of the seed that the sower scatters inevitably withers and dies, some which will find fertile soil and flourish.

So it is with the Word of God and the Word of Jesus. It is a message of confidence and hope for the future of the Kingdom. In the Gospel, it is Jesus’ disciples who are the fertile soil. Christ is the Sower, the seed is the Word, those spoken to are the soil.

Clear as the parable is, the disciples ask for an explanation. Jesus tells them that the inner secrets of the Kingdom are for them, they are given τὰ μυστήρια τῆς βασιλείας (ta mysteria tis basileias), the mysteries of the kingdom.

The word ‘mystery’ (μυστήριον, mysterion) refers to something hidden, a secret or religious mystery, not known to uninitiated, ordinary people. The Church came to use this word to refer to a sacrament, particularly to the Eucharist. We still use the word mystery in this way.

It is found at least three times in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer in referring to the Eucharist: ‘we … have duly received these holy mysteries’; ‘so shall ye be meet partakers of these holy mysteries’; and ‘he hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries, pledges of his love.’

We think of the word ‘mystery’ in terms of a genre of novel or a problem to be solved. But the word mystery in Greek is μυστήριον (mysterion, but usually as the plural μυστήρια, musteria).

It comes from the Greek word muo, to shut the mouth. It relates, therefore, to a secret teaching, the kind of revelation that is passed on in whispers, revealed only to the initiated.

In the Hebrew scriptures, God is the ‘revealer of mysteries’ (Daniel 2: 47). The Wisdom literature talks about ‘the secret purposes of God’ (see Wisdom 2: 22).

In the Gospels the word μυστήριον (mysterion) is used to refer to the secret meaning of parables (see Matthew 13: 11; Mark 4: 11; Luke 8: 4-15; Luke 9: 1-10).

This noun had originally been used in reference to the secrets of ancient mystery cults, but it is generally used in the plural in the New Testament to refer to a number of doctrines not known earlier in the Bible. Saint Paul uses it in a technical, theological sense, setting forth the notion that Christ is the mystery, the secret plan of God that has always been implicit in creation but is now made explicit in Christ. Christ is the predestined mystery of God revealed within the fullness of time. In receiving him, people receive salvation.

In many liturgies, the Eucharistic acclamation after the words of institution is: ‘The Mystery of Faith.’ In many Churches, when we celebrate the Eucharist, we are inviting people to approach Christ and to meet him in these sacred mysteries.

What if, in this morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist, Christ is scattering the Good News of the Kingdom among all people, offering it to all who will hear, whether they bear fruit or not, but is reminding the disciples, reminding us as the Church, that we have been entrusted with the sacred mysteries of the kingdom in the Eucharist?

If we hear and understand the word, then we are invited, sacramentally to meet Christ in the sacred mysteries, the Eucharist.

‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path’ (Luke 8: 5) … a pathway through the fields in Comberford, between Tamworth and Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 19 September 2026):

The theme this week (13 -19 September 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Witness as With-ness’ (pp 38-39). This theme was introduced last Sunday with a reflection by the Revd Canon Dr Peniel Rajkumar, Director of Global Mission and Theologian, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 19 September 2026) invites us to pray:

God of transformation, help me to become a “spect-actor” who joins your work in the world. May I trust that your power is revealed even in the most unexpected places.

The Collect:

God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit
upon your Church in the burning fire of your love:
grant that your people may be fervent
in the fellowship of the gospel
that, always abiding in you,
they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service;
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:

Keep, O Lord, your Church, with your perpetual mercy;
and, because without you our human frailty cannot but fall,
keep us ever by your help from all things hurtful,
and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Lord God,
defend your Church from all false teaching
and give to your people knowledge of your truth,
that we may enjoy eternal life
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity XVI:

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers
of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
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

‘When they hear the word … [they] bear fruit with patient endurance’ (Luke 8: 15) … summer blossoms on a tree in the old town in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is a time for reflection, repentance, renewal and reimagination

An Atlantic sunset seen near Milltown Malbay, Co Clare … Rosh Hashanah is a time for ‘Crossing the Bridge from the Particular to the Universal’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year 5787, begins at sunset tomorrow evening (Friday 11 September 2026) and continues until nightfall on Sunday (13 September 2026).

Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה‎) literally means ‘head of the year’. According to Jewish tradition, this holiday commemorates the creation of humanity and serves as a day of divine judgment. It is the first of the High Holy Days and begins the Ten Days of Repentance, culminating in Yom Kippur.

Rosh Hashanah is marked on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month in the Hebrew calendar. The central ritual is the sounding of the shofar or ram’s horn, and festive meals feature symbolic foods representing hopes for a sweet new year.

Rosh Hashanah is a time of introspection and atonement. The central theme and practice not only of Rosh Hashanah, but of the entire autumn holiday season, is teshuvah (תְּשׁוּבָה), a word commonly translated as ‘repentance’ but that more literally means ‘return’ or ‘turn around’.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the holiday that follows 10 days later, are intensely focused on teshuvah. Yom Kippur, which follows, begins at sunset on Sunday 20 September 2026 and ends at nightfall on Monday 21 September 2026. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day in the Jewish calendar, and marks the peak of the High Holidays.

Many Jews see this as a time to make amends or apologise to those they have wronged in the past year and resolve to do better in the year about to begin. One of the common practices of Rosh Hashanah is attending synagogue services and hearing the blowing of the shofar, or ram’s horn, the central mitzvah of the holiday. Another well-known practice is the Tashlich (תשליך) service, in which sins are symbolically cast into a natural body of running water.

The foods most associated with Rosh Hashanah are apples and honey, eaten as an expression of hope for a sweet new year. There is also a tradition of eating other symbolic foods at Rosh Hashanah meals, including pomegranates, dates, leeks and a fish head – all symbolic of a wish for the year to come.

On the second night of Rosh Hashanah it is customary to eat a new fruit, a symbol of newness. It is also customary to have big feasts on both nights of Rosh Hashanah and the many customary dishes include honey cake, brisket and tzimmes.

The traditional greeting on Rosh HaShanah is ‘shanah tovah umtukah’ (שָׁנָה טוֹבָה וּמְתוּקָה‎) which means ‘may you have a good and sweet new year’. This greeting is often shortened to ‘shanah tovah’ (שָׁנָה טוֹבָה‎), ‘a good year’.

A more formal greeting is ‘L’shanah tovah tikateivu v’teichateimu’ (לְשָׁנָה טוֹבָה תִּכָּתְבוּ וְתֵחָתֵמוּ‎), which means ‘a good year, and may you be inscribed and sealed (for blessing in the Book of Life)’. Another greeting is ‘tizku l'shanim rabot’ (תזכו לשנים רבות‎), which means ‘may you merit many years’.

Some people say ‘chag sameach’ (חג שמח‎), but strictly speaking chag sameach should only be on the three pilgrimage festivals, Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

Another traditional greeting for Ashkenazi Jews on both Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur is a Yiddish greeting, ‘gut yontif,’ ‘good holiday’. Sephardic Jews may offer a greeting in Ladino, ‘anyada bueno, dulse, i alegre’, ‘may you have a good, sweet, and happy new year.’

The foods associated with Rosh Hashanah, including apples, honey, pomegranates and dates, express hopes for a sweet new year

Yolanda Savage-Narva is the former vice president of Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) for the Union for Reform Judaism in the US. For more than 20 years, she worked with Tribal governments to strengthen public health systems, promoted pedestrian safety and advocacy, coining the phrase ‘walking is a civil right’ and worked on health equity. More recently, she was the executive director with Operation Understanding DC, promoting understanding, cooperation, and respect while fighting to eradicate racism, antisemitism and discrimination.

In a reflection written last year for Rosh HaShanah, she talked about the period between Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, as a timely opportunity for renewal, reflection, and repentance: ‘It gives us a chance to repair ourselves through tikkun atzmi by embracing the particular, so that we can do our part of repairing the world, tikkun olam by embracing the universal.’

She wrote how, as a Jew, she found herself yearning for the opportunity for reflection, repentance, renewal, and reimagination. She continued: ‘There are so many injustices in the world that I cannot point to just one or create a hierarchy in my heart about which atrocity is more inhumane’.

