52 million civilian war dead, 52 million missing £50 notes, 52 million light years away, 52 million readers of this blog

The National Monument of Scotland on Calton Hill, Edinburgh … the first £52 million from the Scottish Local Growth Fund for Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland was released last week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

These are exceptionally busy days on this blog, with an overwhelming rise in figures for viewing and reader hits. These figures climbed to a total of 52 million hits by late last night (7 September 2026), passing the million mark for the fourth time since the end of last month and only two days after reaching 51 million late on Saturday night (5 September 2026). These figures come soon after reaching 50 million four days ago (4 September 2026) and 49 million four days previously (31 August 2026).

I continue to find these viewing and readership figures overpowering at times, 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 31 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone.

Half of all hits or reader figures have been in little more than six months, with 26 million hits since 1 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 are overwhelming on many occasions. Of the 10 days of busiest traffic on this blog, four were this month (1, 4, 5 and 7 September 2026), two were in May (1 and 14 May 2026), three were the previous month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), and one was in March.

• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 647,187 (5 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)
• 323,156 (27 March 2026)
• 322,038 (26 April 2026)

The daily average was about 118,700 hits a day throughout August, but it has been about 430,000 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.

Estimates suggest 52 million old paper £50 banknotes are still unreturned across the UK

Some curious though random statistics help to put this new figure of 52 million into context:

Colombia has an area of 1.15 million sq km and a population of around 52 million, and South Korea has a population of almost 52 million.

Westminster City Council recently approved a £52 million package of investment focused on improving neighbourhoods, supporting local businesses and tackling inequalities as part of its 2026/2027 budget.

The UK Government last week released the first £52 million from the £140 million Scottish Local Growth Fund to Edinburgh and South East Scotland, Glasgow, Tay Cities, Ayrshire and Forth Valley. Local leaders across Scotland will decide how this £52 million is spent, backing jobs and growth where they are needed most.

Civilian deaths significantly exceeded military deaths in World War II. Aggregated national estimates indicate approximately 24.8 million military deaths, compared with about 52 million civilian deaths, including roughly 32.1 million from military activity and war crimes and 20 million from war-related famine and disease.

ARP 214 is a peculiar barred spiral galaxy around 52 million light years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation in the Northern Sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name, meaning greater or larger bear, refers to and contrasts it with nearby Ursa Minor, the lesser bear. In antiquity, it was one of the original 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE, drawing on earlier works by Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian and Assyrian astronomers. It is the third largest of the 88 modern constellations.

NGC 3079 is a starburst spiral galaxy located 52 million light-years from Earth. It has a horseshoe-shaped structure at its centre that indicates the presence of a supermassive black hole. The structure itself is formed by superwinds from the black hole.

The timing of the collision of continents of the Asian and Indian plates, marking the start of the formation of the Himalayan mountain range, has been subject to much discussion in geology. PhD research by Wentao Huang at Utrecht University has found that this began 52 million years ago.

The Indian and Asian plates started moving towards each other, and met about 52 million years ago. A block from the Indian plate collided with the continental block of the Asian plate, and formed the Himalayas.

It is estimated that 52 million old paper £50 banknotes are still unreturned, sitting in homes or circulating across the UK. The older paper £50 note features Matthew Boulton and James Watt. Paper £20 and £50 notes stopped being accepted as legal tender in October 2022 when they were replaced by polymer plastic versions.

52 million minutes is equal to approximately 98 years, 10 months and 13 days. This means that if this blog was receiving just one hit a minute, I would need to have started blogging back in mid-1927.

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 52 million hits, I am truly grateful to the real readers among that 52 million. In particular, I am thankful for the faithful core group of people who join me in prayer, scripture reading and reflections each day.


The Indian and Asian plates started moving towards each other, and met about 52 million years ago. A block from the Indian plate collided with the continental block of the Asian plate, and formed the Himalayas

50 million in modern slavery, 50 million Black Death victims, 50 million European ancestors, 50 million readers of this blog

Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster … the UK has a target to welcome 50 million international visitors annually by the year 2030 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Yet again I am overwhelmed by the viewing and reading figures for this blog. These figures reached a total of 50 million before dawn early this morning (4 September 2026). This comes soon after reaching the 49 million mark four days ago (31 August 2026), and passing the million mark on three other days last month: 48 million (24 August), 47 million (17 August) and 46 million (9 August).

I continue to find these viewing and reading figures overpowering at times, 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 29 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone.

Half of all hits or reader figures have been in little more than six months, with 25 million hits since 25 February 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 are overwhelming on many occasions. Of the 10 days of busiest traffic on this blog, one was this month (1 September 2026), three were in May (1, 6 and 14 May 2026), three were the previous month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), two in March, and one in February:

• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 525,719 (14 May 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 356,335 (1 September 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2026)

• 323,156 (27 March 2026)
• 322,038 (26 April 2026)
• 318,835 (6 May 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)
• 314,018 (28 February 2026)

The daily average was about 118,700 hits a day throughout August. Yet, I recall how 10 years ago, back in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000, or 30,000 a month.

A large family tree of the Wedgwood and Darwin families in Erasmus Darwin House, Lichfield … mathematical projections in genealogy show how we are all related (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

To put this new figure of 50 million into context:

Modern slavery entraps 50 million people on any given day: about 28 million people are working under duress in private economies, state projects or commercial exploitation, 22 million are living in forced marriages without consent, and one in four victims of modern slavery is a child.

Around 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, making it one of the most common neurological diseases globally.

The UK government has set an official target to welcome 50 million international visitors annually by the year 2030. Greece too aims to attract 50 million annual tourist arrivals by 2030, according to a strategic target set by the Greek Tourism Confederation.

There are 29 countries with a population of more than 50 million. The population of the UK reached 50 million by 1948 and has been growing ever since: the population was 40 million in 1898, it reached 50 million by 1948 and 60 million by 2005, and is probably at 70 million this year (2026).

The Black Death killed 50 million people, or 60 per cent of Europe’s entire population, between 1346 and 1353. As a proportion of the population that lost their lives, the Black Death caused unrivalled mortality. It overshadows the horrors of World War II, and is twice the number murdered by Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union.

In the year 1000, Europe had a population of ~50 million. Some simple maths shows that everyone who was alive in Europe around the year 1000 is either an ancestor of everyone in Europe today, or the ancestor of no one. This means that someone in Sweden, Norway or Italy has the same set of ancestors as someone who thinks their family is 100% British, Irish, French or Spanish.

At times I have used mathematical projections to help my genealogical projects, and the maths are quite simple. Every person has two parents, four grandparents and so on. Going just 30 generations back, say around 1066, that means I have one billion direct ancestors (2 to the power of 30), even though there were not one billion humans alive at that time.

