Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 37, Saturday 13 June 2026

‘Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”’ (Matthew 5: 37) … contradictory road signs near Shanagolden, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and tomorrow is the Second Sunday after Trinity (Trinity I1, 14 June 2026). Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, 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.

‘Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”’ (Matthew 5: 37) … Yes and No answers about coffee at a café in Kazimierz, the old Jewish Quarter of Kraków (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 5: 33-37 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 33 ‘Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.” 34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one.’

‘Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”’ (Matthew 5: 37) … Molly Bloom’s ‘Yes’ in a Bloomsday sign in Sweny’s Pharmacy on Lincoln Place, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 5: 33-37) continues our readings from the Sermon on the Mount. Christ has spoken about adultery, divorce and remarriage, and now he deals with truth, honesty and credibility.

Christ refers to the Biblical advice on oaths (see Exodus 20: 7, Leviticus 19: 12, Numbers 30: 2, Deuteronomy 5: 11, 6: 3, 22: 21-33) but then calls for even greater, total truth-telling. Our yes is yes and our no is no, and we are called to perfect and transparent, clearly visible honesty.

Of course, we can only aim for such honesty. Nevertheless, we must not swear falsely, break an oath, commit perjury, or call on God as our witness when all we want to do is to express an opinion.

The reference to ‘heaven’ – as with ‘earth’ and ‘Jerusalem’ in verse 35, and ‘your head’ in verse 36 – is an example of oath-taking verifications that allowed varying degrees of authenticity. A vow that was supported by the name of God is particularly binding, but as Christ points out, God is associated with all oath verifications.

Christ proposes standards that go beyond external ways of behaviour but challenge how we feel in our hearts. He suggests that if we do not keep an eye on our feelings and thoughts then we cannot control our actions.

Yes or No? Truth or Lies? … second-hand books on a stall at a charity sale in Portrane, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 13 June 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 7 to 13 June 2026 (pp 8-9), has been ‘Safe Churches in Zambia’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a programme update from Fran Mate, Senior Regional Manager for Africa, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Saturday 13 June 2026, World Day Against Child Labour) invites us to pray:

Lord God, guide Anglican provinces as they strengthen safeguarding through shared learning and accountability. Help your global Church to grow in wisdom, courage, and care for all people.

The Collect:

O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
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:

Eternal Father,
we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts:
may our communion strengthen us in faith,
build us up in hope,
and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity II:

Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
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

Words from William Temple on worship, holiness, truth, beauty and love … seen in Saint Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore, Co Waterford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 35, Thursday 11 June 2026, Saint Barnabas the Apostle

An icon of Saint Barnabas in Saint Barnabas Church in Jericho, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the First Sunday after Trinity (Trinity I, 7 June 2026). The Church Calendar today commemorates Saint Barnabas the Apostle (11 June).

Later day, I plan to meet a visiting writer from New Zealand at lunchtime in London. I hope to be back in Stony Stratford this evening in time to watch the openi match of the World Cup, between Mexico and South Africa, although this time round I plan to watch only matches played in Mexico and Canada, and to avoid any matches played at venues in the US, in my own personal protest against the Trump regime and the way it has hijacked this World Cup in very politically-motivated way. Before today begins, meanwhile, 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 Saint Barnabas in Saint Barnabas Church, Jericho, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 15: 12-17 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.’

Saint Paul (left), the Prophet Elijah (centre) and Saint Barnabas (right) in a window in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Later this month, I hope to mark the 25th anniversary of my ordination as pariest in 2001 and the 26th anniversary of my ordination as deacon in 2000. Shortly before my ordination, over diner with our friend Canon Norman Ruddock at the Rectory in Wexford, Bishop Noel Willoughby, told me about what he called his ‘Barnabas File.’

He had retired as Bishop of Cashel and Ossory and was then living in Wexford. As a bishop, he told me, he regularly got letters moaning and groaning about what he had done or what he had failed to do. He read them, acted on them if he needed to, and then dumped them. But when he got encouraging letters, praising him, or just simply nice letters, he filed them away in his ‘Barnabas File’ and then take them out and read them when the pressures of ministry and the critics were grinding him down. Those letter writers were to him what Saint Barnabas was to the Apostle Paul on their shared missionary journeys.

In the Church Calendar, today is the Feast of Saint Barnabas. The lectionary readings for the Eucharist today include Acts 11: 19-30, set in Antioch, where we are called Christians for the first time. Earlier, Barnabas had sold all his goods and had given his money to the apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 4: 36-37). Now, in Acts 11, Barnabas arrives in Antioch. He then brings Saul from Tarsus to Antioch, and the two are sent out together.

Barnabas and Paul travel together for such a long time that their names are almost inseparable. When a dispute arises about taking John Mark with them, that dispute ends with Paul and Barnabas taking separate routes.

In today’s Gospel reading (John 15: 12-17), we are reminded that the great commandment Christ gives us is to love one another as Christ loves us (verse 12), and that we are called to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last (verse 16).

Christ tells us we have been given his commands so that we may love one another (verse 17). If we love one another, and if that becomes our priority in ministry, then we too can be like Barnabas to the other Pauls we meet in our Christian life.

Love one another. And that is enough.

Saint Barnabas (left) among the icons in the Baptistry in the west apse of Saint Barnabas Church, Jericho (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 11 June 2026, Saint Barnabas the Apostle):

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 7 to 13 June 2026 (pp 8-9), is ‘Safe Churches in Zambia’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from Fran Mate, Senior Regional Manager for Africa, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Thursday 11 June 2026, Saint Barnabas the Apostle) invites us to pray:

God of encouragement, as Saint Barnabas strengthened the early Church, strengthen leaders in Zambia. Help them build churches where every person is treated with dignity and respect.