As a resident of Washington DC, she said, she has a front row seat to an occupied territory: ‘People of Latinx descent are afraid to leave their homes for fear of being captured like wild animals and shipped off to a country they know nothing about. As a resident of the United States, I am witnessing with horror the dismantling of every system imaginable: public health access; environmental protections; transportation infrastructure; and so many other initiatives that serve to protect the most marginalised in our society; the continued daily scourge of racism; the rise of antisemitism and all forms of hatred; and the rule of law are all in question. As a global citizen, I am watching with hopelessness and despair the continued loss of life from Gaza to Haiti to Ukraine and places in between.’

She asked how Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur could be used to think about how we contribute to the universal idea of the Divine spark in every human being: ‘How do we ensure that every human being knows and understands that this soil (our Earth) belongs to all of us and is our rightful home?’

She went on to make four suggestions:

‘First, we REFLECT by going inward. We explore those places inside of ourselves that have gone unchallenged. We commit, as individuals, to being a part of the universe that will bring justice and liberation. We must look into the mirror, challenge our assumptions and our biases, and add tools to our toolbox that will help us understand that the choices we make as individuals impact the sum of us.

‘Second, we REPENT. We learn from our mistakes and account for any harm we have had a hand in. We don’t stay there, but we do acknowledge what we have done to be hurtful, to not be helpful, when we could or should have.

‘Third, we RENEW by embracing the darkness. Darkness does not mean bad or evil in the way we have been taught by those that teach things. I see darkness as an opportunity for true transformation, true growth, true nourishment. What truly happens in darkness – at night we sleep, replenishing our body and mind, we collect our memories and store them for a future time. The soil provides nutrients that make things grow, a black hole; objects are transformed in a way that, if they could come back out, they would be different.

‘Fourth, we REIMAGINE. In the words of Muhammad Ali, “If the heart can conceive it, the mind can achieve it.” We are building from the ground up. There are a few things that we will be able to rebuild and most certainly will not be the same. Embrace the opportunity to reimagine and rebuild.’

In preparation for the High Holy Days, she implored readers not merely to read or hear the words from ancient text, but to ‘allow the words to embody our spirits and awaken our souls to the fact that, although we act as individuals, we are inextricably bound together to serve and honour all of humanity.’

She concluded: ‘The core Jewish principle from the Talmud that calls Jews to realise that, if we save one person, it is as if we have saved the world is fundamental. If we are all doing our part to save one person, we are, in fact, saving the world. When we see each individual soul as being made in the Divine Image (b’tzelem Elohim), we are embracing and crossing the bridge from the individual (particular) and the universal (all of humanity).’

The late Chief Rabbi, Lord (Jonathan Sacks), writing about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, said: ‘Those who fully engage in the spirit of Rosh Hashanah emerge into the new year charged, energised, focussed, renewed, knowing that to be a Jew is to live life in the Presence of God, to sanctify life for the sake of God, and to enhance the lives of others – for where we bring blessings into other lives, there God lives.’

Walking by the shore by Giudecca in Venice … Rosh Hashanah is an opportunity for reflection, repentance, renewal, and reimagination (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

53 million unfinished books, 53 million at risk from floods, 53 million famine deaths, and 53 million blog readers or hits

About 53 million people across Europe live in regions that are at risk from floods (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This month is proving to be exceptionally busy time on this blog, with an overwhelming rise in figures for viewing and reading. These figures reached a total of 53 million hits by late this afternoon (9 September 2026), passing the million mark for the fifth time since the end of last month. The figures reached 52 million hits two days ago (7 September), only two days after reaching 51 million late on Saturday (5 September), 50 million the day before (4 September) and 49 million four days previously (31 August).

I continue to find these viewing and readership figures overpowering, and this blog continues to reach volumes of readers I never expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 32 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone.

