Daily prayer in Advent 2024: 14, Saturday 14 December 2024

‘And the disciples asked him, ‘Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ (Matthew 17: 10) … the Prophet Elijah by Phyllis Burke in the Carmelite Church in Clarendon Street, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We have passed the half-way into the Season of Advent, and the countdown to Christmas has truly gathered pace. Tomorrow the Third Sunday of Advent or Gaudete Sunday (Advent III, 15 December 2024), and the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint John of the Cross (1591), Poet, 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, 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.

A hilltop chapel dedicated to the Prophet Elijah in a small graveyard east of Georgioupoli (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 17: 10-13 (NRSVA):

10 And the disciples asked him, ‘Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ 11 He replied, ‘Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; 12 but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.’ 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.’

Elijah in the Chariot of Fire, depicted in a window in the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Newport, Essex (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s reflection:

The theme in the lectionary readings last Sunday for Advent II (8 December) was the Prophets, while tomorrow the theme is Saint John the Baptist (Advent III or Gaudete Sunday, 15 December). Those two themes continue to be linked in this morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Matthew 17: 10-13), when Christ once again compares the Prophet Elijah and Saint John the Baptist.

The Prophet Elias (Hλίας) or Elijah is a popular dedication for mountain-top and hill-top churches and chapels throughout Greece, because of his association with hilltops and mountains, including, in the New Testament, the mountain of the Transfiguration.

Elijah is one of the most studied prophets in the Old Testament, and perhaps too the loftiest and the most worthy of all the prophets.

Of all the Biblical prophets, the New Testament mentions Elijah more than any other: he is mentioned by name 29 times in New Testament and he is alluded to a few other times.

Some English translations of the New Testament use Elias, a Latin form of the name, and in the King James Version the name Elias appears in texts translated from the Greek. For example, the name Elias is used by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) in ‘This Is the Record of John’, a verse anthem that is sung in many cathedrals and churches tomorrow on Advent III or Gaudete Sunday.

In the New Testament, both Christ and Saint John the Baptist are compared with Elijah and on some occasions they are thought by some to be manifestations of Elijah.

In the Annunciation narrative in Saint Luke’s Gospel, an angel appears to Zechariah, the father of Saint John the Baptist, and tells him that John ‘will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God,’ and that ‘the spirit and power of Elijah will go before him’ (Luke 1: 16-17).

In Saint John’s Gospel, Saint John the Baptist is asked by a delegation of priests and Levities from Jerusalem if he is the Messiah or Elijah. He replies: ‘No’ (John 1: 19-21).

Saint John the Baptist preaches a message of repentance and baptism. He predicts the day of judgment, using imagery similar to that of Malachi, and he preaches that the Messiah is coming. For those who hear him, he does all this in a style that immediately recalls the image of Elijah. He wears a coat of animal hair secured with a leather belt (see Matthew 3: 1-4; Mark 1: 6), and he preaches frequently in wilderness areas near the River Jordan (see Luke 3: 4).

Christ says that for those who believe Saint John the Baptist is like Elijah, who would come before the ‘great and terrible day’ as predicted by the Prophet Malachi (see Malachi 3: 1; Malachi 4: 5-6). In Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Christ compares Saint John the Baptist with Elijah, fulfilling his office but not being recognised for this, yet greater than Elijah (see Matthew 11: 7-14, 17: 10-13).

In Saint Luke’s Gospel, Herod Antipas is perplexed when he hears some of the stories about Christ. Some people tell Herod that Saint John the Baptist, whom he had executed, has come back to life, others tell him that Christ is Elijah, and still others think that one of the ancient prophets has risen from the dead (see Luke 9: 7-9).

Later, Christ asks his disciples who do people say he is, and their answers include Elijah, other prophets and Saint John the Baptist (see Matthew 16: 13-14; Mark 8: 27-30; Luke 9: 18-20).

Christ is associated with miracle stories similar to those of Elijah, such as the raising of the dead (Mark 5: 21-23; Luke 7: 11-15, 8: 49-56; John 11) and miraculous feeding (Matthew 14: 13-21, Mark 6: 34-45; Luke 9: 10-17; John 6: 5-16; see II Kings 4: 42 ff). Yet Christ implicitly separates himself from Elijah when he rebukes James and John for desiring to call down fire on an unwelcoming Samaritan village in a similar manner to Elijah calling down fire on the Samaritan troops (Luke 9: 51-56; cf II Kings 1: 10).

Similarly, Christ rebukes a potential follower who wants first to return home to say farewell to his family, whereas Elijah permitted his successor Elisha to do this (Luke 9: 61-62; cf I Kings 19: 16-21).

We might also ask whether the cup Christ blesses at the Last Supper is the Cup of Elijah.