A white paper published by FamilyTreeDNA used an example of a Swedish man with 8.5 billion genealogical ancestors (2^33) living in the year 1000. ‘Genealogical ancestors’ does not mean actual ancestors, as there were not even one billion living humans alive at that time, meaning many ancestors will appear multiple times across various branches.

The paper notes: ‘Think about that for a moment. If you have a single European ancestor, you are genealogically descended from every European from the year 1000 who has living descendants now.’

The population of ~50 million people in Europe in the year 1000 means we are all related in more ways than we imagine.

50 million minutes is 95 years, 24 days, 4 hours and 22 minutes. This means that if this blog was receiving just one hit a minute, I would need to have started blogging back in late September 1931.

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 passes 50 million hits, I am truly grateful to the real readers among those 50 million hits. In particular I am thankful for the faithful core group of people who join me in prayer, scripture reading and reflections each day.

William de Comberford’s monument in the Comberford Chapel, Tamworth … he died in 1349, a year after the Black Death killed one-third of Tamworth, at a time when the Black Death killed 50 million in Europe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Victoria Coach Station in London is jaded and tired, but was once an influential Art Deco work of architecture

Victoria Coach Station at the corner of Buckingham Palace Road and Elizabeth Street is an Art Deco landmark designed by the architect Thomas Wallis (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I was looking at the Victoria Library, a Victorian library near Victoria Station, in a posting yesterday. On the facing street corner site of Buckingham Palace Road and Elizabeth Street, Victoria Coach Station at 164 Buckingham Palace Road is one of London’s most prominent Art Deco landmarks.

With its soaring art-deco frontage, Victoria Coach Station harkens back to a more stylish era in public transport. It was built for London Coastal Coaches, known simply as Coastal, and was designed by the architect Thomas Wallis (1873-1953) of Wallis, Gilbert & Partners.

Wallis originally began working as a grocer’s assistant. He was articled to Sidney RJ Smith (1858-1913), who designed the National Gallery of British Art on Millbank, now Tate Britain, and in his early career worked for the Office of Works designing public buildings.

He was introduced in 1916 to the American engineer and architect Moritz Kahn (1879-1939) and his brother Julius Kahn (1874-1942) who pioneered the ‘Kahn trussed bar’ in the US, a method of concrete reinforcement, and the ‘Kahn daylight system’, a basic structure of concrete column, beam and slab, infilled by glazed units. The system was used extensively in the US, mainly in building large factory buildings.

Wallis was also influenced by American approaches to employee welfare and production need and he transformed design for industry and transport in the 1920s and 1930s. By the early 1930s, Wallis, Gilbert & Partners had become ‘specialists in industrial buildings’, responsible for many outstanding buildings of the inter-war period.

The identity of Gilbert in the name of the partnership has never been established, and ‘Gilbert’ may even have been an invention by Wallis to add an appearance of gravitas to his business.

Wallis considered the symbolic potential of buildings and saw a striking façade as free advertising for a business and its goods. He described his style, which featured large, adaptable spaces behind elaborate Art Deco façades, as ‘Fancy’, seen in his ‘fancy’ factories built in 1927-1935, with coloured glazed ceramic decorations and Egyptian styling.

His notable interwar projects include the first purpose-built recording studios in the world at Abbey Road, St John’s Wood (1930-1931). His other works include the Grade II* listed Hoover factory in Perivale, West London, described by Historic England as ‘possibly the most significant arterial road factory of its date’, although the architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner has described it as ‘perhaps the most offensive of the modernistic atrocities’ in the area. It was recently converted to residential use.

Wallis’s other designs in the 1920s and the 1930s include the now demolished former Firestone Tyre Factory in Brentford and factories for Wrigley’s chewing gum, EMI, Glaxo, Hayes Cocoa Ltd and Coty Cosmetics.

Wallis drew up his plans for the new coach station in January 1931 in his offices in South Kensington, and it was built by Wilson Lovatt & Sons of Wolverhampton. The new station was formally opened on 10 March 1932 by the Minister of Transport and Liberal MP Sir Percy John Pybus (1880-1935). With parking and loading space for up to 80 coaches, Victoria Coach Station was said to be the largest coach station in the world at the time.

The central tower is recognised for its distinctive art deco style and was admired for its beauty and strength. Its concrete was reportedly made by combining cement with recycled coloured glass. The passenger facilities includied a booking hall, shops and refreshment spaces. The site operated a one-way system, with buses and coaches entering from Buckingham Palace Road and exiting onto Elizabeth Street.

Wallce wanted his buildings to have good amenities for the workers, and a notable feature of his Victoria Coach Station was the staff restaurant, where a good meal could be had for a shilling. There was a 200-seat restaurant with a dance floor, painted pale green and pink with a gold spray.

In addition to the offices for London Coastal Coaches, there were private offices on the upper floors. Wallis, Gilbert and Partners were based there from 1933 until Wallis retired in 1946. Other tenants of these upper floor offices included the architect Wells Coates, decorators Mollo and Egan, and the Inland Revenue.

Although Wallis’s designs were controversial and his approach to architecture was considered unconventional by his contemporaries, he revolutionised how architects considered workers and incorporated their needs and welfare into plans and designs. He is commemorated with a blue plaque at Victoria Coach Station, which he designed, and where the Wallis, Gilbert and Partners had their offices.

Victoria Coach Station was listed as a Grade II building by Heritage England in 2014 for its architectural and historic interest. These days it sends 10 million or passengers to 1,200 destinations across the UK and 400 throughout Europe every year.

Sadly, time has not been kind to the coach station, now almost 100 years old, and it has become a shadow of its former self. The entrance and interior of Victoria Coach Station have been changed over time and it has also lost its decorative faience. Indeed, I might wonder whether its listing may have been too late to save the original fabric of the building.

The Victoria Library near Victoria Station is a gem of Victorian architecture first built as a parish library

The Victoria Library at the corner of Buckingham Palace Road and Elizabeth Street was designed by the architect Abert J Bolton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

In my walk around Belgravia and Pimlico earlier this month, the impressive works of architecture I wanted to see include the streets and squares designed and laid out by Thomas Cubitt for the Grosvenor estate, with their elegant Victorian and Edwardian terraces, Saint Peter’s Church on Eaton Square, Gothic churches such as Saint Saviour’s, Saint Gabriel’s and Saint Michael’s, and Victoria Station with its Imperial Baroque Revival version of the French Renaissance style.

But as I watched the daily rush, I wondered how many commuters notice the Victoria Library at 160 Buckingham Palace Road, an architecturally attractive building on the corner with Elizabeth Street and close to both Victoria Station and Victoria Coach Station?