This means two-thirds of readers or hits have been this year alone (32 million out of a total of 53 million), and half of all hits or reader figures have been in little more than six months, with 26.5 million since 3 March 2026. I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures have often been overwhelming. Of the 10 days of busiest traffic on this blog, six or more than half of them were in this month alone (1, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 September), two were in May (1 and 14 May) and two were the previous month (29 and 30 April):

• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 647,187 (5 September 2026)
• 618,234 (8 September 2026)
• 563,301 (9 September 2026)*
• 525,719 (14 May 2026)

• 513,725 (7 September 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 407,835 (4 September 2026)
• 356,335 (1 September 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2026)

The daily average has been about 490,000 a day so far this month. Yet, I recall how 10 years ago, back in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000, or 30,000 a month.

Floods in Saint Mark’s Square, Venice … about 53 million people across Europe live in regions identified as being at risk from floods (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Some curious though random statistics help to put this new figure of 53 million into perspective:

The richest 1% of the population in the United Kingdom holds wealth equivalent to the combined bottom 80%, or 53 million people.

According to Professor Alex de Waal of Tufts University, five men – Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, King Leopold II of Belgium and Pol Pot – each deliberately made famines that killed more than a million people, with a total of 53 million deaths, almost 40 per cent of aggregate global famine mortality since 1870.

The Securitas depot robbery in Tonbridge 20 years ago was the largest cash heist in the UK. It began with a kidnapping on the evening of 21 February 2006 and ended in the early hours of 22 February, when seven criminals stole almost £53 million. The gang left behind another £154 million because they did not have the means to move it.

About 53 million people across Europe live in regions identified as being at risk for floods.

Calculations earlier this year show that the EU population will fall by 11.7 per cent by 2100, losing approximately 53 million people. Japan’s population is projected to fall from a peak of 128 million in 2017 to less than 53 million by the end of the century.

About 53 million books are left unfinished in the UK each year because busy readers run out of time. Research shows that roughly 53,094,541 books are abandoned annually before reaching the final chapter.

53 million minutes is equal to 100 years, 9 months and 7 days. This means that if this blog was receiving just one hit a minute, I would need to have started blogging back at the turn of 1925 and 1926.

I retired from active parish ministry about 4½ years ago, on 31 March 2022. These days, though, about 150 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning, or more than 1,000 people each week.

This evening, as this blog moves beyond 53 million hits, I am truly grateful to the real readers among that 53 million. In particular, I am thankful for the faithful core group of people who join me in prayer, scripture reading and reflections each day.

*Figure update at midnight to give the total figure for 9 September 2026

About 53 million books are left unfinished in the UK every year, abandoned before readers reach the final chapter (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 115, Monday 31 August 2026

Reading from the scrolls in the synagogue … ‘Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur,’ Maurycy Gottlieb (1856-1879), Vienna, 1878 (Tel Aviv Museum of Art)

Patrick Comerford

We have arrived at the end of the month, and this is the August bank holiday weekend here. We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIII, 30 August 2026). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Aidan (651), Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘He stood up to read and … he unrolled the scroll’ (Luke 4: 18-19) … a scroll in the Jewish Museum in the Ghetto in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 4: 16-30 (NRSVA):

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ 23 He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum”.’ 24 And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

‘He went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom’ (Luke 4: 16) … inside the Etz Hayyim Synagogue in Chania, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

This morning we begin a series of readings in Saint Luke’s Gospel that bring us to the end of the Church year.

In this morning’s Gospel reading, we find ourselves at the beginning of Jesus’ public life. After his baptism by Saint John the Baptist (see Luke 3), he returns to Galilee and his home towns of Capernaum and Nazareth, the small towns where he has spent his early years.

In this reading, Jesus not only returns to his home region, but he also lays out the agenda or reads the manifesto for his ministry for the coming years, yet sets the scene for his rejection by his own people.

The reading opens with Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as is his custom. He is called up to read the Scripture and comments on it. The synagogue was controlled by a board of elders and by the chazzan or attendant. On Saturdays, the sabbath service began with the shema, ‘Hear O Israel …’, a simple declaration of faith (see Deuteronomy 6: 4-9), and included prayers, fixed readings from the Torah or the first five books of the Bible, a reading from the Prophets, a sermon, and a blessing.