During the Crucifixion, some of the onlookers mistakenly think Christ is calling out to Elijah and wonder whether Elijah will come to rescue him, for in the folklore of the time Elijah was seen as a rescuer of Jews in distress (Matthew 27: 46-49; Mark 15: 34-36).

In all three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration, the Prophet Elijah appears with Moses (see Matthew 17: 1-9; Mark 9: 2-8; Luke 9: 28-36). Elijah’s appearance in glory at the Transfiguration does not seem to startle the disciples, and it appears they are overcome by fear only when they hear the voice from the cloud.

At the summit of the Mount of the Transfiguration, Christ’s face begins to shine. The disciples who are with him hear the voice of God announce that Christ is ‘My beloved Son.’ The disciples also see Moses and Elijah appear and talking with Christ.

Saint Peter is so struck by the experience that he asks Christ if they should build three booths or tabernacles – one for Elijah, one for Christ and one for Moses.

Saint John Chrysostom explains the presence of Elijah and Moses at the Transfiguration in three ways:

• They represent the Law and the Prophets – Moses receives the Law from God, and Elijah is a great prophet.
• They both experience visions of God – Moses on Mount Sinai and Elijah on Mount Carmel.
• They represent the living and the dead – Elijah, the living, because he is taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, and Moses, the dead, because he does experience death.

Moses and Elijah show that the Law and the Prophets point to the coming of Christ, and their recognition of and conversation with Christ symbolise how he fulfils ‘the law and the prophets’ (Matthew 5: 17-19). Moses and Elijah also stand for the living and dead, for Moses dies and his burial place is known, while Elijah is taken alive into heaven in order to appear again to announce the time of God’s salvation.

It was commonly believed that Elijah would reappear before the coming of the Messiah (see Malachi 4), and the three interpret Christ’s response as a reference to John the Baptist (Matthew 17: 13).

Elijah is mentioned on three other occasions in the New Testament: in Saint Luke’s Gospel, in Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans, and in the Epistle of James:

1, After he reads from the scroll in the synagogue in Nazareth and is criticised for his teaching, Christ cites Elijah as an example of the rejected prophets when he says: ‘No prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town’:

24 And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian’ (Luke 4: 24–27).

2, Saint Paul cites Elijah as an example that God never forsakes his people:

1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’4 But what is the divine reply to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11: 1-6)

3, Saint James says: ‘The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.’ He then cites as examples Elijah’s prayers which start and end the famine in Israel (see James 5: 16-18).

Inside a hilltop chapel dedicated the Prophet Elias in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Elijah is honoured as a saint in the calendars of both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church on 20 July. In Greece, chapels and monasteries dedicated to the Prophet Elias (Προφήτης Ηλίας) are often found on mountaintops, which themselves are often named after him.

Elijah is revered as the spiritual Father and traditional founder of the Order of Carmelites, to which Saint John of the Cross belonged. In addition to taking their name from Mount Carmel where the first hermits of the order established themselves, the Carmelite traditions about Elijah focus on his withdrawal from public life.

It could be said that to read Saint Luke’s Gospel with insight we also need to read the story of Elijah and Elisha. To read their story, keeping in mind the miracles, the actions, and the teachings of these two prophets, is to add a richness to our reading of the Gospels, but also brings with it a vital understanding of the continuity between Elijah and Saint John the Baptist, of God’s ways in the Old Testament and New Testament.

An icon of the Prophet Elijah in a hilltop chapel near Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 14 December 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 ‘Peace – Advent’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with Reflections by the Revd Nitano Muller, Canon for Worship and Welcome, Coventry Cathedral.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 14 December 2024) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:

As it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God”.’ (Luke 3: 1-6).

The Collect:

O God, the judge of all,
who gave your servant John of the Cross
a warmth of nature, a strength of purpose
and a mystical faith
that sustained him even in the darkness:
shed your light on all who love you
and grant them union of body and soul
in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with John of the Cross to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Advent III:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Saint John of the Cross (top) and the Prophet Elijah (below), two windows by Frances Biggs in the Chapel of Terenure College (Photographs: 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 2024: 157, Tuesday 15 October 2024

Saint Teresa of Ávila … her image high on a corner of her convent church in Seville (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XX). Today the Calendar of the Church remembers Saint Teresa of Avila (1582), Teacher of the Faith.

Our lengthy and challenging odyssey continue today, with a flight from Amsterdam to Paris yesterday and then a rebooked overnight flight from Paris that arrived in Singapore early this morning. It was our second time in Paris this year, but without any opportunity to enjoy this latest visit. Last night’s hotel booking in Singapore and the hope of seeing Singapore today have been lost. But we are about to catch the connecting flight we had booked from Singapore to Kuching and that we thought we were in danger of missing too. Meanwhile, after coffee in the Jewel at Changi Airport this morning, I have found a quiet place to take some quiet time to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading 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.

