Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 84, Thursday 30 July 2026

‘Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven … brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13: 52) … newspapers at a kiosk in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church, and the week began with the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VIII, 26 July 2026). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers William Wilberforce (1833), Olaudah Equiano (1797) and Thomas Clarkson (1846).

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 kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind’ (Matthew 13: 47) … fishing boats and nets by the harbour in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 13: 47-53 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 47 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51 ‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ 52 And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’ 53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

‘When [the net] was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good [fish] into baskets’ (Matthew 13: 48) … a sign outside a fish shop in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This morning’s reflection:

We have more weeping and gnashing of teeth in this morning’s Gospel reading (Matthew 13: 47-53), more separating of the righteous and the evil, and more people being thrown into the furnace of fire.

But we also have some more images of what the kingdom of heaven is like:

• Casting a net into the sea (verse 47);

• Catching an abundance of fish (verse 47);

• Drawing the abundance of fish ashore, and realising there is too much there for personal needs (verse 48);

• Writing about it so that others can enjoy the benefit and rewards of treasures new and old (verse 52).

So there are, perhaps, four or five times as many active images of the kingdom than there are passive images.

And we hear that ‘every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13: 52).

When the Revd Stephen Hilliard was leaving The Irish Times to enter full-time parish ministry, the then deputy editor, Ken Gray, joked that he was moving from being a ‘column of the Times’ to being a ‘pillar of the Church.’

Later, when I asked Stephen to define the different challenges of journalism and parish ministry, I was told: ‘In many ways they’re the same. We’re supposed to be comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.’

Nadine Gordimer, in a lecture in London, once argued that a writer’s highest calling is to bear witness to the evils of conflicts and injustice. But that is the calling of a priest too.

When I was moving from journalism in The Irish Times, another colleague asked me, in a tongue-in-cheek way, whether I was moving from being one of the Scribes to being one of the Pharisees.

In my 30 or more years as a full-time journalist and writer, I had tried to work at the point where faith meets the major concerns of the world.

Since leaving The Irish Times back in 2002, I continue to write regularly in other formats too. My daily blog has been a daily exercise: I continue to write occasionally for The Irish Times, the Wexford People, and for local and church-based newspapers and magazines, as well as contributing regularly to books and journals.

But, just as ministry is never exercised as a personal right but always in communion with the Church, so too journalists and writers never write for themselves, but need to heed the needs of editors and readers.

There is a time to be silent in ministry, and there is a time to be silent as a writer. I am humbled whenever I listen to Leonard Cohen’s song, If it be your will. He ended many of his concerts singing this poem, which for me is about submission to God’s will, accepting God’s will, leaving God in control of my spirit. It is a song that I hope is heard at my funeral (later rather than sooner):

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will

If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will.

Until then, I shall continue to write.

‘Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven … brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13: 52) … catching up with the news in ‘The Irish Times’

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 30 July 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 26 July to 1 August 2026 (pp 22-23), is ‘Lives in Transit’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Thursday 30 July 2026, World Day Against Trafficking in Persons) invites us to pray:

God of freedom and justice, we pray for all who are trapped in trafficking and modern slavery. Bring an end to systems and practices that exploit the vulnerable, strengthen those who work to rescue and protect, and lead your Church to act with courage and compassion.

The Collect of the Day:

God our deliverer,
who sent your Son Jesus Christ
to set your people free from the slavery of sin:
grant that, as your servants William Wilberforce, Olaudah Equiano and Thomas Clarkson
toiled against the sin of slavery,
so we may bring compassion to all
and work for the freedom of all the children of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God our redeemer,
who inspired William Wilberforce, Olaudah Equiano and Thomas Clarkson to witness to your love
and to work for the coming of your kingdom:
may we, who in this sacrament share the bread of heaven,
be fired by your Spirit to proclaim the gospel in our daily living
and never to rest content until your kingdom come,
on earth as it is in heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven … brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13: 52) … newspapers on sale in Athens (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

‘Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven … brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13: 52)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 83, Wednesday 29 July 2026

Mary anoints the feet of Jesus in Bethany … a window in the north aisle of Saint Mary’s Church in St Neots, Cambridgeshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church and this week began with the Eighth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VIII, 26 July 2026). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Mary, Martha and Lazarus with a Lesser Festival. I got back to Stony Stratford late last night after a short, one-day family visit to Dublin.

Later today, Stony Stratford Cricket Club is organising a special charity day at Ostler’s Lane, starting at 11:30, with what promises to be a day of high-quality cricket as a Stony representative side takes on an MCC representative side. This is also a fundraising day for Breast Cancer Now. Ro Whitehead is giving all food for the day in return for a donation to Breast Cancer Now. After the players’ tea break, supporters are invited to enjoy Ro’s teas, with special treats, in return for a donation. The bar is open from midday and all are welcome.