The two readings were in Hebrew, with a running translation into the vernacular, that was normally Aramaic but might have been Greek in some places. It would have been normal for literate adult male Jews to be called in turn to read the Scriptures in the synagogue: first those who were of priestly descent, the Cohanim, then the Levites, and then the other Israelites. So, on this particular Saturday, Jesus may have been the third person called on to read, or he may even have been further down the list.

The scroll of Isaiah is given to him by the chazzan or attendant, who combines the functions that we might associate with a sexton, verger, churchwarden and Sunday school teacher. And it is to him that Christ returns the scroll when he is finished reading from it (verse 20).

The portion Christ reads from (verse 18-19) is actually three verses, and they do not come in sequence: Isaiah 61: 1, part only of verse 2, and a portion of Isaiah 58: 6. So, even if Christ had been handed a pre-selected portion of Scripture to read, he makes a deliberate choice to roll back the scroll and to insert a portion of an extra verse, Isaiah 58: 6.

Having read while standing, Christ then sits down, the normal posture at the time for someone who is about to teach. When he sits down, all eyes are on him (verse 20), so it is he and he alone who is expected to preach and teach that morning. The reading may need explaining and interpretation before the people who hear it realise they have just heard good news.

Christ tells the people in the synagogue that the Scripture is fulfilled in their hearing. Scripture has not been read that morning just to comply with part of the ritual; it actually has immediate meaning, significance and relevance that day. Christ is not merely reading the words, he is promising to see them put into action, to transform hope into reality.

His reading from Isaiah amounts to his manifesto or mission statement:

• to bring good news to the poor
• to proclaim release to the captives
• recovery of sight to the blind
• to set free those who are oppressed
• to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

The ‘year of the Lord’s favour’ is the Messianic age when salvation would be proclaimed. Isaiah, in the original text, is describing the Year of Jubilee, when every 50 years slaves were set free, debts were cancelled and ancestral lands were returned to the original family.

As he finished the reading, Jesus put down the scroll and said: ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’ (verse 21).

At first, those who hear him are overawed by his words and his wisdom. But there is an unexpected turn of events as the people wondering why he is not doing in Nazareth what he has been doing in Capernaum and other places.

Jesus reminds them that prophets are seldom accepted in their own place, and gives two provocative examples: Elijah, who was sent to a poor widow in Zarephath, near Sidon, a Phoenician city beyond Tyre; and Elisha, who healed Naaman, a gentile general from Syria.

His remarks so anger the people of Nazareth that they think of killing Jesus.

Driven out of that synagogue and out of town, I think of Christ having three options:

1, To allow himself to be silenced.

2, To keep on preaching in other synagogues, but to never put into practice what he says, so that those who are worried have their fears allayed and realise he is no threat.

3, To preach and to put his teachings into practice, to show that he means what he says, that his faith is reflected in his priorities, to point to what the Kingdom of God is truly like.

Christ takes the third option, as we see as the readings in Saint Luke’s Gospel continue. He brings good news to the poor, he releases this poor captive, he can now see things as they are and as they ought to be, the oppressed may go free, and all are amazed.

This morning’s Gospel reading is good news, and not just to the poor and oppressed in Nazareth in the past. Who are the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed among us today?

How do we respond to them and their needs?

Do we remain others take to the streets of our town and cities, outside hotels and in our public spaces, to further oppress them, even using the law and misusing the symbolism of the cross to further their violent actions?

And what do we do so that the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed among us know that we believe compassion for them is at the heart of Christ’s ministry, message and mission?

‘He stood up to read and … he unrolled the scroll’ (Luke 4: 18-19) … a scroll in the Klausen Synagogue in Prague (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 31 August 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 30 August to 5 September 2026 (pp 34-35), is ‘Anglican Youth Tackle Waste in Madagascar’. This theme was introduced yesterday with a Programme Update by Ialy Tongasoa, Community Development Lead, Diocese of Toliara, Madagascar.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 31 August 2026) invites us to pray:

Dear God, bless the Anglican youth of Madagascar as they learn about protecting and restoring the environment. Give them courage and energy to inspire their communities too.