The entrance to the Convent of San José in Seville, better known as Las Teresas after its founder, Saint Teresa of Ávila (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Luke 11: 37-41:

37 While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. 38 The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.’

Saint Teresa of Avila … a stained-glass window by Phyllis Burke in Saint Teresa’s Church, Clarendon Street, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

Today is the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila (15 October), the great Carmelite mystic and a Doctor of the Church. She was born into an aristocratic Spanish family in 1515. Following her mother’s death, she was educated by Augustinian nuns and then ran away from home to enter a Carmelite convent when she was 20.

After initial difficulties in prayer, her intense mystical experiences attracted many disciples. She was inspired to reform the Carmelite rule and, assisted by Saint John of the Cross, she travelled throughout Spain founding many new religious houses for men as well as women.

Her writings about her own spiritual life and progress in prayer towards union with God include The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, which are still acclaimed.

She knew great physical suffering and died of exhaustion on 4 October 1582. Her feast is on 15 October because the very day after her death the reformed calendar was adopted in Spain and elsewhere and 10 days were omitted from October that year.

During a visit to Saint Chad’s Church in Lichfield some years ago, I picked up the parish weekly magazine, which had chosen Saint Teresa as the ‘Saint of the Week’, and summarised some of her key teachings in this way:

1. Prayer

One of the key hallmarks of the spiritual heights of Saint Teresa of Avila is the importance of prayer. Even though she struggled for many years, she teaches us this basic but indispensable spiritual truth – Perseverance in prayer! Meditate on her immortal words of wisdom and memorise: ‘We must have a determined determination to never give up prayer.’

Jesus taught us the supremely important truth in the Parable of the Persistent Widow and the Judge. The widow, due to her dogged and tenacious insistence, finally gained the assistance of this cold-hearted judge (Luke 18: 1-8). Saint Teresa insists that we must never give up in prayer. If you like an analogy: what air is to the lungs so is prayer to the soul. Healthy lungs need constant and pure air; a healthy soul must constantly be breathing through prayer – the oxygen of the soul.

2. Definition of Prayer

Saint Thomas Aquinas gives us simple but very solid advice: define your topic before you start to talk about it. By doing this you can avoid much confusion. Saint Teresa of Avila gives us one of the classical definitions of prayer: ‘Prayer is nothing more than spending a long time alone with the one I know loves me.’

A short summary? Two friends love each other! Jesus himself called the Apostles friends – so are you called to be a friend with Jesus!

3. Love for Jesus, and his sufferings

Saint Teresa gives us a hint to prayer growth – meditating upon the humanity of Jesus. Spending time Jesus, the Son of God made man and entering into colloquy with him is a sure path to growth in prayer. Try it!

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, in the Spiritual Exercises, insists on us begging for this grace: ‘Intimate knowledge of Jesus that we love him more ardently and follow him more closely.’

4. Holy Spirit: The Divine Teacher in Prayer

On one occasion, the saint was really struggling with prayer and she talked to a Jesuit priest for advice on overcoming her struggle. His advice was simple and to the point, but changed her life! The priest insisted on praying to the Holy Spirit. From that point on, following this great advice to rely on the Holy Spirit, Teresa’s prayer life improved markedly.

Saint Paul to the Romans reiterates the same point: ‘In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings’ (Romans 8: 26). Let us be led by the best of all teachers, the Interior Master of prayer, the Holy Spirit.

5. Spiritual Direction.

To attain constant growth in the spiritual life, we must have some form of spiritual direction. Spiritual blindness, we all experience. The devil can disguise or camouflage as an angel of light. And the higher we climb in the spiritual life the more subtle are the tactics and seductions of the devil – ‘who is searching for us a roaring lion ready to devour us’ (I Peter 5: 8-9).

Saint John of the Cross put it bluntly: ‘He who has himself as guide has an idiot as a disciple.’

6. Spiritual Masterpieces – Her Writings

Without doubt, one of the major contributions to the Church as well as to the world at large are the writings or spiritual masterpieces of Saint Teresa of Avila. One of her basic themes is that of the importance of prayer, and striving to grow deeper and deeper in prayer until one arrives at the Mystical Union of the spouse with Jesus the Heavenly Spouse.

Anybody who takes his or her prayer life seriously should know of Teresa’s writings and spend some time in reading some of her anointed writings. What are her classics? Here they are: Her Life, The Way of Perfection, The Interior Castle, Foundations. In addition to these texts/books, she also wrote many inspiring letters. Want to become a saint? Read and drink from the writings of the saints, especially the Doctors of the Church!

7. The Cross as the Bridge to Heaven

Jesus said, ‘Anyone who wants to be my follower must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.’ Another common denominator in the lives of the saints is the reality of the cross. Saint Louis de Montfort would bless his friends as such: ‘May God bless you and give you many small crosses.’