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

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The Hardman window in Saint Mary’s Church, St Neots, with the Anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary of Bethany (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 12: 1-11 (NRSVA):

1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

9 When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

‘There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him’ (John 12: 2) … dinner in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Today’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist in the lectionary (John 12: 1-11) is for the Lesser Festival in Common Worship for Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

Many years ago, when I was in my early 20s, the then Rector of Killanne and Killegney, Co Wexford, Canon Norman Ruddock, invited me to speak at one of his Lenten reflections in Clonroche, Co Wexford.

I was then living on High Street in Wexford, working as a journalist with the Wexford People, and I was probably invited as a Lenten speaker because I also had a weekly column in the local newspapers in Co Wexford and Co Wicklow.

I remember how Philip Corish kindly drove me to and from Wexford that evening. Later that year, he was elected an Alderman on Wexford Corporation, and he would go on to become a Mayor of Wexford, while Norman Ruddock later became the Rector of Wexford, and he was a constant encouragement to me throughout my 20s, 30s and 40s to go forward for ordination.

I remember that evening as a balmy spring evening, and Norman Ruddock remarked on how my talk was challenging politically and socially. There was only one written follow-up: an anonymous parishioner sent me an unsigned letter, telling me I had abused the Gospel for political purposes. She (or he) chose to remind me of a saying in today’s Gospel reading: ‘You always have the poor with you’ (John 12: 8), or perhaps? ‘The poor will always be among us!’ (Matthew 26: 11).

That was more than half a century ago. I never kept that letter, but I still think about it when I hear far-right activists criticising people like me, accusing us of being ‘Woke’ or showing ‘empathy’.

These verses continue to be misinterpreted and weaponised as a justification of wealth accumulation and ignoring the plight of the poor and the causes of their poverty.

As today’s Gospel reading makes very clear, it is Judas Iscariot who elicits this response from Jesus. The setting in John 12 is a destitute village, Bethany, whose name means ‘house of the poor’, ‘house of affliction’ or ‘house of misery’. In Matthew 26, Bethany is the house of Simon the Leper, one of the poorest of the poor in a village full of poor people.

In the parallel story in Mark 14: 7, Jesus says: ‘For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish’. If anyone thinks ‘the poor will always be among you’ is a universal statement that somehow allows them to avoid responsibility from seeking to eliminate poverty, Mark 14: 7 turns that interpretation on its head.

In addition, we should remember that when Jesus cites Scripture he expects those who are listening to be familiar with the passage, and that they should be able to finish the quotation as they take it to heart. Jesus here is quoting from Deuteronomy 15, but the full passage (Deuteronomy 15: 1-11) he cites provides the context:

15 Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbour, not exacting it from a neighbour who is a member of the community, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. 3 From a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you. 4 There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, 5 if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today. 6 When the Lord your God has blessed you, as he promised you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbour. 8 You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9 Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbour with hostility and give nothing; your neighbour might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10 Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbour in your land.’

I suppose all I was doing that Lenten evening over 50 years ago was sharing my interpretation of Biblical economics – an interpretation that is even more relevant today.

‘Christ the Beggar’, a sculpture by Timothy Schmalz in Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 29 July 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 26 July to 1 August 2026 (pp 22-23), is ‘Lives in Transit’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Wednesday 29 July 2026) invites us to pray:

God of justice, we pray for systems that bind workers into vulnerability and fear. Stir the conscience of governments and employers to act with fairness and integrity.

The Collect of the Day:

God our Father,
whose Son enjoyed the love of his friends,
Mary, Martha and Lazarus,
in learning, argument and hospitality:
may we so rejoice in your love
that the world may come to know
the depths of your wisdom, the wonder of your compassion,
and your power to bring life out of death;
through the merits of Jesus Christ,
our friend and brother,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name,
your servants Mary, Martha and Lazarus revealed your goodness
in a life of tranquillity and service:
grant that we who have gathered in faith around this table
may like them know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge
and be filled with all your fullness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The ‘Homeless Christ’ by the Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz in the grounds of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (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

‘Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided, urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way, sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided: Lord for the years, we bring our thanks today’

The Chapel and the Hospital of Saint John Baptist without the Barrs, Lichfield … recalling a journey that began 55 years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Feast of the Birthday of Saint John the Baptist (24 June 2026). I had been planning to be back in Lichfield today for a day of prayer, reflection and thanksgiving, remembering that I was ordained priest 25 years ago on this day, 24 June 2001, and that tomorrow is the anniversary of the day I was ordained deacon 26 years ago (25 June 2000).

I decided not to travel to Lichfield this morning because of the warnings about the soaring temperatures and the advice against travel. But I have reflected throughout this day on these 26 years of ordained ministry, praying, reading, thinking, walking and giving thanks.