The Collect:

Bountiful God, giver of all gifts,
who poured your Spirit upon your servant Barnabas
and gave him grace to encourage others:
help us, by his example,
to be generous in our judgements
and unselfish in our service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

With Canon Norman Ruddock (left) and Bishop Noel Willoughby (right) in Wexford in 1998 … a reminder of the ‘Barnabas Files’

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 34, Wednesday 10 June 2026

The Ten Commandments on two panels between the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed in Saint Simon and Saint Jude Church, Castlethorpe, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the First Sunday after Trinity (Trinity I, 7 June 2026). At lunchtime today, I am involved in a meeting of local clergy in the Milton Keynes area as guests at the Chinese Overseas Christian Mission, in Fishermead. Later this evening, I hope to be part of the choir rehearsals in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, which are open to the public as part of the programme for this year’s Stony Live Festival.

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.

One of two panels in the chancel in Saint Peter’s Church, Lingwood, Norfolk, displaying the Ten Commandments (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Matthew 5: 17-19 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.’

The Ten Commandments on a Torah Mantle on Torah Scrolls from Adelaide Road Synagogue now in the Dublin Jewish Museum (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Which are the least of the commandments? And if we ask that question we might ask too: which is the greatest of the commandments?

In Jewish law, there are 613 commandments, precepts or mitzvot. They include positive commandments, to perform an act (mitzvot aseh), and negative commandments, to abstain from certain acts (mitzvot lo taaseh). The negative commandments number 365, which coincides with the number of days in the solar year, and the positive commandments number 248, said to be the number of bones and main organs in the human body (Babylonian Talmud, Makkot 23b–24a).

The number of tzitzit or knotted fringes of the tallit or prayer shawl worn by pious Jews at prayer is connected to the 613 commandments: the Hebrew numerical value of the word tzitzit is 600; each tassel has eight threads (when doubled over) and five sets of knots, totalling 13; the sum of these numbers is 613. This reflects the idea that donning a tallit or prayer shawl with tzitzit reminds the wearer of all 613 Torah commandments.

Deli613 in Rathmines, the Jewish deli in Dublin, takes its name from the 613 mitvot.

When a Scribe wants to know which of one of these 613 commandments is the most important (Mark 12: 28-34), Christ offers not one but two commandments or laws. But neither is found in the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20: 1-17 and Deuteronomy 5: 4-21). Instead, he steps outside the Ten Commandments and quotes from two other sections in the Bible (Deuteronomy 6: 4-5 and Leviticus 19: 18).

The first command Christ quotes is the shema, ‘Hear, O Israel, …’ (verse 29), recited twice daily by pious Jews. The shema is composed from two separate passages in the Book Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 and 11: 13-21), and to this day it is recited twice daily in Jewish practice.

Christ links this first commandment to a second, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (verse 31). Once again, he is not quoting from the Ten Commandments; instead, here he is quoting from the Book Leviticus (Leviticus 19: 18).

Christ combines these two precepts into a moral principle, linked by love. But he is not the first, nor is he the last, to do this, nor is this combination unique for the Scribes or the Pharisees.

Hillel the Elder (ca 110 BCE to 10 CE), when he was asked a similar question, cited this verse as the most important message of the Torah. Once, he was challenged by a gentile who asked to be converted if the Torah was explained to him while he stood on one foot. Drawing on Leviticus (Leviticus 19: 18), Hillel told the man: ‘Do not do to anyone else what is hateful to you: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn’ (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbath 31a).

The Scribe agrees with Jesus and elaborates. Both precepts are much more important than all the burnt-offerings and sacrifices in the Temple (verses 32-33). For responding in this way, Christ tells this Scribe that he has answered wisely and is near the kingdom of God (verse 34).

The Irish-born theologian Professor David Ford sees these two commandments as the key, foundational Scripture passage for all our hermeneutical exercises. David Ford was born in Dublin, and from 1991 to 2015 he was the Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge.

Speaking once at the Dublin and Glendalough Clergy Conference in Kilkenny [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.

He reminded the clergy present of Saint 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, the two great commandments provide the key to understanding all the commandments, and ‘whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 5: 19).

A selection of tallitot or prayer shawls in the synagogue in Chania in Crete … the number of knots and fringes represent the 613 commandments in Jewish law, but which is the most important? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 10 June 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 7 to 13 June 2026 (pp 8-9), is ‘Safe Churches in Zambia’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from Fran Mate, Senior Regional Manager for Africa, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 10 June 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord God, bless Archbishop Albert Chama, the bishops, clergy, and church leaders in Zambia as they work to build safer churches. Give courage, discernment, and compassion to lead with care.

The Collect:

O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
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:

Eternal Father,
we thank you for nourishing us
with these heavenly gifts:
may our communion strengthen us in faith,
build us up in hope,
and make us grow in love;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of truth,
help us to keep your law of love
and to walk in ways of wisdom,
that we may find true life
in Jesus Christ your Son.

Collect on the Eve of Saint Barnabas:

Bountiful God, giver of all gifts,
who poured your Spirit upon your servant Barnabas
and gave him grace to encourage others:
help us, by his example,
to be generous in our judgements
and unselfish in our service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The 613 mitzvot or commandments inspire the name of 613 Deli in Rathmines, 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 2026: 33, Tuesday 9 June 2026

‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste how can its saltiness be restored?’ (Matthew 5: 13) … ‘Sal Sapit Omnia’ (‘Salt Savours All’), the motto of the Worshipful Company of Salters at the former gates of Salters’ Hall in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the First Sunday after Trinity (Trinity I, 7 June 2026).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remember Saint Columba (597), Abbot of Iona, Missionary, and Saint Ephrem of Syria (373), Deacon, Hymn Writer, Teacher of the Faith. 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.

‘But if salt has lost its taste how can its saltiness be restored?’ (Matthew 5: 13) … salt on a café table in Cobh, Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 5: 13-16 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 13 ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

14 ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.’

‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden’ (Matthew 5: 14) … the lights of the Monastery of Serra do Pilar in Vila Nova de Gaia above Luiz I Bridge, the River Tagus and the city of Porto (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 5: 13-16) continues a series of weekday readings from the Sermon on the Mount that began with the Beatitudes yesterday. The scene opens with Christ leaving the crowds and climbing up the mountain, like Moses in the Book Exodus leaving the crowd behind him, and climbing Mount Sinai. In the Sermon on the Mount in Chapters 5 to 7, Saint Matthew presents us with a covenant renewal document.

The images of salt and light as explanations of true discipleship and true religion offer interesting illustrations of what true religion is.

In today’s reading, Christ uses two metaphors to show the disciples the essential qualities of being his followers.

The disciples are to be ‘the salt of the earth’ (verse 13). In reality, despite what is said here, salt does not easily lose its taste. However, in Judaism, salt symbolised purity and wisdom and was used to season incense and offerings to God in the Temple. Should it become ritually unclean, it had to be thrown out and was no longer to be used by the worshipping community or in its liturgies. Similarly, if Christians lose their faith they are no longer part of the worshipping community and its liturgy, and may as well be discarded or thrown out.

Roman soldiers were given salt rations and this sal is the origin of the word ‘salary.’ A soldier failing in battle or falling asleep at his post was ‘not worth his salt.’

The disciples are to be ‘the light of the world’ (verses 14-16). They are to stand out, like a city on a hill, and to lead others to Christ, who is a light to the Gentiles (see Luke 2: 32) and the true Light of the World (see John 8: 12).

As people of faith, let us be worth our salt; let us never lose our taste for justice, let our light shine before others, so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven.

‘No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket’ (Matthew 5: 15) … candles in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Rethymnon on the Greek island of Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 9 June 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 7 to 13 June 2026 (pp 8-9), is ‘Safe Churches in Zambia’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from Fran Mate, Senior Regional Manager for Africa, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Tuesday 9 June 2026) invites us to pray:

God of hope, bless the knowledge being shared across the Church in Zambia. Raise up a new generation committed to safeguarding, justice, and faithful witness.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
who filled the heart of Columba
with the joy of the Holy Spirit
and with deep love for those in his care:
may your pilgrim people follow him,
strong in faith, sustained by hope,
and one in the love that binds us to you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

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

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (Matthew 5: 16) … light lights up the parish church in Laytown, Co Meath, in the darkness (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 32, Monday 8 June 2026

The Berliner Dom in Berlin, popularly known as Berlin Cathedral … the images inside the dome illustrate the Beatitudes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and yesterday was the First Sunday after Trinity (Trinity I, 7 June 2026). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today recalls Thomas Ken (1637-1711), Bishop of Bath and Wells, Nonjuror, Hymn Writer.

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.

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted’ (Matthew 5: 4) … a child’s painting in Ukrainian Space in Budapest (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 5: 1-12 (NRSVA):

1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

12 ‘Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.’

‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted’ (Matthew 5: 4) … ‘Divine Teardrop’ by Peter Cassidy in an exhibition in Wexford in 2016 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 5: 1-12) begins a series of weekday readings from the Sermon on the Mount, beginning with the Beatitudes. The scene opens with Christ leaving the crowds and climbing up the mountain, like Moses in the Book Exodus leaving the crowd behind him, and climbing Mount Sinai. In the Sermon on the Mount in Chapters 5 to 7, Saint Matthew presents us with a covenant renewal document.

The Beatitudes are a declaration of the happy or fortunate state of the children of God who possesses particular qualities, and who, because of them, will inherit divine blessings.

It is interesting to compare the delivery of the Beatitudes to the delivery of the Ten Commandments. Here we have the renewal of the covenant, and a restatement, a re-presentation, of who the Children of God are.

Just as we sometimes find the Ten Commandments grouped into two sets, so we might see the Beatitudes set out in two groups of four, the first four being inward looking, the second four being outward looking.

We might see the first four Beatitudes as addressing attitudes, while the second four deal with resulting actions.

Are they ethical requirements for the present?

Or are they eschatological blessings for the future?

Or are they are statements of present fact, identifying the qualities of a child of God and the consequent blessings that follow?

Few of us, I imagine, are ever going to commit murder.

But we all get ‘angry with a brother’ sooner or later.

The Sermon on the Mount exposes our own present reality in a very stark and real way, and the Beatitudes are a core text for Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship and in the writings of towering Christian figures such as Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Thomas Merton and Oscar Romero.

Father Brian D’Arcy once recalled during a radio interview how Dorothy Day once spoke of how her fellow Roman Catholics went to confession regularly and confessed to ‘breaking’ one of the Ten Commandments, but she wondered how often they confessed to ‘breaking’ one of the Eight Beatitudes.

Μακάριοι (Makárioi): Does this mean ‘blessed’? Archbishop Makarios was the President of Cyprus in 1974 when he was deposed in a coup that was followed by the Turkish invasion of the island. ‘His Beatitude’ is a term of respect for archbishops and metropolitans in the Orthodox Church.

The word ‘blessed’ is not the best translation for μακάριος (makários). ‘Fortunate,’ ‘well off,’ or ‘happy’ might fit better.

Christ is telling those who hear him that they are fortunate to be this way. They are fortunate to possess these qualities of life. Why? Because it means they inherit the blessings or fortunes of God’s promised kingdom.

The Beatitudes are culturally embedded in our society, in our literature, in our arts. They are so familiar that we all understand the irreverent humour found in a scene in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian.

‘Blessed are the Meek’ – which means the humble, patient, submissive and gentle – is misheard in The Life of Brian as: ‘Blessed is the Greek – apparently he’s going to inherit the earth.’ When they finally get what Jesus actually says, a woman says, ‘Oh it’s the Meek … blessed are the Meek! That’s nice, I’m glad they’re getting something, ’cause they have a hell of a time.’