The Victoria Library is a Grade II building designed in 1892-1894 by the architect Abert J Bolton as the public lending library for the parish of Saint George’s, Hanover Square. It was built on land given by Hugh Lupus Grosvenor (1825-1899), first Duke of Westminster, and was designed by Bolton after a design competition.

Bolton is best known for his work for the Grosvenor estate in 1889-1895 at 87-102 Mount Street with a return into South Audley Street, purpose-built shops and flats that form what is regarded as one of the finest listed terraces in central London.

The reconstruction of Mount Street began when Bolton won a limited competition in 1884-1885 for a Vestry Hall for Saint George’s Parish on the site of No 103 after Saint George’s Vestry bought the freehold. He then built the adjacent Nos 87-102 to the west, together with the deep return plot to South Audley Street and the library in Chapel Place North. The Duke of Westminster had hoped but failed to get Bolton to follow the designs of Ernest George and Harold Peto at 104-111 Mount Street, on the other side of the vestry hall.

The Victoria Library on Buckingham Palace Road, designed by AJ Bolton, is of special architectural interest because of the quality of its exuberant Queen Anne exterior with its stone dressings on the façade, terracotta dressings to the rear and its substantially complete interior, with a surviving book hoist and galleries and ornamental ironwork.

The library is also a relatively early example of an institution like this in London. Public libraries from the late 19th and early 20th century survive in good numbers in England and a number of them are of special architectural interest as reflections of the civic or philanthropic pride that created them.

Libraries dating from 1850 to 1914, such as Bolton’s Victoria Library, often show a good degree of articulate architectural expression, and some retain interior details and even may remain substantially unaltered and without extension.

The Victoria Library on Buckingham Palace Road was built of red brick laid in a Flemish bond with Portland Stone dressings, and some terracotta to the rear, and it has a slate roof behind a lowered parapet.

Bolton’s plan is of a three-part composition with two double-height halls to the rear, an entrance foyer, a stair hall and two-storey-and-attic accommodation to the front.

The Buckingham Palace Road façade is a three-bay composition with a central porch carrying a four-light mullion and transom window breaking forward with a narrow single lights to either side.

The lettering carved in the stonework between the ground and first floors reads ‘SG HS Public Library’, the initials meaning Saint George’s Hanover Square. There are four-light mullion and transom casement windows at either side. The windows on the first floor have Corinthian pilasters and a frieze, while those on the second floor have a greater profusion of pilasters, set over the cornice.

The rear elevation has two brick gables with double-height windows, and the one furthest south has an oculus window above. Before and set between the gables is a projecting porch that leads to the ‘Reading Room’ that is signposted in terracotta along with the date 1892. The inscription forms part of an imposing pedimented terracotta door case topped by finials.

The highly decorative wrought iron railings at the front are consistent with the similar railings seen along the adjacent terrace.

Inside, the Victoria Library has a coffered ceiling above the vestibule, leading to a foyer from which rises a straight single-flight stair with cast-iron balustrade, and there is some panelling to reading area in the inner foyer. There is a geometric ribbed moulded decorative plaster ceiling in the first floor rooms of the front block.

The lending library, which is the former reading room, has a first floor gallery on three sides supported on columns with a cast-iron balustrade under an open timber clerestoried roof comprised of three queen post trusses, with the posts formed of small classical columns.

The former lending library has a gallery with a more elaborate ironwork balustrade and its original fixed shelving. This hall also retains the original book hoist: there books for lending that were not openly accessible to the public had to be ordered from the catalogues once located in the hall - this is now an extremely rare feature for a library.

I can hardly imagine members of the royal family taking a stroll from Buckingham Palace along Buckingham Palace to borrow books from the Victoria Library or to browse the shelves of their local library. But the Victoria Library remains an architecturally attractive building and a centre for reading, research and community interaction. As well as its core book collection, it has a flexible cultural space that hosts diverse local activities, including community workshops and readings.

Around the corner and close-by on Elizabeth Street, the Thomas Cubitt is a Georgian pub whose name is a reminder of Thomas Cubitt, the master builder who was instrumental in developing the streets and squares of Belgravia and Pimlico.

Almost beside the Victoria Library, on the facing corner site of Buckingham Palace Road and Elizabeth Street, Victoria Coach Station at 164 Buckingham Palace Road is one of London’s most prominent Art Deco works . But more about that landmark building, hopefully, tomorrow.

The name of the Thomas Cubitt is a reminder of the master builder who developed the streets and squares of Belgravia and Pimlico (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 105, Friday 21 August 2026

‘Hang all the law and the prophets …’

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XI, 16 August 2026).

In my prayers this morning I am also remembering my friend and colleague, Father Kieran O’Mahony, who died earlier this week (Tuesdy 18 August 2026). His Funeral Mass takes place in the Augustinian Church of Saint Augustine and Saint John (John’s Lane Church), Thomas Street, Dublin, at 11 am this morning (21 August).

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.

‘Hang all the law and the prophets’ … all the wire hangers fall to the floor in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 22: 34-40 (NRSVA):

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ 37 He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

A statue of Bishop Charles Gore outside Saint Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Charles Gore (1853-1932) was one of the great – almost formidable – Anglican theologians at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. He was the editor of Lux Mundi (1881), an influential collection of essays; the founder of the Community of the Resurrection (1892); and the first Bishop of Birmingham (1905). He was also from a well-known Irish family: his brother was born in Dublin Castle, his father, Charles Alexander Gore, was brought up in the Vice-Regal Lodge, now Arás an Uachtaráin, and his mother was from Bessborough, Co Kilkenny.

But formidable theologians are also allowed to have a sense of humour and to play pranks on the unsuspecting. And it is told that Charles Gore loved to play a particular prank on his friends and acquaintances when he was a canon of Westminster Abbey.

He would enjoy showing visitors the tomb of one of his collateral ancestors, the 3rd Earl of Kerry, who was descended from the Fitzmaurice family, once famous throughout Limerick and North Kerry.

He would point to an inscription that ends with the words, highlighted in black letters and in double quotation marks: ‘hang all the law and the prophets.’

But when you look closer at this monument, those words are preceded by ‘… ever studious to fulfil those two great commandments on which he had been taught by his divine Master …’ ‘… hang all the law and the prophets.’

A more recent Irish-born theologian of international standing, Professor David Ford, sees these two commandments as the key, foundational Scripture passage for all our hermeneutical exercises.

He was born in Dublin and is the Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus in the University of Cambridge. He is a Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge and was the founding Director of the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme (2002-2015). Speaking at the Dublin and Glendalough Clergy Conference in Kilkenny 14 years ago [2012], he was asked about some of the hermeneutical approaches he outlines in his book, The Future of Christian Theology (2011). He said that if the two great commandments are about love, and God is love, then no interpretation is to be trusted that goes against love.