Bishops, in the charge to priests at their ordination, call on us to ‘preach the Word and to minister his (God’s) holy sacraments.’ But the bishop also reminds us to be ‘faithful in visiting the sick, in caring for the poor and needy, and in helping the oppressed,’ to ‘promote unity, peace, and love,’ to share ‘in a common witness in the world’ and ‘in Christ’s work of reconciliation,’ and to ‘search for God’s children in the wilderness of this world’s temptations.’

These charges remain a sacred commitment for life, even after a priest retires from parish ministry. I retired from full-time ministry over four ago (31 March 2022) after a stroke earlier that month (18 March 2022), and I am still in the process of seeking Permission to Officiate (PTO). But I shall always remain a priest.

With Archbishop Walton Empey at my ordination as priest in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on 24 June 2001, and (from left) the Revd Tim Close and the Revd Avril Bennett (Photograph: Valerie Jones, 2001)

As I reflected today on the anniversaries of my ordination, I recalled too how my path to ordination began in Lichfield 55 years ago when I was a 19-year-old, following very personal and special experiences in the chapel dedicated to Saint John the Baptist – the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield – and in Lichfield Cathedral, both of which I return to constantly, and which I continue to see as my personal homes.

It was the summer of 1971, and although I was training to be a chartered surveyor with Jones Lang Wootton and the College of Estate Management at Reading University, I was also trying to become a freelance journalist, contributing features to the Lichfield Mercury, the Rugeley Mercury and the Tamworth Herald.

Late one sunny Thursday afternoon, after a few days traipsing along Wenlock Edge and through Shropshire, and staying at Wilderhope Manor and in Shrewsbury, I had returned to Lichfield.

I was walking from Birmingham Road into the centre of Lichfield, and I was more interested in an evening’s entertainment than prayer or religious life when I stumbled into that chapel out of curiosity. Not because I wanted to see the inside of an old church or chapel, but because I was attracted by the architectural curiosity of the outside of the building facing onto the street, with its Tudor chimney stacks and its Gothic chapel.

I still remember lifting the latch, and stepping down into the chapel. It was late in the afternoon, so there was no light streaming through the East Window, and John Piper’s stained glass window was not yet in place. But as I turned towards the lectern, I was filled in one rush with the sensation of the light and the love of God.

This is not a normal experience for a young 19-year-old … certainly not for one who is focussing on an active social night later on, or on rugby and cricket in the weekend ahead.

But it was – and still is – a real and gripping moment. I have talked about this as my ‘self-defining moment in life.’ It still remains as a lived, living moment.

At the Patronal Festival Eucharist in the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield, last year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

My first reaction was to make my way down John Street, up Bird Street and Beacon Street and into the Cathedral Close and Lichfield Cathedral. There I slipped into the choir stalls, just in time for Choral Evensong.

It was a tranquil and and exhilarating experience, all at once. But as I was leaving, a residentiary canon shook my hand – I think he was Canon John Yates (1925-2008), then the Principal of Lichfield Theological College (1966-1972) and later Bishop of Gloucester and Bishop at Lambeth. He looked at me amusingly and asked whether a young man like me had decided to start going back to church because I was thinking of ordination.

All that in one day, on that one summer afternoon.

The west front of Lichfield Cathedral in afternoon sunshine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

However, I took the scenic route to ordination. I was inspired by the story of Gonville ffrench-Beytagh (1912-1991), which was beginning to unfold at the time. He was then the Dean of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Johannesburg, and facing trial when he opened his doors to black protesters who were being rhino-whipped by South African apartheid police on the steps of his cathedral.

My new-found adult faith led me to a path of social activism, campaigning on human rights, apartheid, the arms race, and issues of war and peace. I also moved into journalism full-time, first with the Wexford People and eventually becoming Foreign Desk Editor of The Irish Times.

While I was working as a journalist, I became a student once again, and completed degrees in theology at the Irish School of Ecumenics and Trinity College Dublin in 1984 and at the Kimmage Mission Institute and Maynooth in 1987. In the back of my mind, that startling choice I was confronted with after evensong in Lichfield Cathedral 55 years ago was gnawing away in the back of my mind.

Letters of ordination as priest by Archbishop Walton Empey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Of course, it was a long road to ordination, from the age of 19 to the age of 48 … almost 30 years: I returned to study theology at the Church of Ireland Theological College (CITC, now CITI) in 1999, I was ordained deacon on 25 June 2000 and I was ordained priest a year later on 24 June 2001, the Feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist.