The political activist and agitator Reg then says: ‘What Jesus blatantly fails to appreciate is that it’s the meek who are the problem.’ This sums up the growing annoyance of the violent with the peaceful attitude of Christ. But it also highlights that the Beatitudes are about ordinary, everyday people.

Too often we see the saints celebrated by the Church as martyrs and apostles, missionaries and hermits, bishops and theologians. How often do we see them as ordinary, meek, everyday people, the people who too often are dismissed as problems, who are living with problems, who often go without attention from politicians and activists alike?

The mother and child separated at birth in the ‘mother and baby’ home and blocked at every stage as they tried to find each other.

The middle-aged mother who hopes that life is going to get better as the years move on, but then finds instead every waking hour is devoted to an adult child with special needs, or to an elderly parent who now needs to be looked after like a child.

The couple filled with faith but afraid to come to church, marginalised because of their colour, class, language, marital status or sexuality.

The lone protester who stands outside a government office or embassy, ignored by those inside and berated outside by passing, hooting motorists, but who knows right is on her side … ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.’

If the Church is a sign of the Kingdom of God, a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy, how does our life as the Church, in the parish and in the diocese, offer solace, comfort, a foretaste, hope for the meek, the downtrodden, the lonely, the oppressed, who are praised in the Beatitudes and who are invited as part of the great multitude, the countless number from every nation, tribe, people and language, to gather before the Lamb on the throne?

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit … those who mourn … the meek … those who hunger and thirst …’

May theirs be the kingdom of heaven, may they be comforted, may they inherit the earth, may they be filled.

‘Blessed are the merciful … the pure in heart … the peacemakers … those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake …’

May we be generous in showing mercy, may we see God, be called children of God, find ourselves in the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are we even when others revile us for standing up for these values … when we stand up for those values, may we rejoice and be glad.

Writing on the Financial pages of The Guardian many years ago (17 January 2011), Terry Macalister wrote: ‘From Tolstoy to Dostoevsky to Chekov, if anyone can tell a good story it’s the Russians.’ Well, in Chapter 2 of Boris Pasternak’s great Russian novel Doctor Zhivago, we meet Larissa Feodorovna Guishar, who ‘was not religious’ and ‘did not believe in ritual,’ but was startled by the Beatitudes, for she thought they were about herself.

How do we apply the Beatitudes to ourselves, to our own lives?

The reredos in the Unitarian Church, Dublin, is inscribed with the Beatitudes, one on each panel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 8 June 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 7 to 13 June 2026 (pp 8-9), is ‘Safe Churches in Zambia’. This theme was introduced yesterday with a programme update from Fran Mate, Senior Regional Manager for Africa, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Monday 8 June 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord of love, thank you for the challenge that ‘documents alone will not keep people safe.’ Stir clergy and congregants alike with courage to act, wisdom to protect, and compassion to care.

The Collect:

O God, from whom all blessings flow,
by whose providence we are kept
and by whose grace we are directed:
help us, through the example of your servant Thomas Ken,
faithfully to keep your word,
humbly to accept adversity
and steadfastly to worship you;
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, shepherd of your people,
whose servant Thomas Ken revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’ (Matthew 5: 8) … a window in Saint Mary’s Collegiate Church, Youghal, Co Cork (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 with French saints and writers 8: 10 February 2024

Thomas Merton … ‘to be grateful is to recognise the Love of God in everything he has given us’

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time, the time between Candlemas and the 40 days of Lent, which begins next week on Ash Wednesday. The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Scholastica (ca 543), sister of Saint Benedict and Abbess of Plombariola, and tomorrow is the Sunday next before Left.

We spent two days in Paris earlier this week, and so, during these 11 days in Ordinary Time, my reflections each morning are drawing on the lives of 11 French saints and spiritual writers.

As this series of reflections began last Saturday, I admitted I am often uncomfortable with many aspects of French spirituality, and that I need to broaden my reading in French spirituality. So, I have turned to 11 figures or writers you might not otherwise expect. They include men and women, Jews and Christians, immigrants and emigrants, monks and philosophers, Catholics and Protestants, and even a few Anglicans.

Before this day gets busy, I am taking some quiet time early this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, A reflection on a French saint or writer in spirituality;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Thomas Merton … the ‘beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves’

French saints and writers: Thomas Merton (1915-1968):

Thomas Merton (1915-1968), who had a had a major influence on modern western spirituality, has been described as the greatest Roman Catholic spiritual writer of the 20th century, and he is remarkable for his contributions to reintegrating spirituality and theology.

Thomas Merton is the author of 70 or more books and is best known for classics such as The Seven Storey Mountain, New Seeds of Contemplation and Zen and the Birds of Appetite. His writings cover a wide range of subjects, including spirituality and the contemplative life, prayer, and religious biography.

He was also deeply interested in issues of social justice and Christian responsibility. He did not shy away from controversy and addressed race relations, economic injustice, war, violence, and the nuclear arms race.

Thomas Merton is also remembered for his attempts to rearticulate the contemplative-monastic life and the Christian mystical tradition for today’s readers, his role in fostering ecumenical relations, particularly between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, and his role in interfaith dialogue, especially between Christians and Buddhists.

Thomas Merton was born in Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales, in France on 31 January 1915, and was baptised in the Anglican church in Prades. His father, Owen Heathcote Grierson Merton (1887-1931), was from New Zealand; his mother Ruth (Jenkins) was a Quaker artist from the US; they met when they were both living in Paris. Throughout his life, he remained proud of being French born of artist-parents.

The family later settled in New York. The birth of his brother, the death of his mother while Thomas was six, and the long-distance romances of his father created an unsettling life for Thomas Merton for some years. In his early teens he lived briefly at 18 Carlton Road, Ealing, in the 1920s.