And he reminded us of Augustine’s great regula caritatis, the rule of love: if love is the rule, then the ‘how’ of reading scripture together is as important as the ‘what.’

In The Future of Christian Theology, he says: ‘Anything that goes against love of God and love of neighbour is, for Christian theology, unsound biblical interpretation.’

In other words, this passage, and its parallels in the other synoptic Gospels, provides for David Ford the hermeneutical key to understanding all Biblical passages.

Some years ago, I was preaching on this morning's Gospel reading (Matthew 22: 34-40) in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale, Co Limerick. I asked the children (and adults) playfully how we might hang all the law and the prophets.

I began by hanging up two inter-linked wire hangers. One wire hanger carried a card saying, ‘Love God’, the other a card saying, ‘Love one another.’ They were held onto a line by string against the pulpit.

The children were then invited to bring wire hangers to hang from these first two wire hangers. This second group of hangers carried cards with markings such as ‘Remember God’s goodness,’ ‘Don’t make a god of money,’ ‘Tell the truth,’ ‘Listen to Mom and Dad,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Be faithful,’ ‘Don’t rob,’ ‘Don’t tell lies,’ ‘Don’t envy others,’ ‘Don’t be jealous’ …

Then the string holding the first two wire hangers was cut. All the wire hangers fell to the floor.

The lesson, of course, was: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22: 37-40).

Kerry Crescent in Calne, Wiltshire, recalls a FitzMaurice family title and a story told by Charles Gore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 21 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 16 to 22 August 2026 (pp 30-31), is ‘Hope in the Making’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by Grace Murray, a USPG volunteer. The prayers this week come courtesy of passersby at Greenbelt Festival 2025.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 21 August 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord, bring your creation the flourishing it was made to show. Give us the courage to imagine our world differently, and give us the strength to change it for the better.

The Collect of the Day:

O God, you declare your almighty power
most chiefly in showing mercy and pity:
mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace,
that we, running the way of your commandments,
may receive your gracious promises,
and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure;
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 of all mercy,
we your faithful people have celebrated that one true sacrifice
which takes away our sins and brings pardon and peace:
by our communion
keep us firm on the foundation of the gospel
and preserve us from all sin;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of glory,
the end of our searching,
help us to lay aside
all that prevents us from seeking your kingdom,
and to give all that we have
to gain the pearl beyond all price,
through our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Cambridge Divinity School … David Ford was Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge (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

No passport to Pimlico is needed for an afternoon visit to the streets and squares of Thomas Cubitt

‘Passport to Pimlico’ … a scene in the Ealing comedy includes stopping an Underground train and demanding passports (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

The Ealing comedies, produced between 1947 and 1957, were known for their gentle irony, eccentric characters, and sharp social satire, often pitting the ordinary, well-meaning underdog against pompous authority or rigid social systems.

Three of those classics from Ealing Studios were produced in 1949 alone: Kind Hearts and Coronets, a dark comedy in which a disinherited man tries to murder eight relatives to claim a title, with Alec Guinness playing all the family victims; Passport to Pimlico, where a London neighbourhood discovers it is legally a part of Burgundy in France, leading to absurd stand-offs with bureaucracy and officialdom; and Whisky Galore!, when remote Scottish islanders scramble to salvage 50,000 cases of whisky from a shipwreck during a wartime drought.

Other well-remembered films in the series include The Lavender Hill Mob (1951); The Man in the White Suit (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955).

Present-day Pimlico was first laid out over 200 years ago in 1825 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The story of Passport to Pimlico involves the discovery of lost treasure and legal documents that lead to a small part of Pimlico being declared a legal part of the Duchy of Burgundy, exempting the area from the post-war rationing and other bureaucratic restrictions. The film evokes nostalgia for the spirit and unity in London during the Blitz after the war and looks at what is regarded as English resilience, and celebrates working class heroes in a quintessentially middle class area.

When an unexploded bomb detonates in Miramont Gardens in Pimlico, the explosion reveals a long-buried cellar filled with artwork, coins, jewellery and an ancient charter from Edward IV that cedes a house and its estates to the last Duke of Burgundy after the Battle of Nancy in 1477 As the charter had never been revoked, an area of Pimlico is declared a left-over legal part of Burgundy.

When rationing and other post-war restrictions is abolished in Pimlico, the enclave is flooded with black marketeers and shoppers. In responses and recriminations, area is surrounded with barbed wire, the residents stop an Underground train as it passes through Burgundy demanding to see passports, and all water and food are cut off at the new border. After tense diplomatic negotiations, Burgundy is reunited with Britain – and ration books return, along with British weather as a summer heatwave turns to a torrential downpour.

‘Rus in Urbe’ … the squares of Pimlico still have private gardens for the sole use of residents (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

I spent the afternoon in Pimlico yesterday, wandering around its elegant Georgian terraces and squares, enjoying its architectural legacy and visiting is churches. To my disappointment, but not to my surprise, there is no Miramont Gardens in Pimlico. But no one asked to see my passport, and in the street cafés and the spillover onto the streets from the bars and restaurant it can be seen there is not even a hint of the memory of post-war rations and restrictions.

Pimlico in central London is part of the City of Westminster, between Victoria Station and the River Thames. It was built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia, and has more than 350 Grade II–listed buildings and many Grade II* listed churches.

The grid of residential streets at the heart of Pimlico was laid out by the planner Thomas Cubitt, beginning over 200 years ago in 1825. It includes three garden squares, Saint George’s Square, Warwick Square and Eccleston Square, and the wider avenues of Belgrave Road and Saint George’s Drive.

Pimlico also includes Dolphin Square, built in 1935-1937, and Churchill Gardens and Lillington and Longmoore Gardens, built after the war. Churchill Gardens, developed in 1946-1962, replaced several terraces designed by Cubitt terraces and damaged in the Blitz.

The name Pimlico may sound Spanish or Italian, but the originsof the name remain shrouded in legend and local lore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The name Pimlico sounds Spanish or Italian, but various legends ascribe it to either Ben Pimlico, a publican in Hoxton, or from trade on the river with American Indians.

Pimlico dates back to the royal Manor of Ebury, which was sold off by James I In 1623. It was inherited by Mary Davies, a young heiress in 1666, whose dowry included what are present-day Pimlico and Belgravia, and much of Mayfair and Knightsbridge. At the age of 12, she married Sir Thomas Grosvenor of Eaton Hall, Cheshire, in 1677. Their descendants in the Grosvenor family became Marquesses and later Dukes of Westminster.

Thomas Cubitt was contracted by Lord Grosvenor to develop the once marshy lands of Pimlico in 1825. Cubitt developed Pimlico as a grid of attractive white stucco terraces along Saint George’s Drive, Belgrave Road and Lupus Street, and on Eccleston Square, Warwick Square and Saint George’s Square. Smaller, three-storey houses were built on the side streets.