Since then, my ordained ministry has included two years as an NSM curate in Whitechurch Parish, Rathfarnham (2000-2002), while I continued to work as Foreign Desk Editor of The Irish Times; four years working with mission agencies and as a part-time lecturer in the Church of Ireland Theological College (2002-2006); 11 years on the staff of CITC and CITI as Director of Spiritual Formation, college chaplain, and then Lecturer in Anglicanism, Liturgy and Church History (2006-2017); six years also as an adjunct assistant professor in TCD (2011-2017); nine years as a canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (2008-2017); and five years in west Limerick and north Kerry in the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe (now Tuam, Limerick and Killaloe) as priest-in-charge of the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes, Precentor of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, Saint Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe, Co Clare, and Saint Brendan’s Cathedral, Clonfert, Co Galway, and Director for Education and Training (2017-2022).

That ministry has included school and hospital chaplaincy, membership of the General Synod and various church commissions and committees and school boards, mission agency visits to Egypt, China, Hong Kong, Italy, the Vatican, Rome, Romania, Hungary and Finland, and six years as a trustee of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel). There were additional studies at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and the Institutum Liturgicum, based at the Benedictine Study and Arts Centre in Ealing Abbey and KU Leuven.

Archbishop Walton Empey’s inscription on the Bible he gave to me on my ordination to the priesthood on 24 June 2001 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I had started coming to Lichfield as a teenager because of family connections with the area around Lichfield and Tamworth. The traditions of the chapel in Saint John’s Chapel subtly grew on me and became my own personal expression of Anglicanism, while and the liturgical traditions of Lichfield Cathedral nurtured my own liturgical spirituality.

That bright summer evening left me open to the world, with all its beauty, all its problems, all its perplexity and paradoxes, and all its promises.

The chapel in Saint John’s Hospital and Lichfield Cathedral remain my twin spiritual homes, and I had hoped to return to both again today (24 June 2026), to Saint John’s for the Patronal Festival Eucharist at Noon, and to the Cathedral for Choral Evensong at the end of the day.

Then, 11 years ago, Canon Andrew Gorham, the then Master of Saint John’s Hospital, invited me to preach at the Festal Eucharist in the chapel on the Feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist on 24 June 2015. It was also the anniversary of my ordination. The attendance included the Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire, Dr Ian Dudson, the Deputy Mayor of Lichfield, Mrs Sheelagh James, and a former Mayor, Mrs Norma Bacon.

Friends from Wexford, including priests, writers, journalists and historians, at my ordination to the priesthood in Chrust Church Cathedral, Dublin, on 24 June 2001

As priests, we normally celebrate the anniversary of our ordination to the priesthood and reflect on it sacramentally. However, I still await PTO in a new diocese and I have found unexpected restrictions on celebrating this day in a meaningful way.

This continues to be trying at a personal level, and I held these emotions and feelings in my heart today, deepened by my disappointment of not being at the mid-day Eucharist in Saint John’s and Evensong in Lichfield Cathedral, and those feelings and emotions were in my heart, silently, at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church in Stony Stratford last Sunday (21 June 2026). There was further sadness today when I heard the news of the death of my lifelong friend, Ian Kirkpatrick. We had once lived around the corner from one another, and he was one of my best friends in my teens and my 20s. He died in Israel a few days ago.

Today was going to be a day for walks around Stowe Pool and Minster Pool, through the streets of Lichfield, along Beacon Street, and perhaps a walk out into the countryside along Cross in Hand Lane or a late lunch in the Hedgehog Vintage Inn at the corner of Stafford Road. Last year, I ended this day at Choral Evensong in Lichfield Cathedral, where the versicles and responses and the Collects for Peace and for Aid Against all Perils were so appropriate at this time of peril and war, and they continue to be meaningful in the same way today:

Give peace in our time, O Lord,
Because there is none other that fighteth for us,
but only thou, O God.

Here at home in Stony Stratford, we had a quiet celebration of the Eucharist. This has been a day to remind myself that I remain a priest forever, and to remind myself where this journey or pilgrimage began 55 years ago, in the summer of 1971, and I was encouraged by Timothy Dudley-Smith’s opening lines of the Post-Communion hymn in Saint John’s on this day last year:

Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided,
urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way,
sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided:
Lord for the years, we bring our thanks today.

Part of the family circle at my ordination to the priesthood in Chrust Church Cathedral, Dublin, on 24 June 2001

A peacock in a ‘tondo’ by Fra Angelico links Christmas and Easter, the incarnation and the Resurrection

The ‘Adoration of the Magi’ (ca 1440/1460) by Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi

Patrick Comerford

As is so often at this stage in my life, I have sent out very few Christmas cards this year. Indeed, I have handed out very few cards either. In previous years, I always tried to send cards that had a real religious symbolism and designs. But I now feel a little guilty that I have not returned with the same verve or energy to sending out cards that I once had.

The small box of Oxfam cards I bought this year has not been fully used. It may be due to a number of moves in recent years, to the consequent loss of address books, and some reactions that are still delayed following a stroke almost four years ago. Or it may simply be down to bad planning and follow-through on my part.