His father died when he was 15, and he completed his schooling at Oakham, a public school in Rutland, and then enrolled as an undergraduate at Clare College, Cambridge. Some accounts say that he fathered a child while he was at Cambridge, but that the mother and child were killed in the London Blitz during World War II.

Without completing his degree at Cambridge, he returned to the US, and became a student at Columbia University in New York, where he developed friendships and relationships that would nurture him for the rest of his life.

Although he was nominally an Anglican, Thomas Merton underwent a dramatic conversion experience in 1938 and became a Roman Catholic. He recounts the experience of his conversion in his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, which became a spiritual classic when it was published in 1948.

Thomas Merton joined the Trappists, the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance in 1941, entering the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky.

As a Trappist monk he was known as Father Louis, and his gifts as a writer were encouraged by the abbot. In addition to his translations of Cistercian sources and his original works, Thomas Merton carried on a prolific correspondence with people around the world on a wide range of subjects. Some of his correspondence takes the form of spiritual direction, some shows his deep affections for friends outside the community, and much of it demonstrates his ability to be fully engaged in the world even though he lived a cloistered life.

On 10 December 1968, Merton was in Bangkok in Thailand to attend an interfaith conference between Catholic and non-Christian monks when he got out of his bath to adjust an electric fan. He was electrocuted when touched an exposed wire with his wet hands and died a painful death.

On the very same day – 10 December 1968 – Karl Barth also died. He was one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century, and Pope Pius XII regarded Barth as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas.

Thomas Merton’s former family home at 18 Carlton Road, Ealing, a short walk from Ealing Abbey, is now a home of the Sisters of the Resurrection.

Thomas Merton in his own words:

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet.

A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

To be grateful is to recognise the Love of God in everything he has given us – and he has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.

‘Shall I … wake up the dirty ghosts under the trees of the Backs, and out beyond the Clare New Building’ (Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain) … punting on the Backs, behind Clare College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 8: 1-10 (NRSVA):

1 In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, 2 ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way – and some of them have come from a great distance.’ 4 His disciples replied, ‘How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?’ 5 He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ They said, ‘Seven.’ 6 Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. 7 They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. 8 They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

Thomas Merton’s hermitage at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, Kentucky (Photograph: Bryan Sherwood / Wikipedia, CC BY 2.0)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 10 February 2024):

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), has been ‘Gender Justice in Christ.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Ellen McMibanga, Zambia Anglican Council Outreach Programme.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (10 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

We pray for the church leaders, clergy and laity of the Anglican Church of Zambia. May they lead with wisdom, showing the example of equality to their congregations.

The Collect:

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

The Post-Communion Prayer:

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

Additional Collect:

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

Collect on the Eve of the Sunday before Lent:

Almighty Father,
whose Son was revealed in majesty
before he suffered death upon the cross:
give us grace to perceive his glory,
that we may be strengthened to suffer with him
and be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflection (André and Magda Trocmé)

Continued Tomorrow (Paul Ricœur, 1913-2005)

Thomas Merton’s autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, became a spiritual classic when it was published

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

Select reading:

Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1948).
Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation (Norfolk, Connecticut: New Directions, 1949).
Thomas Merton, The wisdom of the desert; sayings from the Desert Fathers of the fourth century (New York: New Directions, 1961).
Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (New York: Doubleday, 1966).
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation (New York: New Directions, 1972).

Laurence C Cunningham (ed), Thomas Merton: Spiritual Master. The Essential Writings (New York: Paulist Press, 1992).
Laurence C Cunningham (ed), Thomas Merton and the Monastic Vision (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999).
Esther De Waal, On Retreat with Thomas Merton, A Seven Day Programme (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2011).
James Forest, Thomas Merton, a Pictorial Biography (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1980).
Monica Furlong, Merton: A Biography (London: Ligouri, 1995).
Michael Mott, The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986).
Philip Sheldrake, A Brief History of Spirituality (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007).

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time with French saints and writers 7: 9 February 2024

André Trocmé (1901-1971) and Magda Trocmé (1901-1996) have been designated Righteous Among the Nations

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time, the time between Candlemas and the 40 days of Lent, which begins next week on Ash Wednesday.

Charlotte and I are back in Stony Stratford, having spent two days in Paris. In these 11 days in Ordinary Time, my reflections each morning are drawing on the lives of 11 French saints and spiritual writers.

As this series of reflections began, I admitted I am often uncomfortable with many aspects of French spirituality, and that I need to broaden my reading in French spirituality. So, I have turned to 11 figures or writers you might not otherwise expect. They include men and women, Jews and Christians, immigrants and emigrants, monks and philosophers, Catholics and Protestants, and even a few Anglicans.

I have a medical appointment later today. But, before this day gets busy, I am taking some quiet time early this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, A reflection on a French saint or writer in spirituality;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The Revd André Trocme (1901-1971) was the pastor in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon for 15 years

French saints and writers: 7, André and Magda Trocmé:

André Trocmé (1901-1971) and his wife Magda Trocmé (1901-1996), a French couple, have been designated Righteous Among the Nations. For 15 years, André was a pastor in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a remote parish on the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon in south-central France.

His Christian pacifist positions were not well received by the French Protestant Church. In his preaching, he spoke out against discrimination as the Nazis were gaining power in Germany and he urged his Huguenot congregation to hide Jewish refugees from the Holocaust during World War II.

André Trocmé was born on 7 April 1901 in Saint-Quentin-en-Tourmont to a large and economically comfortable Protestant family. When he was 10, his mother Pauline (Schwerdtmenn) died after a car crash, and he was raised by his distant but demanding father, Paul Trocmé, a prosperous curtain manufacturer.

His upbringing was sheltered and strict, but he faced reality when World War I reached his hometown. Trocmé was only 13 as he watched soldiers struggle through the streets after battle. In 1916 he saw the trains taking dead soldiers to the crematoria. His family was split between his mother's German heritage and his half-French brothers, and Trocmé became aware of the notions of identity and loyalty.