Several Peabody estates were designed to provide affordable, quality working class housing in the late 19th century, and when the Revd Gerald Olivier, father of Laurence Olivier, moved from Notting Hill to Pimlico as the curate of Saint Saviour’s in 1912, he came as a ‘slum priest’ for west London.

Pimlico is close to the Houses of Parliament and so it became a lively area for political life in the early 20th century. The Labour Party and the Trades Union Congress once shared offices at 33 Eccleston Square. Sir Winston Churchill lived at 33 Eccleston Square and Morpeth Terrace for a time. The fascist leader Oswald Mosley lived at Dolphin Square, until his arrest in 1940, and it was the headquarters of Charles De Gaulle and the Free French for much of World War II.

The statue of Thomas Cubitt by William Fawke (1948-2018) at the corner of Denbigh Street and Saint George’s Drive (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

After World War II, many of the larger Victorian houses were converted into small hotels. The Duke of Westminster sold off much of the Grosvenor estate, including Pimlico, in 1953. Pimlico was designated a conservation area in 1968 and successive waves of development since then have given Pimlico an interesting social mix.

The Anglican churches in Pimlico included Saint Gabriel’s, Saint Saviour’s and Saint James the Less, and Saint Peter’s, Eaton Square, Belgravia, was known as Saint Peter’s, Pimlico, until the 1870s. I visited Saint Gabriel’s, Saint Saviour’s and Saint Peter’s during my stroll around Pimlico yesterday, but more about them in the days to come, hopefully.

Artistic, literary and other notable figures who have lived in Pimlico include the illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, the writers Joseph Conrad, Bram Stoker and Barbara Pym, Jomo Kenyatta, first president of Kenya, the Hindu philosopher Swami Vivekananda, Walter Clopton Wingfield, the father figure in lawn tennis, the designer Laura Ashley, and the dancer Isadora Duncan.

‘Passport to Pimlico’ celebrates working class heroes and resilience in a quintessentially middle class area (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Surprisingly, the outdoor scenes in the Ealing comedy Passport To Pimlico were shot not in Pimlico but about a mile away in Lambeth. The scene of food airlifts into the enclave of Burgundy may have been inspired by the flights during the Berlin Blockade in 1948-1949.

For many, the film continues to celebrate English values of individualism, tolerance and compromise. But even today it points to the absurdity of passport border checks between Britain and France.

It is a reminder that England has always shared a common cultural legacy and identity with the rest of Europe, and a reminder too of the absurdity of trying to live in insular isolation in a post-war Europe that sought to bring us closer to one another as a way of countering war and the potential rise again of authoritarianism.

Past residents of Pimlico have included Sir Winston Churchill (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

‘To praise Eternity contained in Time and coloured glass’: John Betjeman’s ‘Sunday Morning, King’s Cambridge’

The ‘vaulted roof so white and light and strong’ (John Betjeman) … in the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Eighth Sunday after Trinity [26 March 2026], and after my visit to Cambridge last week, including the chapel of King’s College, I have been reading once again this Sunday of John Betjeman’s poem ‘Sunday Morning, King’s Cambridge’.

Many years ago, in a book review in the Times Higher Education Supplement, Timothy Mowl of the University of Bristol described ‘Sunday Morning, King’s Cambridge’ as one of the ‘least important’ of Betjeman’s poems ‘because it is about a place, not people in a place.’

But Betjeman is at his best when he fuses together in one poem his different passions, and in ‘Sunday Morning, King’s Cambridge’ he presents a happy marriage of architectural detail, finely observed, and the sense of the worship of the eternal captured in a moment.

In ‘Sunday Morning, King’s Cambridge,’ Betjeman captures a sense of wonder in the celebration of Anglican worship as he presents the beauty and splendour of Anglican worship, ablaze with colour.

Taken together, ‘In Westminster Abbey’ and ‘Sunday Morning, King’s Cambridge’ give us a poet who has a deep Christian faith and who holds out hope for the Church of England and Anglicanism. One represents a place of public worship that closely links the Church with the political power in the nation; the other represents the very beauty of Anglican worship in a place associated not only with academic life, but also with the architectural and musical excellence of the nation.

‘In Westminster Abbey’ is one of Betjeman’s most savage satires. It is a dramatic monologue, set during the early days of World War II, in which a woman enters Westminster Abbey to pray for a moment before hurrying off to ‘a luncheon date.’ She is not merely a chauvinist but also a racist, a snob and a hypocrite who is concerned more with how the war will affect her share portfolio than anything else. Her chauvinistic nationalism leads her speaker to pray to God ‘to bomb the Germans’ … but ‘Don’t let anyone bomb me.’ Her social and ethical lapses are a product of her spiritual state, which is a direct result of a nation’s spiritual sickness.

On the other hand, in ‘Sunday Morning, King’s Cambridge,’ the moment of worship exists out of time as the living and the dead, the choir and the poet, join in the eternal praise of God. In this poem, Betjeman captures a joyful and spontaneous reaction, albeit an emotionally restrained expression, and a sense of wonder in the celebration of Anglican worship.

Stanza 1 describes the procession of the choir of the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, and the spiritually overwhelming aesthetics of the chapel – the stalls, the stained glass, and especially the stunning fan-vaulted ceiling, ‘a shower that never falls.’

Stanza 2 sees the poet’s mind wander away from the service as he imagines being outside among the ‘windy Cambridge courts.’ Again there is a great emphasis on the vast variety of colour, but all the colours are transformed into ‘waves of pearly light’ reflected off the Cambridge stone. The image suggests that the divine is not to be found exclusively in the chapel but in the world, the space that contains both God’s works and humanity’s work.

Stanza 3 is a geographical and historical expansion of these images and ideas. Here, the white of the ‘windy Cambridge courts’ contrasts with the ‘vaulted roof so white and light and strong.’

Betjeman imagines the tombs that fill churches throughout East Anglia, with the effigies of the deceased captured for eternity in postures of prayer:

… the clasped hands lying long
Recumbent on sepulchral slabs or effigied in brass.

The prayers of these dead are a ‘buttress’ for the vaulted ceiling of the chapel at King’s, which, built near the end of the Gothic period, needs no architectural buttresses. Christianity exists not because of aesthetics but because of prayer, and the sanctuary is supported, not because of the marvels of 15th century engineering, but by a tradition of faith. In ‘Sunday Morning, King’s Cambridge,’ the moment of worship exists out of time as the living and the dead, the choir and the poet, join in the eternal praise of God.

The poem has no irony, except perhaps in the last line:

To praise Eternity contained in Time and coloured glass.