By way of compensation, I am putting together a collection of images – stained-glass windows, icons, crib scenes and works of art – to post as online Christmas cards, posting one at noon each day on social media throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas. This follows the positive response to my daily ‘Advent Calendar’ postings throughout the month of December.

One image that caught my attention from similar postings in previous years is the Adoration of the Magi, a tondo or circular painting dating from ca 1440-1460 and ascribed to both Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi. It was recorded in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence in 1492, and is now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

In this work, I am particularly struck by a large peacock perches on the roof of the stable, looking over his shoulder, and forming the shape of a cross in the eaves behind him.

A peacock among the heraldic symbols of the Comberford family in the Moat House on Lichfield Street in Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The peacock may have been given a prominent place in this work because Giovanni di Cosimo de Medici (1421-1463) had adopted a peacock as his heraldic symbol, along with the French motto Regarde-Moi (‘Watch me’).

This may help to explain how the peacock was popularised as a symbol in late mediaeval heraldry, as seen in the coats-of arms of the Comberford and Comerford families, as well as the Arbuthnot family and the Manners family who became the Dukes of Rutland.

The Comberford family may have first adopted the peacock and a ducal coronet as the crest in their coat of arms through a link with the Harcourt family and the two families’ shared connections with the Moat House on Lichfield Street in Tamworth. And, in turn, there may be a connection there that has links in some way with the Battle of Bosworth Field at the end of the Wars of the Roses, or provided a visual link with the swan that provided similar symbolism for the Stafford family, Dukes of Buckingham.

In time, peacocks came to decorate the crests in the coat-of-arms of both the Comerford and Comberford families: a peacock’s head in the case of two branches of the family, and a peacock in his pride in a third branch.

Three peacocks in ‘The Paradise’, a poster in a shopfront in Rethymnon inspired by a Byzantine fresco created by Theophanes of Crete in 1527 in Meteora (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

I have long been fascinated by peacocks. When I was living in Wexford in the mid-1970s, I went on a long walk in the sunshine one Sunday afternoon and came across a farm near Piercestown, 6 km south of Wexford town, with a large number of peafowl in the farmyard.

I turned into work at the Wexford People the next morning, enthusiastic about offering a feature on what appeared to be an exotic peacock colony. But everyone else seemed to know about it and was dismissive, and no-one shared my enthusiasm. The feature was never written – but then, it was in the days when newspapers were in black and white, and any photographs could never have done justice to the sight that delighted me that summer afternoon.

That fascination has continued. I have learned how to attract their attention and curiosity without disturbing them, and delighted in feeding them from my hand across Europe, from the gardens of the Royal Alcázar of Seville and vineyards near Perpignan in the south of France to the monastic gardens of Vlatadon on the slopes overlooking Thessaloniki in northern Greece.

A peacock in the gardens at the Royal Alcázar of Seville … happy to eat from a visitor’s hand (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In vineyards, peafowl – peacocks and peahens – walk around freely. Peafowl are forest birds that nest on the ground, but roost in trees. They are terrestrial feeders, and domesticated peafowl enjoy protein rich food, including larvae that infest granaries, different kinds of meat and fruit, as well as vegetables, including dark leafy greens, broccoli, carrots, beans, beets, and peas. This makes them appropriate birds to keep in an organic vineyard, acting as a natural protection for the vines.

They are curious birds too, always ready to respond to the presence of people. Despite their innate independence, they can appear to be both disdainful and socially curious at one and the same time.

With this natural curiosity, sociability and their feeding habits, it is easy to entice the peacocks and peahens with nuts and raisins and to have them eating from your hand, like cats seeking to make sense of the attention of visitors.

Peacocks above the doors of Alexandra Kaouki’s former workshop on Melissinou Street in the old town in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The English poet William Blake (1757-1827) wrote in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793): ‘The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.’ But how did the peacock become such an interesting symbol in Christianity? Why is it that peacocks appear so often in Christian art as a symbol of the Resurrection and Eternal Life?

In ancient Persia and Babylon, the peacock was associated with Paradise and the Tree of Life and was seen as a guardian to royalty, and was often engraved upon royal thrones.

These birds were not known to Greeks before the conquests of Alexander the Great. Aristotle, who was Alexander’s tutor, refers to the peacock as ‘the Persian bird.’ In classical Greece, it was believed that the flesh of peafowl did not decay after death, and so the peacock became a symbol of immortality.

This symbolism was adopted in early Christianity, and many early Christian paintings and mosaics show the peacock. The peacock is still used in the Easter season, especially in the east. The ‘eyes’ in the peacock’s tail feathers symbolise the all-seeing God and – in some interpretations – the Church.

A peacock drinking from a vase is used as a symbol of a Christian believer drinking from the waters of eternal life. The peacock can also symbolise the cosmos if one interprets his tail with his many ‘eyes’ as the vault of heaven dotted by the sun, moon, and stars. The peacock is associated with immortality, and in iconography the peacock is often depicted next to the Tree of Life.