His views on pacifism matured through lengthy conversations with a young soldier about the ideals of nonviolence. When the young soldier was killed in battle, Trocmé became more committed to the ideals of pacifism.

When their town was bombed in 1917 by the Germans, the Trocmé family were evacuated to southern Belgium as refugees. This gave André Trocmé an understanding of what it meant to be poor, in contrast to the wealthy life he had known.

After World War I, the Trocmé family moved to Paris, where André studied at the Faculty of Protestant Theology and at the Sorbonne. His convictions about nonviolence and Christian socialism deepened as he studied the Bible and met many like-minded students like himself, including Edouard Theis (1899-1984), who would later join Trocmé in Le Chambon.

Trocmé’s studies were interrupted by conscription in 1921-1923). He did not resist because he wanted to experience the placement in Morocco. When his conscription ended, Trocmé and several of his university colleagues joined the French branch of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation.

He received a one-year bursary in 1925 for young French theologians from Union Theological Seminary, New York. There Trocmé was a tutor to the children of John D Rockefeller Jr to pay his expenses, and there too he met Magda Grilli, a Russian-Italian woman who was studying social work.

Magda Elisa Larissa Grilli di Cortona was born on 2 November 1901 in Florence. Her father was an Italian born into Florentine. Her Russian-born mother died shortly after giving birth, and for the rest of his wife Magda’s father was a distant figure.

A scholarship in 1925 enabled Magda to attended the New York School of Social Work at Columbia University. She and André met in New York, and they married in 1926.

André Trocmé’s first appointment as a pastor was in Maubeuge, a town in northern France that had been destroyed during World War I. Although French pastors at the time were prohibited from advocating conscientious objection, Trocmé supported men in his town who resisted conscription.

The Trocmé family stayed in Maubeuge for seven years. But by 1932 the dusty, polluted air was taking its toll on them. He searched for a new parish, but was turned down by the first two he applied to. The third, Le Chambon, was more open to pacifists and admired his faith.

André Trocmé and the Revd Edouard Theis founded the Ecole Nouvelle Cévenole in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon in 1938, and it later became Le Collège-Lycée Cévenol International. Its initial purpose was to prepare young local people to enter university. As war loomed on the horizon, it took in many young Jewish refugees who wished to continue their education.

When Nazi Germany overran France in 1940, André and Magda Trocmé became involved in a network organising the rescue of Jews fleeing Nazi deportations. When the Vichy regime was set up, Trocmé and neighbouring pastors area encouraged their congregations to shelter ‘the people of the Bible’ and for their cities to be a ‘city of refuge.’

Through Trocmé’s role as a catalyst, Le Chambon and surrounding villages became a haven in Nazi-occupied France. Trocmé and his church helped the town develop ways of resisting the Nazis, and they created a number of safe houses to hide Jews and other refugees.

The work was supported financially with contributions from Quakers, the Salvation Army, the Congregational Church in the US, the pacifist movement Fellowship of Reconciliation, Jewish and Christian groups, the French Protestant student organisation Cimade and Help to Children, based in Switzerland. This support helped to house and buy food for refugees. Many refugees escapes to Switzerland on an underground railroad network, many were placed in family homes and children were enrolled in schools using false names.

When the Vichy puppet regime demanded a list of all the Jews in the town, Trocmé refused to accept their definitions and told them: ‘These people came here for help and for shelter. I am their shepherd. A shepherd does not forsake his flock … I do not know what a Jew is. I know only human beings.’

Anti-Jewish Vichy security agents were sent to search in the town, but most of their efforts were without success. One arrest by the Gestapo led to the death of several young Jewish men in deportation camps. Daniel Trocmé (1910-1944), the director of their residence, La Maison des Roches, was André Trocmé’s second cousin. He refused to let the young adults put in his care to be sent away without him. He was arrested and later murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp.

When Georges Lamirand, a minister in the Vichy government, visited Le Chambon on 15 August 1942, Trocmé forcibly told him of his views and beliefs. Days later, Vichy gendarmes were sent to the town to locate ‘illegal’ aliens. In the face of rumours that Trocmé was about to be arrested, he urged his parishioners to ‘do the will of God, not of men.’ He quoted Deuteronomy 19: 2-10, which speaks of the entitlement of the persecuted to shelter, ‘so that the blood of an innocent person may not be shed in the land.’ The gendarmes were unsuccessful and left the town.

Trocmé was arrested in February 1943, along with Edouard Theis and the school headmaster Roger Darcissac, and they were sent to Saint-Paul d’Eyjeaux, near Limoges. They were released after four weeks and pressed to sign a commitment to obey all government orders. Although Trocmé and Theis refused, they were released and went underground. Trocmé continued to run the rescue and sanctuary efforts with the help of many friends and supporters.

After World War II, André and Magda were co-secretaries of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation in Europe. During the Algerian War, they set up the group Eirene in Morocco, with the aid of the Mennonites, to help French conscientious objectors. They advocated for Algerian independence, demonstrated against nuclear weapons and campaigned for drafting a world constitution.

André Trocmé spent his final years as a Reformed Church pastor in Geneva, and died there on 5 June 1971; Magda died in Paris on 10 October 1996. They are buried together in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.

Months before he died, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem, recognised André Trocmé as Righteous among the Nations. His cousin Daniel Trocmé was recognised in March 1944, and Magda was recognised in July 1986.

The Plateau Vivarais-Lignon and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon have become a symbol of the rescue of Jews in France during World War II. Yad Vashem honoured the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and the neighbouring communities with an engraved stele in the memorial park. It was the second time Yad Vashem honoured a whole community, the first time being the Dutch village of Nieuwlande in 1988.