Here Betjeman illustrates the futility of our human desire to share in God’s timelessness. All of us are being confounded by our foolish need to control God and time.

It was a thought to ponder this Eighth Sunday in Lent as I read in the Gospel reading this morning of the small and easily dismissed seeds that grow into God’s kingdom: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’ (Matthew 13: 31-32).

The Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, and the wild flowers in the meadow at Back Lawn (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Sunday Morning, King’s Cambridge, by John Betjeman

File into yellow candle light, fair choristers of King’s
Lost in the shadowy silence of canopied Renaissance stalls
In blazing glass above the dark glow skies and thrones and wings
Blue, ruby, gold and green between the whiteness of the walls
And with what rich precision the stonework soars and springs
To fountain out a spreading vault – a shower that never falls.

The white of windy Cambridge courts, the cobbles brown and dry,
The gold of plaster Gothic with ivy overgrown,
The apple-red, the silver fronts, the wide green flats and high,
The yellowing elm-trees circled out on islands of their own –
Oh, here behold all colours change that catch the flying sky
To waves of pearly light that heave along the shafted stone.

In far East Anglian churches, the clasped hands lying long
Recumbent on sepulchral slabs or effigied in brass
Buttress with prayer this vaulted roof so white and light and strong
And countless congregations as the generations pass
Join choir and great crowned organ case, in centuries of song
To praise Eternity contained in Time and coloured glass.

’To praise Eternity contained in Time and coloured glass’ (John Betjeman) … stained glass in the chapel in King’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford 2026)

Saint Margaret of Antioch: exploring the legends and looking at some churches that remember her name

Saint Margaret of Antioch Church overlooking the harbour of Vernazza in Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera … she is remembered on 20 July (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Church Calendar today (20 July) remembers Saint Margaret of Antioch, a martyr in the fourth century, and Saint Bartolomé de las Casas (1566), Apostle to the Indies.

I have written about Saint Bartolomé de las Casas and in his role as a founding figure of our modern concepts of human rights, an important figure to remember as international law and agreed principles of human rights come under growing threats, particularly from the US, which once saw itself as a defender of international law and human rights.

But as I was searching for images of Saint Margaret of Antioch to illustrate my prayer diary on my blog this morning, I came across memories of a visit back in 2012 to Vernazza in Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera and the church that is said to hold a relic of her finger.

Saint Margaret of Antioch Church at the harbour of Vernazza in Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera is said to hold a relic of the saint’s finger (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Margaret of Antioch, also called Marina, was martyred during the Diocletian persecutions at the beginning of the fourth century. Her preaching before her death is said to have converted many to the Christian faith.

According to the legend, she was the daughter of a third or fourth century pagan priest in Antioch. She was either thrown out of the house by her father when she converted to Christianity or was converted by her nursemaid. She was noticed by the local prefect who wanted to marry her, but she spurned him and vowed to keep her virginity for Christ.

He handed her over to the Roman authorities. In prison she was swallowed by Satan in the form of a dragon. But the cross she was carrying irritated his throat, and he spat her out unharmed.

Her persecutors tried to kill her by fire and by drowning, but each time she survived, converting the growing crowd of onlookers. Finally, she was beheaded, along with her many converts, by Emperor Diocletian (245-313 AD). She was buried at Antioch, but her remains were taken later to Italy where they were divided between shrines in Montefiascone and Venice.

Vernazza is one of the five towns that make up the Cinque Terre region in north-west Italy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Vernazza, in the province of La Spezia in Liguria, in north-west Italy, is one of the five towns that make up the Cinque Terre region. Vernazza is the fourth town heading north, has no car traffic, and remains one of the truest ‘fishing villages’ on the Italian Riviera. It is the only natural port of Cinque Terre and is famous for its elegant houses.

Legend has it that in ancient times, a small wooden box was found along the coast of Vernazza, containing the bones of a finger of Santa Margaret’s hand. After finding the relic, the residents decided to build a church in her honour in the area of the town known as Isolotto.

However, the relic was lost sight of during a strong storm and it appeared only some time later, precisely where it was first found. The people of Vernazza then built a church there, overlooking the sea, where it stands to this day.

Inside the church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia in Vernazza (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia was built in the 13th century in the Gothic-Ligurian style by the Antelami masters on a pre-existing Romanesque building. The church is mentioned for the first time in 1318. It stands next to the main square of Vernazza on a rock overlooking the sea. The octagonal tower, 40 meters high, is crowned by small arches and ends with a dome.

The church was enlarged and extended in 1500-1600, when the original mediaeval façade which was destroyed. During new works in 1750, the Romanesque interior was covered with Baroque-style decoration, the wooden roof was replaced with vaults, and the bell tower was raised.

The church was partially restored in 1964-1970, when the original internal structure was recovered, including the wooden roof. The church has two entrances: the main one is more hidden and less easy to reach, and a more comfortable one, in one of the apses overlooking the tree-lined square in front of the marina, opened in the 19th century. The interior with three naves is raised above the level of the square. The church has two 17th century canvases, the Baroque high altar dates from 1750, and there is an 18th century processional chest and a wooden crucifix attributed to Anton Maria Maragliano.

The people of Vernazza celebrate Saint Margaret of Antioch as their patron every year on 20 July.

Saint Margaret’s, Westminster Abbey … the parish church of the House of Commons (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Council of Oxford added her to the list of feast days in 1222, and so her cult grew in popularity in England. More than 250 churches in England are dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch, including Saint Margaret’s, Westminster, the parish church of the House of Commons.

Saint Margaret’s was built in the late 11th century, and a grant from Pope Clement III to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster in 1189 confirmed that Saint Margaret’s was outside the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. In 1222, the abbey and its properties, including Saint Margaret’s, were declared to be outside the Diocese of London and also exempt from the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Robert Stowell began to rebuild the church in 1482, and it was consecrated on 9 April 1523. Until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540, the church was served by the monks of the abbey, and the close relationship between Saint Margaret’s and Westminster Abbey has continued ever since.

When Queen Elizabeth I re-founded Westminster Abbey as a collegiate church in 1560, she maintained its exemption from episcopal authority and made the new foundation a royal peculiar, subject only to the authority of the monarch as Visitor.

Saint Margaret’s became the parish church of the Palace of Westminster in 1614. The north-west tower of the church was rebuilt by John James in 1734-1738 and the interior was restored in 1877 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, who retained many of its Tudor features.

In 1972, the church and its churchyard were placed once more under the governance of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey, with one of the canons of Westminster Abbey serving as Rector of Saint Margaret’s. MPs and staff members of the House of Lords and House of Commons are permitted to marry in the church, and those who were married there include the diarist Samuel Pepys, and prime ministers Sir Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan.