Peacocks and peacock feathers as symbols of the Resurrection in the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Some commentators have written that the reference in the Book of Revelation to four living creatures ‘full of eyes in front and behind’ before the throne is inspired by images of the tail of the peacock (see Revelation 4: 6). Other writers also say, ironically, that the peacock is a symbol of humility, since he has great beauty, yet hides it all behind himself.

The peacock has been a symbol of immortality from as early as the 3rd century CE on the walls of the catacombs of Rome. Later, peacocks appear in mediaeval paintings and manuscripts and in decorative motifs on churches and buildings, and even among the animals in the stable at Christ’s nativity.

The peacock in the Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lipp is large and peacock perches on the top of the stable, looking over his shoulder. What is he looking back at, or forward to?

For me, he seems to provide a thematic link between the wooden stable and the wood of the cross, between the incarnation and the resurrection, between Christmas and Easter. There is more to look forward to than Christmas. But, for now, may you have a Happy and a Blessed and a Holy Christmas.

Peacocks on comfortable cushions at Esquires Coffee on West Street, Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 83, Thursday 31 July 2025

‘Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven … brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13: 52) … newspapers at a kiosk in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church, and the week began with the Sixth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VI, 27 July 2025). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Ignatius of Loyola (1556), founder of the Society of Jesus or Jesuits.

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 kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind’ (Matthew 13: 47) … fishing boats and nets by the harbour in Iraklion (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Matthew 13: 47-53 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 47 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51 ‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ 52 And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’ 53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

‘When [the net] was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good [fish] into baskets’ (Matthew 13: 48) … a sign outside a fish shop in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

This morning’s reflection:

We have more weeping and gnashing of teeth in this morning’s Gospel reading (Matthew 13: 47-53), more separating of the righteous and the evil, and more people being thrown into the furnace of fire.

But we also have some more images of what the kingdom of heaven is like:

• Casting a net into the sea (verse 47);

• Catching an abundance of fish (verse 47);

• Drawing the abundance of fish ashore, and realising there is too much there for personal needs (verse 48);

• Writing about it so that others can enjoy the benefit and rewards of treasures new and old (verse 52).

So there are, perhaps, four or five times as many active images of the kingdom than there are passive images.

And we hear that ‘every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13: 52).

When the Revd Stephen Hilliard was leaving The Irish Times to enter full-time parish ministry, the then deputy editor, Ken Gray, joked that he was moving from being a ‘column of the Times’ to being a ‘pillar of the Church.’

Later, when I asked Stephen to define the different challenges of journalism and parish ministry, I was told: ‘In many ways they’re the same. We’re supposed to be comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.’

Nadine Gordimer, in a lecture in London, once argued that a writer’s highest calling is to bear witness to the evils of conflicts and injustice. But that is the calling of a priest too.

When I was moving from journalism in The Irish Times, another colleague asked me, in a tongue-in-cheek way, whether I was moving from being one of the Scribes to being one of the Pharisees.

In my 30 or more years as a full-time journalist and writer, I had tried to work at the point where faith meets the major concerns of the world.

Since leaving The Irish Times back in 2002, I continue to write regularly in other formats too. My daily blog has been a daily exercise: I continue to write occasionally for The Irish Times, the Wexford People, and for local and church-based newspapers and magazines, as well as contributing regularly to books and journals.

But, just as ministry is never exercised as a personal right but always in communion with the Church, so too journalists and writers never write for themselves, but need to heed the needs of editors and readers.

There is a time to be silent in ministry, and there is a time to be silent as a writer. I am humbled whenever I listen to Leonard Cohen’s song, If it be your will. He ended many of his concerts singing this poem, which for me is about submission to God’s will, accepting God’s will, leaving God in control of my spirit. It is a song that I hope is heard at my funeral (later rather than sooner):

If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will

If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing

If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well

And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will

If it be your will.

Until then, I shall continue to write.

‘Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven … brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13: 52) … catching up with the news in ‘The Irish Times’

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 31 July 2025):

The theme this week (27 to 2 August) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Reunited at Last’. This theme was introduced yesterday with a programme update from Raja Moses, Programme Coordinator, Diocese of Durgapur, Church of North India.

The USPG prayer diary today (Thursday 31 July 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord, please strengthen parents and families whose loved ones have been taken. In their darkest moments, give courage, hope and the support they need to bring their children home.