The Collect:

Everlasting God,
you sent the gentle bishop Aidan
to proclaim the gospel in this land:
grant us to live as he taught
in simplicity, humility and love for the poor;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

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

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Saint Aidan depicted in a panel on the altar in Saint Chad’s Church, Lichfield (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

‘Adoration of the Torah’ by Artur Markiowicz (1872-1934) in the Jewish Museum in the Old Synagogue, Kraków (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 109, Tuesday 25 August 2026

‘For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence’ (Matthew 23: 25) … teacups in a painting in a restaurant in Listowel, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and the week began with the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XII).

I am singing with the choir at a funeral in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, later this afternoon. But before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘You … have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith’ (Matthew 23: 23) … the statue of Justice by John Van Nost (1721) in Dublin Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 23: 23-26 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 23 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practised without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

25 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.’

‘For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law’ (Matthew 23: 23) … two Sabbath spice boxes, part of the ritual of welcoming the Sabbath, in the Jewish Museum, Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

In the Beatitudes at the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says eight groups of people are blessed: ‘the poor in spirit … those who mourn … the meek … those who hunger and thirst for righteousness … the merciful … the pure in heart … the peacemakers … those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness …’ (Matthew 5: 3-10).

Now, as we come close to the end of this Gospel, we have seven groups of people who are condemned as hypocrites and against whom Jesus pronounces seven woes.

In the Gospel reading normally read on the Monday of this week, we hear the first three of these seven woes: woe to you who ‘lock people out of the kingdom of heaven’ (verse 13) … who ‘make the new convert twice as much a child of hell’ (verse 15) … and ‘blind guides’ who swear by the ‘gold of the sanctuary’ (verses 16-22).

We hear two further woes today (Matthew 23: 23-26): for those who tithe mint, dill, and cummin but neglect the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith; and these who care about the details of domestic purity but neglect the cleanliness of their hearts and inner thoughts. Then, we hear the final of the seven woes tomorrow (Matthew 23: 27-32): a double woe on those who on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

A ‘woe’ is an exclamation of grief, similar to what is expressed by the word alas. In pronouncing woes, Jesus is prophesying judgment on the religious leaders of the day for their hypocrisy. He calls them hypocrites, blind guides, snakes and a ‘brood of vipers’.

Before Jesus condemns the hypocrisy of religious leaders, they have been following him to test him and try to trick him with questions about divorce (Matthew 19: 3), his authority (Matthew 21: 23), paying taxes to Caesar (Matthew 22: 17), the resurrection (Matthew 22: 23), and the greatest commandment of the law (Matthew 22: 36).

Jesus prefaces his seven woes by explaining to the disciples that they should obey the teachings of the religious leaders – as they teach the law of God – but not to emulate their behaviour because they do not practice what they preach (Matthew 23: 3).

The second grouping of these woes, which we read today, condemns the scribes and Pharisees for tithing mint, dill, and cummin but neglecting the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faith, for worrying about clean cups and plates outside, but neglecting the state of their inner thoughts (Matthew 23: 23-26).

The scribes and Pharisees are accused of making a big deal of small things like tithing spices, while they ignore more crucial matters. They diligently count their mint leaves to give every tenth one to the temple, but they neglect the more important matters of the law, such as justice, mercy and faith (verse 23).

Jesus is not saying tithing the mint, dill, and cumin is wrong. He says they should not neglected proper tithing, but it must be done with a good heart. Jewish law and tradition specifies tithes on some produce, generally food. But there was no tithe required for wild herbs, although this is debated in the Mishnah: ‘R. Eliezer says, “Dill is subject to the law of tithes [in regard to its] seeds, leaves and pods.” But Sages say, “Nothing is subject to the law of tithes [in regard to both its] seeds and leaves save cress and field rocket alone”.’ (m. Ma’as. 4: 5).

There is an issue of justice here. If a tithe that is not required in the law is demanded, then it not only deprives them of what is lawfully theirs, but in this case it may even deprive them of fully enjoying the Sabbath.