Saint Margaret Pattens, a guild church on Eastcheap, seen from Saint Mary-at-Hill (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Margaret Pattens, a guild church on Eastcheap, is dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch. The first church on the site dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch was recorded in 1067, when the church was probably built from wood.

The church was rebuilt in stone at a later date but fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1530 and rebuilt in 1538. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The present church was built by Sir Christopher Wren between 1684 and 1687.

The church exterior is notable for its 200-ft high spire, Wren’s third highest and the only one that he designed in a mediaeval style. It is sometimes referred to as Wren’s only ‘true spire.’

Saint Margaret Pattens is one of only a few City churches to have escaped significant damage in World War II. It ceased to be a parish church in 1953 and became one of the City’s guild churches. The church is the Guild Church of the Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers and the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers, two of the City livery companies.

Saint Margaret Lothbury, known as the Bankers’ Church, is one of the 51 Wren churches in the City of London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Margaret Lothbury is also dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch. It is known as the Bankers’ Church, because of its proximity to the back door of the Bank of England. Lothbury is a short street that runs east-west with traffic flow in both directions, from the junction of Gresham Street with Moorgate to the west, and the junction of Bartholomew Lane with Throgmorton Street to the east.

There has been a church on the site since the 12th century, and the earliest mention of Saint Margaret Lothbury is in 1185. It was rebuilt over the Walbrook in 1440, when a stone arch was erected over the brook in 1440 so that the church could be extended. The work was completed mostly at the expense of Robert Large, then the Lord Mayor of London. He is remembered as the Master to whom William Caxton, the printer, served his apprenticeship.

Like so many London churches, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren between 1686 and 1690. It is one of the 51 churches in London rebuilt by Wren after the fire. However, the tower may be the work of Robert Hooke.

The church has exceptionally fine 17th-century woodwork from other now-demolished Wren churches. This woodwork includes the reredos, the Communion rails and the baptismal font, which are thought to be by Wren’s carver, Grinling Gibbons. The pulpit is the original pulpit of the Wren church and the Baptismal Font is thought to come from the workshop of Grinling Gibbons.

Saint Margaret Lothbury still serves as a parish church in the Square Mile. It is also the official church of five Livery Companies, two Ward Clubs and two professional institutes. It also has connections with many local finance houses, all of which hold special services there each year.

The west end of Saint Margaret of Antioch Church, with Durham Castle (left) and Durham Cathedral (right) in the background (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In Durham, Saint Margaret of Antioch Church at the bottom of Crossgate is a parish church in the Liberal Catholic tradition, with a diversity inherited from recent history – charismatic, catholic, contemplative – that is reflected in the congregations.

Crossgate is the ancient route west from the city, on a bluff overlooking Framwellgate Bridge. It connects the city centre with Neville’s Cross, where the remains of a stone cross are a reminder that Crossgate was once a pilgrim route for those travelling to Durham and the relics of Saint Cuthbert.

Saint Margaret’s was established in the 12th century as a chapel of ease in the Parish of Saint Oswald to serve the people of the Borough of Crossgate or the ‘Old Borough’. Saint Margaret’s was under the jurisdiction of the Priors of Durham, and their successors, the Dean and Chapter of Durham, remain the patrons of the living to this day.

The earliest surviving parts of the church date from ca 1150. After their own chapel was built, the people of Crossgate resented still having to attend the parish church at certain times and to pay certain dues. During one dispute, the prior removed the font from Saint Margaret’s in 1343. It was returned by the bishop, but he insisted, however, that the parishioners had no right to use it.

Eventually, the residents of Crossgate won the right to be baptised and married in Saint Margaret’s, and burials were allowed there from 1431. The church was restored in the second half of the 19th century, when the north aisle was largely rebuilt, and a full set of stained glass windows was added. The organ dates from 1917 and is by Harrison & Harrison. Their factory until recently was within the parish, and Arthur Harrison was the churchwarden of Saint Margaret’s at the time.

Saint Margaret of Antioch depicted in a statue above the north porch of Saint Margaret of Antioch Church, Crossgate, Durham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Lent 2026: 25, Saturday 14 March 2026

The Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18: 9-14) … a stained glass window in Saint Michael’s Church, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We have passed the half-way point in Lent, and tomorrow is the Fourth Sunday in Lent (Lent IV, 15 March 2026) and Mothering Sunday or Mothers’ Day.

Today is the decisive and final day in the Six Nations championship, promising wall-to-wall rugby. After an exciting weekend of rugby last weekend, I hope to find somewhere appropriate in Stony Stratford to watch today’s fixtures: Ireland v Scotland (14:10), Wales v Italy (16:40), and France v England (20:10). But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

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

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

An icon of the Pharisee and the Publican … who was good at praying, and who was a model for praying?

Luke 18: 9-14 (NRSVA):

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” 13 But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’

Today’s Reflections:

The Jesus Prayer … an image from Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ,
Υἱὲ Θεοῦ,
ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλό

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner

The Jesus Prayer, in its simplicity and clarity, is rooted in a prayer heard in this morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Luke 18: 9-14) and three other passages in Saint Luke’s Gospel:

• the cry of the ten lepers who called to him, ‘Jesus, Master, take pity on us’ (Luke 17: 13);
• the cry for mercy of the publican, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner’ (Luke 18: 14);
• the cry of the blind man at the side of the road near Jericho, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me’ (Luke 18: 38);
• the sentiments of the cry of the penitent thief on the cross (Luke 23: 42).

The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican and their prayers is an interesting way to examine our own approaches to prayer. Christ teaches his Disciples a variety of approaches to prayer, giving them examples of prayer with the Lord’s Prayer, and examples of how others pray: the Prodigal Son’s father who prays for his son every day; the persistent widow who keeps on badgering the unjust judge every day; and this morning’s Gospel reading, which presents us with two different approaches to prayer, public and private.

But perhaps we can we can be too quick to say that we are presented with one good example and one bad example.

Both the Pharisee and the Publican prays for himself. Each bares himself before God.

The Pharisee gives thanks to God. In fact, by all the current standards of and means of measuring Jewish piety, he is a good man. Consider what he tells God and us about himself.

First of all, he thanks God that he is not like other people. The Morning Prayer for Orthodox Jewish men, to this day, includes a prayer with these words: ‘Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast not made me a gentile, … a slave, … a woman.’

Thanking God that I am not like others is not an expression of disdain for others; it is merely another, humble way of thanking God for being made the way we are, in God’s image and likeness. The Pharisee’s prayer is not unusual.

The Pharisee then goes on to tell God that he obeys all the commandments: he prays, he fasts and he tithes – in fact, he tithes more than he has to, and perhaps also fasts more often than he has to – and he gives generously to the poor. He more than meets all the requirements laid on him by the Mosaic law, and he goes beyond that. He is a charitable, kind and faithful man.