The Collect:

Merciful God,
you have prepared for those who love you
such good things as pass our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love toward you
that we, loving you in all things and above all things,
may obtain your promises,
which exceed all that we can desire;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

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

Additional Collect:

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

‘Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven … brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13: 52) … newspapers on sale in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

‘Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven … brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ (Matthew 13: 52)

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 Lent 2025: 41, Monday 14 April 2025, Monday of Holy Week

Mary anoints the feet of Jesus in Bethany … a window in the north aisle of Saint Mary’s Church in St Neots, Cambridgeshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Holy Week, the last week in Lent, as we prepare for Good Friday and Easter, and today is the Monday of Holy Week (14 April 2025). Passover also continues until next Sunday evening (20 April 2025), which is also Easter Day.

A parish retreat on the theme of ‘I will you rest’ takes place this week in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, with three days of prayers and reflection today, tomorrow and Wednesday, including Readings and Morning Prayer at 8:15, Angelus and Mid-Day Prayer at 12, Confessions at 5 pm, Daily Prayers at 6 pm, a talk at 6:30, Stations of the Cross at 7 pm, and Mass at 7:30 pm.

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

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

The Hardman window in Saint Mary’s Church, St Neots, with the Anointing of Jesus’ feet by Mary of Bethany (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

John 12: 1-11 (NRSVA):

1 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

9 When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

‘There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him’ (John 12: 2) … dinner in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Today’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist in the lectionary (John 12: 1-11) is an extended version of the Gospel reading eight days ago on the Fifth Sunday in Lent or Passion Sunday (Lent V, John 12: 1-8).

Many years ago, when I was in my early 20s, the then Rector of Killanne and Killegney, Canon Norman Ruddock, invited me to speak at one of his Lenten reflections in Clonroche, Co Wexford.

I was then living on High Street in Wexford, working as a journalist with the Wexford People, and I was probably invited as a Lenten speaker because I also had a weekly column in the local newspapers in Co Wexford and Co Wicklow.

I remember how Philip Corish kindly drove me to and from Wexford that evening. Later that year, he was elected an Alderman on Wexford Corporation, and he would go on to become a Mayor of Wexford, while Norman Ruddock later became the Rector of Wexford, and he was a constant encouragement to me to go forward for ordination.

I remember that evening as a balmy spring evening, and Norman Ruddock remarked on how my talk was challenging politically and socially. There was only one written follow-up: an anonymous parishioner sent me an unsigned letter, telling me I had abused the Gospel for political purposes. She (or he) chose to remind me of a saying in today’s Gospel reading: ‘You always have the poor with you’ (John 12: 8), or perhaps? ‘The poor will always be among us!’ (Matthew 26: 11).

That was more than half a century ago. I never kept that letter, but I still think about it when I hear far-right activists criticising people like me, accusing us of being ‘Woke’ or showing ‘empathy’.

These verses continue to be misinterpreted and weaponised as a justification of wealth accumulation and ignoring the plight of the poor and the causes of their poverty.

As today’s Gospel reading makes very clear, it is Judas Iscariot who elicits this response from Jesus. The setting in John 12 is a destitute village, Bethany, whose name means ‘house of the poor’, ‘house of affliction’ or ‘house of misery’; in Matthew 26, it is the house of Simon the Leper, one of the poorest of the poor in a village full of poor people.

In the parallel story in Mark 14: 7, Jesus says: ‘For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish’. If anyone thinks ‘the poor will always be among you’ is a universal statement that somehow allows them to avoid responsibility from seeking to eliminate poverty, Mark 14: 7 turns that interpretation on its head.

In addition, we should remember that when Jesus cites Scripture he expects those who are listening to be familiar with the passage, and that they should be able to finish the quotation as they take it to heart. Jesus here is quoting from Deuteronomy 15, but the full passage (Deuteronomy 15: 1-11) he cites provides the context:

15 Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. 2 And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbour, not exacting it from a neighbour who is a member of the community, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. 3 From a foreigner you may exact it, but you must remit your claim on whatever any member of your community owes you. 4 There will, however, be no one in need among you, because the Lord is sure to bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession to occupy, 5 if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today. 6 When the Lord your God has blessed you, as he promised you, you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbour. 8 You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. 9 Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near’, and therefore view your needy neighbour with hostility and give nothing; your neighbour might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. 10 Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbour in your land.’

I suppose all I was doing that Lenten evening over 50 years ago was sharing my interpretation of Biblical economics – an interpretation that is even more relevant today.

‘Christ the Beggar’, a sculpture by Timothy Schmalz in Rome (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 14 April 2025, Monday of Holy Week):

A ‘Holy Week Reflection’ provides the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).’ This theme was introduced yesterday with reflections by Bishop David Walker of Manchester, who is the chair of USPG trustees.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 14 April 2025, Monday of Holy Week) invites us to pray:

Lord, during this Holy Week, we pray that each of us may deeply experience the love that Jesus has for us. May this profound love transform our hearts and guide our actions as we reflect on His sacrifice and grace.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race
sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh
and to suffer death upon the cross:
grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility,
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
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 Jesus Christ,
you humbled yourself in taking the form of a servant,
and in obedience died on the cross for our salvation:
give us the mind to follow you
and to proclaim you as Lord and King,
to the glory of God the Father.