Muriel Rosenberg, in her book Mais combien étaient-ils? (2021), estimates that between 1940 and 1945, at least 2,000 Jewish refugees, including many children, were saved by the small village of Le Chambon and the communities on the surrounding plateau because the people resisted the demands of the Vichy and Nazi police and military.

Their contemporaries included the Revd Jacques Martin (1906-2001), a French pastor, pacifist and conscientious objector whose involvement in the Resistance and the protection of Jews brought him recognition from Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations.

Baron Roland de Pury (1907-1979), a Swiss Protestant theologian, pastor and writer who lived in France during World War II, helped Jewish refugees to escape to Switzerland, and was arrested by the Gestapo. He too was honoured as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

The French theologian Madeleine Barot (1909-1995) was active in the Resistance, in human rights movement, and the early work of the World Council of Churches. She too was given the status of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

Marie Elmes (1908-2002) from Cork, who worked with American Friends Service Committee in Perpignan during world War II, saved the lives of 200 Jewish children in Vichy France, hiding them in the boot of her car. She is the first Irish person honoured as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

A plaque in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon commemorates the rescue of Jews by Magda and André Trocmé (Photograph: Pensées de Pascal / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mark 7: 31-37 (NRSVA):

31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’

A memorial at Yad Vashem recalls the extraordinary story of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon

Today’s Prayers (Friday 9 February 2024):

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 ‘Gender Justice in Christ.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Ellen McMibanga, Zambia Anglican Council Outreach Programme.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (9 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

Help us O Lord to ensure that we treat everyone we encounter with respect and love.

The Collect:

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

The Post-Communion Prayer:

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

Additional Collect:

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

Yesterday’s Reflection (Simon Weil, 1909-1943)

Continued Tomorrow (Thomas Merton, 1915-1968)

The Mary Elmes Bridge … the centrepiece is designed to create the impression of a menorah (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 with French saints and writers 5: 7 February 2024

Canon Frederic Anstruther Cardew (1866-1942) … known in Paris as the ‘chorus girls' friend’

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time, the time between Candlemas and the 40 days of Lent, which begins next Wednesday.

Charlotte and I arrived in Paris yesterday, and we are staying here for two days. So, in these 11 days in Ordinary Time, my reflections each morning are drawing on the lives of 11 French saints and spiritual writers.

As this series of reflections began, I admitted I am often uncomfortable with many aspects of French spirituality, and that I need to broaden my reading in French spirituality. So, I have turned to 11 figures or writers you might not otherwise expect. They include men and women, Jews and Christians, immigrants and emigrants, monks and philosophers, Catholics and Protestants, and even a few Anglicans.

I am taking some quiet time early this morning for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, A reflection on a French saint or writer in spirituality;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Canon Frederic Anstruther Cardew at the wedding of Lord Dudley and Gertie Millar in Paris in 1924

French saints and writers: 5, the Revd Canon Frederic Cardew (1866-1942):

Saint George's Church, the main Church of England church in Paris, is at 7 rue Auguste Vacquerie, just a few steps from the Arc de Triomphe. Although the present church is a modern church dating from 1978, the church dates back to 1824.

Saint George’s is one of two Church of England congregations in central Paris, the other being Saint Michael’s. There are four other Church of England congregations in the suburbs. Paris also has an American Episcopal Church at avenue George V.

Saint George’s says it seeks, ‘in the very heart of this busy city, to be a place of the holy, a place of silence and of prayer,’ where visitors may experience ‘something of the wonder and loving mystery of our God, and may feel drawn gently into His sacred presence.’

The foundation stone of ‘old Saint George’s’ was laid in 1887 on the site of the present church. That church was high in both senses – Victorian Gothic and Anglo-Catholic. The church, with its colourful chaplains and curates – including Father Frederic Cardew and his ministry to English ‘dancing-girls’ – survived two World Wars and the Nazi occupation of Paris, and in more recent decades became the centre for Anglican-Roman Catholic ecumenism.

Throughout much of the first half of the 20th century, Canon Frederic Anstruther Cardew (1866-1942) was known in Paris as the ‘chorus girls' friend.’

He was born in Mean Meir in Lahore, now in Pakistan, on 6 March 1866, a son of Colonel Sir Frederic Cardew, an army officer in India, and Clara (Newton) Cardew. Sir Frederic was later the Governor of Sierra Leone (1894 -1900).

Canon Frederic Cardew had many prominent church figures in his family. His aunt Lucy Cardew was married to Frederick William Farrar (1831-1903), Dean of Canterbury; his first cousin Maud Farrar married the SPG secretary, Bishop Henry Montgomery (1847-1932) from Moville, Co Donegal, and they were the parents of Viscount ‘Monty’ Montgomery of Alamein.

Frederic Anstruther-Cardew was still in his late teens when he went to Canada in 1884, volunteered to fight Indians and sought adventure as a cowboy in the US. He returned to England, was ordained in 1891.

He was Precentor of Brisbane Cathedral when he married Norah Skye Kington in Saint Mary Abbots Church, Kensington, in 1894. Her father, Colonel William Miles Nairne Kington (1838-1898), played cricket for Gloucestershire. In Australia, Cardew was the Vicar of Charleville in Queensland for three years from 1894.

In Charleville, Cardew ministered to the biggest cattle stations in the world. It was there that he became famous across the colony as the ‘Cattle Punchers Padre.’ It was said his parish was the biggest in the world, covering 120,000 square miles.

Cardew then spent three years as the Vicar of All Saints’ Church, Brisbane. There he officiated at the wedding in 1898 of Travers Robert Goff (1863-1907), a bank manager from Dublin, and Margaret Agnes Morehead – their children included PL Travers (1899-1996), born Helen Lyndon Goff, the author of Mary Poppins.