Anyone who saw him in the Temple and heard him pray would have gone away saying he was a good man, and a spiritual man.

But, despite attending to his responsibilities towards others, the Pharisee in this parable does not pray for the needs of others, in so far as we are allowed to eavesdrop on his prayers.

But then, neither does the publican pray for the needs of others.

So neither man is condemned for not being heard to pray for the needs of the other.

What marks the prayers of the Pharisee out from the prayers of the publican is that, in his prayers, the Pharisee expresses his disdain for the needs of others.

The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican is also a reminder that at times people may think that because they have sinned they should not pray.

But the story of the Pharisee (apparently good) and the Publican (apparently bad), tells us that the Pharisee prayed easily, while the publican could not even lift his eyes to heaven. Instead, the publican smote his breast and prayed: ‘Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.’

Christ tells us it was the publican who ‘returned home justified’ not the Pharisee.

The publican wants to pray even when he feels guilty of sin.

We do not have to wait until we feel righteous, like the Pharisee, so that we can pray. Such prayer is almost useless. I know I can all too easily pray the Jesus Prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner,’ and pray it all the more readily when I am feeling righteous than when I realise I am a sinner.

The error of the Pharisee is to confuse the means with the end. Acts of virtue or piety are meant to dispose our hearts towards communion with God, not turn us in on ourselves. As Metropolitan Anthony Bloom wrote: ‘From the [Pharisee] learn his works, but by no means his pride; for the work by itself means nothing and does not save.’

Religious feelings can be deceptive in the extreme. When I think I feel like praying, I may in fact be feeling ‘pious,’ and I may not be ready to pray at this stage. Instead, I may be preparing to be self-consumed and self-congratulatory about being a pious person of prayer.

John Betjeman’s most savage satire is ‘In Westminster Abbey.’ This poem is a dramatic monologue, set during the early days of World War II, in which a woman enters Westminster Abbey to pray for a moment before hurrying off to ‘a luncheon date.’ Her thoughts on bombings and war are particularly relevant in the midst of today’s wars and crises.

She is not merely a chauvinistic nationalist, but also a racist, a snob and a hypocrite who is concerned more with how the war will affect her share portfolio than anything else. Her chauvinistic nationalism leads her to pray to God ‘to bomb the Germans’ … but ‘Don’t let anyone bomb me.’

Her social and ethical lapses are a product of her spiritual state, which is a direct result of her nation’s spiritual sickness. But she lets God know prayer and her relationship with God are low down her list of priorities:

Let me take this other glove off
As the vox humana swells,
And the beauteous fields of Eden
Bask beneath the Abbey bells.
Here, where England’s statesmen lie,
Listen to a lady’s cry.

Gracious Lord, oh bomb the Germans,
Spare their women for Thy Sake,
And if that is not too easy
We will pardon Thy Mistake.
But, gracious Lord, whate’er shall be,
Don’t let anyone bomb me.

Keep our Empire undismembered
Guide our Forces by Thy Hand,
Gallant blacks from far Jamaica,
Honduras and Togoland;
Protect them Lord in all their fights,
And, even more, protect the whites.

Think of what our Nation stands for,
Books from Boots’ and country lanes,
Free speech, free passes, class distinction,
Democracy and proper drains.
Lord, put beneath Thy special care
One-eighty-nine Cadogan Square.

Although dear Lord I am a sinner,
I have done no major crime;
Now I’ll come to Evening Service
Whensoever I have the time.
So, Lord, reserve for me a crown,
And do not let my shares go down.

I will labour for Thy Kingdom,
Help our lads to win the war,
Send white feathers to the cowards
Join the Women’s Army Corps,
Then wash the steps around Thy Throne
In the Eternal Safety Zone.

Now I feel a little better,
What a treat to hear Thy Word,
Where the bones of leading statesmen
Have so often been interr’d.
And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait
Because I have a luncheon date.

On the other hand, when I feel like the Publican in our parable, then I can pray like a Publican. Throughout the Church, parishioners protest, ‘I cannot take Communion … lead the intercession … serve at the altar today … because I do not feel worthy.’ But surely I am in much greater danger when I do feel worthy.

When does someone ever say, ‘I have been so good this week I have not felt in the least like a sinner, and this is a great sin and deception?’ Now we would be getting somewhere with prayer!

The 19th century Russian, Saint John of Kronstadt (1829-1902), writes: ‘When the foolish thought of counting up any of your good works enters into your head, immediately correct your fault and rather count up your sins, your continual and innumerable offences against the All-Merciful and Righteous Master, and you will find that their number is as the sand of the sea, whilst your virtues in comparison with them are as nothing.’

What ever happened to the publican or the tax-collector afterwards?

We are not told his name. We are not told where he lived. We are not told how he lived.

Did he ever put into practice what he was praying for? Asking for mercy, receiving mercy, giving mercy?

In moments when I allow my imagination to run away with itself, and with me, I like to ask whether this is the same tax collector as Zacchaeus who appeared in the Gospel reading late last year (Luke 19: 1-10, the Fourth Sunday before Advent, 2 November 2025).

The Pharisee this morning lists all he does: he fasts twice a week; he gives a tenth of all his income (verse 12). Zacchaeus has a profound change of heart, and decides to give away half of his possessions to the poor and to repay four-fold what he has squeezed out of anyone unjustly (Luke 19: 8).

Prayer leads us to God, but prayer that does not lead us to love our neighbour is prayer that is dead.

We need to be people who pray like a publican. We will find so many more times available for prayer if we do. But we should pray for those who are praying like a Pharisee too, so that God may free us from our delusions.

‘In Westminster Abbey’ by John Betjeman’s is a dramatic monologue that retells one part of the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 14 March 2026):

The theme this week (8-14 March 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Biblical Sisterhood’ (pp 36-37). This theme was introduced last Sunday with reflections by Dr Sanjana Das, PhD feminist theologian, advocate for the dignity and rights of trafficked and migrant working women.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 14 March 2026) invites us to pray:

Merciful God, we pray for traffickers and all who exploit others. Reveal their wrongdoing, open their hearts to repentance, and guide them toward justice, so that lives may be freed from abuse and dignity restored.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain,
and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,
may find it none other than the way of life and peace;
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:

Merciful Lord,
grant your people grace to withstand the temptations
of the world, the flesh and the devil,
and with pure hearts and minds to follow you, the only God;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Eternal God,
give us insight
to discern your will for us,
to give up what harms us,
and to seek the perfection we are promised
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Lent IV:

Merciful Lord,
absolve your people from their offences,
that through your bountiful goodness
we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins
which by our frailty we have committed;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour,
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

The Pharisee and the Publican … who would you prefer to have coffee with this morning? (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