Additional Collect:

True and humble king,
hailed by the crowd as Messiah:
grant us the faith to know you and love you,
that we may be found beside you
on the way of the cross,
which is the path of glory.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The ‘Homeless Christ’ by the Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz in the grounds of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 16, Tuesday 18 February 2025

The staff of life … 12 loaves of bread depicted in a fresco in the 17th century Kupa Synagogue in the old Jewish quarter of Kazimierz in Kraków (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar. Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent are little more than two weeks away (5 March 2025).

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

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ They said to him, ‘Twelve’ (Mark 8: 19) … 12 loaves of bread in the Bretzel Bakery in Portobello, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Mark 8: 14-21 (NRSVA):

14 Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch out – beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ 16 They said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ 17 And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ They said to him, ‘Twelve.’ 20 ‘And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ And they said to him, ‘Seven.’ 21 Then he said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’

‘Bread is still the staff of life’ … the façade of Frank O’Connor’s former bakery on North Main Street, Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

I can truly identify with the forgetfulness of the disciples in this morning’s Gospel reading (Mark 8: 14-21). I have forgotten to pack enough clothes for a weekend away and for holidays. I have left clothes behind in hotels, keys on a shop counter, lost a phone on a train between Tamworth and Lichfield and another in taxi from Luton. I have got a train in the wrong direction when I was to speak at a book launch in London. I have even left my passport behind in Stony Stratford, and so missed a flight and the launch in Dublin of a book to which I had contributed two chapters.

I know it happens to others too. But this morning I might feel very sympathetic with any of the disciples who might be dismissed by readers as being ‘a sandwich short of a picnic.’

I have memories from my more youthful days in Wexford, when I worked with the Wexford People and Frank O’Connor’s bakery was on North Main Street. The bakery dated back to 1860, and closed in 1979. But I remember the initials FOC on the façade, and the slogan: ‘Bread is still the staff of life.’

The constant and witty response from one friend as he passed that shop in North Main Street was: ‘Man does not live by bread alone.’

One is a popular proverb that many assume is a Biblical quotation; the other is a Biblical quotation, that appears once in Deuteronomy and twice in the Gospels.

The Gospel reading for the Eucharist today reflects the importance of breads in daily life in the time of Jesus and the Disciples – it was truly the staff of life.

The Kupa Synagogue in the Old Jewish in Kraków has a wall painting or fresco of 12 loaves of bread that are described as ‘sacramental.’

To what degree is this morning’s Gospel reading for the Eucharist a sacramental reading?

When the disciples are rebuked for forgetting to bring any bread with them, it is not just a matter of everyone in the group going hungry for a little while. The Greek verb used here for ‘to forget’ (ἐπιλανθάνομαι, epilanthanomai) conveys the sense of negligence or disregarding rather than memory loss. I am inclined to read it as describing a wilful decision not to remember to bring bread rather than some forgetful lapse of memory.

And the Greek word used here to describe to bring or to take (λαμβάνω, lambanō) describes not the process of buying bread, or putting it in your shopping basket or a picnic hamper. It describes laying hands on it.

Taking, blessing, breaking and giving … essential acts of giving and receiving, Eucharistic acts.

Bread is still the staff of life, and encountering Christ in the breaking of the bread, in sacramental living, still brings and gives life.

The church is the boat, and not merely forgetting but neglecting the opportunity to share the staff of life in the Church, for me, is one of the weaknesses I find in a church that professes to be a church of word and sacrament.

A sandwich bar in Zurich Airport … were some of the disciples close to being ‘a sandwich short of a picnic’? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 18 February 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Struggle for Indigenous Land Rights in Brazil.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by the Revd Dr Rodrigo Espiúca dos Anjos Siqueira, Coordinator of the Department of Advocacy, Human, Environmental and Territorial Rights of the Anglican Diocese of Brasília. Pastor of Espírito Santo Parish, Novo Gama, Goiás.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 18 February 2025) invites us to pray:

We pray for transparency and honesty, that the political authorities may realise the serious injustice suffered by Indigenous peoples and traditional communities.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who alone can bring order
to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity:
give your people grace
so to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, among the many changes of this world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
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 Father,
who gave Jesus Christ to be for us the bread of life,
that those who come to him should never hunger:
draw us to the Lord in faith and love,
that we may eat and drink with him
at his table in the kingdom,
where he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Eternal God,
whose Son went among the crowds
and brought healing with his touch:
help us to show his love,
in your Church as we gather together,
and by our lives as they are transformed
into the image of Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

A summer evening on the lawns at Saint John's College, Cambridge … have I sometimes been close to being ‘a sandwich short of a picnic’? (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