On the Sabbath, it is said, the ‘Sabbath Queen’ or the ‘Sabbath Bride’ descends from Heaven to heal the sufferings of the Jews. The arrival and departure of ‘Her Majesty’ is marked by ceremonies. When she enters, everybody is happy; when she leaves, there is a strange sadness. But people take comfort in a symbolic tradition that includes inhaling the aroma of spices contained in an ornamental box, often made of silver, the spice box.

Spice-boxes are an essential part of Havdalah (הַבְדָּלָה, ‘separation’), the ceremony marking the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushering in the new week. The spices are usually kept in decorative spice-boxes to beautify and honour the mitzvah and are handed around so that everyone can smell the fragrance. In many Sephardi and Mizrahi communities, branches of aromatic plants are used for this purpose, while Ashkenazim have traditionally used cloves.

A special braided Havdalah candle with more than one wick is lit, and a blessing is recited. If a special Havdalah candle is not available, two candles can be used, and the two flames joined when reciting the blessing. The traditional prayers include: ‘Praised are You, Adonai our God, who rules the universe, Creator of all kinds of spices.’

Turning to hyperbole, Jesus says the religious leaders can strain out a gnat when they are drinking but can swallow a camel (verse 24). In other words, they were careful to avoid offence in minor things of little importance, but ignore things that are much more difficult to swallow.

In the fifth woe, Jesus compares them to cups and plates that are scrupulously cleaned on the outside but left dirty inside. Their religious observances make them appear clean and virtuous, but inwardly, in their hearts, they are full of ‘greed and self-indulgence’ (verse 25).

It is not that washing my hands or cutlery and crockery before I eat is a bad idea, or that I am a hypocrite if I do so. If I habitually fail to wash my hands and the cups and plates before I eat, I am going to get sick, quickly and often.

But if I forget why I have to wash them, I am a hypocrite if I then expect others to do so. Indeed, sometimes we leave ourselves in danger of going hungry if we insist on everything being spotless before we eat: those facilities are not always to hand on a long train journey or a long flight, for flight, or while I’m at an all-day cricket match or at a rugby fixture.

The Pharisees had their own rituals, and I would be silly to think that only they had these problems. We all have our own rituals associated with eating and cleanliness.

It is said one of the principal causes of domestic arguments in the kitchen is about what way to stack the dishwasher, and how to empty it. Should the knives stand up or down? Which sides do you place the glasses and the cups on? Do you rinse the plates before they go in? To tell the truth, it probably does not matter. But it is still irritating to open the dishwasher and to find someone else has packed it.

The level of questioning of the Pharisees is about a ritual that is probably more important than how to stack the dishwasher. And the level of criticism from Jesus is not as rude as we might first think.

But when he says the Pharisees are hypocrites, Jesus is challenging them to drop the mask and to own the words they speak and to own the reasons for those rituals.

Can you imagine how much more positively people at large would view the churches if every parish and church put as much care into seeing that our children are not abused or infected with racism or discrimination or hatred as much as we put into seeing that the cups are clean for the tea and coffee after church, or as much as we attend to the cleanliness of the sacred vessels used for the Eucharist or Holy Communion?

If we are worried about how clean the patten and chalice are at Holy Communion, how clean the church is, how clean the coffee cup is when it comes out of the dishwasher, how much more should be worried about how clean the Church is as an institution, how worthy it is to be called – for us to be called – the Body of Christ.

‘For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate’ (Matthew 23: 25) … a cup of coffee at Pavlos Beach in Platanias, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 25 August 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 23 to 29 August 2026 (pp 32-33), is ‘Legacies of History’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by the Revd Dr Rachele Evie Vernon O’Brien, a Jamaican-born theologian and advocate.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 25 August 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord God, forgive us for where our words have not matched our actions. Renew us, your Church, to live out the love we proclaim.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of 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 all mercy,
in this eucharist you have set aside our sins
and given us your healing:
grant that we who are made whole in Christ
may bring that healing to this broken world,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of constant mercy,
who sent your Son to save us:
remind us of your goodness,
increase your grace within us,
that our thankfulness may grow,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin’ (Matthew 23: 23) … the former Tithe Barn in Thame, Oxfordshire (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