Cardew was back in England, living in Leicestershire and Derbyshire in the early 20th century. He became the chaplain of Saint George’s Church, Paris, in 1907, and remained there until 1939. He was also the rural dean of France and a prebendary of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Soon after his arrival in Paris, Cardew founded the Cardew Theatre Girls’ Hostel in Montmartre for American and English ‘chorus girls’ in 1907. For over 30 years, he fed and sheltered countless chorus girls who sought their fame and fortune in the burlesque shows of Paris. He became the confessor, matchmaker, and legal adviser to thousands of ‘Les Girls’ and in doing so became famous across Europe as the ‘Chorus Girls’ Friend.’

During World War I he visited the frontlines, the trenches and the battlefields, and one of his sons was taken prisoner of war at the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915. At a victory dinner in Paris after the war signed himself with aplomb as ‘Chaplain of Blighty.’

Cardew continued his work among the ‘chorus girls’ after World War I. His fame and personality were so great that he was worked into the storyline of a show, The Nymph Errant, that became a musical by Cole Porter. He was also chaplain to the Actors’ Union and the Actors’ Association, was involved in the Anglo-Catholic Congress in 1923.

Canon Cardew officiated at the marriage of one of his ‘chorus girls,’ Gertie Millar (1879-1952), who married the widowed William Ward (1867-1932), 2nd Earl of Dudley, in Paris in 1924. Lord Dudley’s first wife had drowned in 1920 while she was visiting Connemara. The wedding caused a stir because Gertie was well-known on stage and in the chorus halls, while Lord Dudley had been Viceroy of Ireland (1902-1905) and Governor-General of Australia (1908-1911). He is named in James Joyce’s description of his Vice-Regal progress through Dublin in Ulysses.

But the publicity surrounding the wedding attracted public support for Cardew rather than notoriety, and in 1928 the British Ambassador in Paris presented him with a cheque for £1 million. The long list of subscribers was headed by the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, who had known Cardew from childhood but was also known to many of the chorus girls and was a close friend of Lord Dudley.

Canon Cardew’s first wife Norah died in London on 27 July 1931. He married his second wife, Margaret Sophie Stokes, on 17 August 1933. He had been made OBE the previous year, and the French government recognised his work by making him a Chevalier du Legion d’Honneur, the highest award from the French government.

When Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 and subsequently married Wallace Simpson at the Château de Candé in Tours on June 1937, Cardew became embroiled in the controversy. The civil marriage was followed by a Church of England service conducted by the Revd Robert Anderson Jardine, Vicar of Darlington in the Diocese of Durham.

Cardew said he the former king was ‘an old friend of mine and I have known him since he was a boy.’ But, he said, Jardine had conducted the service without his permission as Rural Dean of France and in defiance of the Bishop of Fulham, Bishop Basil Batty, who was in charge of Anglican affairs in continental Europe, and in defiance of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Durham.

Cardew said he was responsible for Anglican matters in France, and called for Jardine to be dismissed. He added that ‘any clergyman under my jurisdiction here in France who performed such a breach would almost certainly be deprived of his living.’ Cardew may also have disliked Jardine’s aggressive evangelical views. Jardine was eventually forced to retire and never worked again in parish ministry in the Church of England and died penniless in 1950.

Meanwhile, Cardew retired in 1939, and moved back to London. Canon Frederic Cardew died at the age of 76 in Shrewsbury House, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, on 12 July 1942. He was the father of four sons.

After World War II, a memorial was erected to Canon Cardew in Saint George’s Church in 1950. With the help of the Girls’ Friendly Society, his widow Margaret refounded his club in 1952. In 1970, the YMCA contributed a legacy to the organisation, later known as the YMCA-Cardew Club. The club supports young English speakers, many of them au pairs, and the clubroom is at Saint George’s Church.

Saint George’s Church had been badly damaged during World War II. The site was sold to developers and the church is now housed in the ground floor and the basement of a modern apartment building on the site.

Frederic Anstruther Cardew is remembered to this day as a saintly and pastorally caring priest. The American writer Julien Green (1900-1998), who was born and lived in Paris, became a Roman Catholic in 1916. But in his autobiographical Young Years (1984) he recalled the influence on him of Cardew during his childhood days when he went to church in Saint George’s with his parents:

‘I remember that when the Reverend Cardew knelt in front of the altar and in an uncertain voice, but with an accent that did not deceive, intoned a hymn immediately taken up by the faithful, an indescribable emotion took possession of me. There was in this man a humility so deep and a faith so pure that I received something from it without even guessing what it was about. Because of this man, I loved God. I didn’t know anything about it and Reverend Cardew didn’t know anything about it either. Recently, a Catholic priest told me that this man had left behind the memory of an unblemished life after having been for a long time the chaplain of the girls at the Folies Bergère.’

Saint George’s Church was rebuilt in 1978. The Revd Mark Osborne is the chaplain, the Revd Nicolas Razafindratsima is the curate, and the former Dean of St Albans, the Very Revd Jeffrey John, is Associate Chaplain. The Sunday services include the Said Eucharist (BCP 1662) at 8:30 and Solemn Eucharist at 10:30.

Saint George’s Church, Paris, was rebuilt in 1978

Mark 7: 14-23 (NRSVA):

14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’

17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19 since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’

Édouard Manet’s ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergère’ (1882) … Canon Frederic Cardew was known in Paris as the ‘chorus girls' friend’

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 7 February 2024):

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 ‘Gender Justice in Christ.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by Ellen McMibanga, Zambia Anglican Council Outreach Programme.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (7 February 2024) invites us to pray in these words:

Let us pray for gender justice across the world, remembering that gender equality can lead to the abolishment of poverty.

The Collect:

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

The Post-Communion Prayer:

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

Additional Collect:

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

Yesterday’s Reflection (Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965)

Continued Tomorrow (Simon Weil, 1909-1943)

‘F Anstruther Cardew, Chaplain of Blighty’ … a post-war dinner card in Paris in 1918

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