Saint Teresa lived with a constant friend – the cross of Jesus. Her health was always very fragile; she almost died while very young. Furthermore, for Saint Teresa of Avila to carry out the Reforms of the Carmelite order, she suffered constant attacks and persecutions from many nuns in the convent who preferred a more comfortable lifestyle, from priests (Carmelites) and from other ecclesiastics. Instead of becoming discouraged and losing heart, she joyfully trusted in the Lord all the more – anyway, it was his doing.

In conclusion, may the great woman Doctor of the Church – the Doctor of prayer – Saint Teresa of Avila, be a constant inspiration to you in your own spiritual pilgrimage to heaven. May she encourage you to pray more and with great depth, arrive at deeper conversion of heart, and finally love Jesus as the very centre and well-spring of your life!

Saint Teresa’s Church, Clarendon Street … one of two Carmelite churches in inner-city Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 15 October 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 the ‘Mission hospitals in Malawi’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update by Tamara Khisimisi, Project Co-ordinator, Anglican Council in Malawi.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 15 October 2024) invites us to pray:

We pray for those living in countries that have a high risk of malaria. We ask for your protection over them, especially vulnerable mothers and children under five most at risk of contracting malaria.

The Collect:

Merciful God,
who by your Spirit raised up your servant Teresa of Avila
to reveal to your Church the way of perfection:
grant that her teaching
may awaken in us a longing for holiness,
until we attain to the perfect union of love
in Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Teresa to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

In the Jewel at Singapore Airport this morning after a long overnight flight from Paris and before catching a flight to Kuching this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

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

Saint Colmcille’s Church in Knocklyon: a south Dublin parish celebrates its jubilee

Saint Colmcille’s Church, Knocklyon, Co Dublin … the parish is celebrating its jubilee in October 2024 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Saint Colmcille’s Church in Knocklyon, south Co Dublin, is celebrating the jubilee of the parish this month (October 2024). The year 1974 was the pivotal year in the birth of what is now Knocklyon Saint Colmcille’s Parish. The celebrations include a jubilee concert next Friday evening (18 October).

I lived in Knocklyon for over 20 years, from 1996, when I moved from Carrigleas in Firhouse to Glenvara Park off Ballycullen, until 2017, when I moved to Askeaton, Co Limerick, where I lived until 2022.

I still return to Knocklyon throughout the year, and I got to know Saint Colmcille’s Church through invitations from neighbours and friends to baptisms and funerals, and spoke at events in the parish occasionally.

Inside Saint Colmcille’s Church, Knocklyon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Knocklyon takes its name from cnoc (hill) and linn (pool), close to Knocklyon Castle, on Ballycullen Road, which was once a bend off the old Knocklyon Road. Ballycullen Road leads up to Saint Colmcille’s Well, from which the parish and the church take their name.

Hundreds and thousands of new houses were being built throughout the early 1970s, on the green fields that formed what became Knocklyon Parish. Knocklyon lacked a local village for a new suburb to develop around, but there were several historical houses, including Woodstown, Orlagh, Idrone, Castlefield, Delaford, Scholarstown and Prospect House. In time, these landmark buildings all gave their names to housing estates in Knocklyon.

Amenities were inadequate or non-existent, there was no street lighting, no shops, emergency phones only and limited public bus service. The nearest Sunday Mass was in the small chapel in the Carmelite Convent on Firhouse Road.

Inside Saint Colmcille’s Church, Knocklyon … the foundation stone was blessed by Pope John Paul II (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Archbishop Dermot Ryan of Dublin invited the Carmelite Provincial, Father Joseph Ryan, to send the Carmelites to the young parish in 1974. The parish was formed on 1 October 1974 and was placed under the patronage of Saint Colmcille.

Father Paddy Staunton, later the Assistant Provincial of the Carmelites, and Father Seán Dunne were two of the first Carmelites in the parish, and Father Paddy was the first Parish Priest.

They began their new mission in a rented house on Knocklyon Avenue, then known as Firhouse Avenue. Initially, Ballyroan Parish Church nearby was used by new priests for celebrating Mass, but evening masses were said in the homes of parishioners, building a sense of local parish.

The first parish council was formed at a meeting in Terenure College in November 1974. A committee meeting later that month discussed a Mass centre, a school, a residence and fundraising.

One of the major housing developers in the area, McInerny’s, donated their site-office-canteen as a temporary church building, a rough wooden building and the first parish Mass was celebrated in that canteen space on 15 December 1974.

A church site was bought in 1975, and The temporary church opened on 10 August 1975, when the first official parish Mass was celebrated in the new Saint Colmcille’s Church. That new temporary church also became a hub for the growing community.

During the long hot summer of 1975, for several weeks, Mass was said in the open on the green opposite the temporary church.

As the houses were built, the congregation grew and a larger centre became necessary. The parish committee approached Archbishop’s House and secured permission to build a temporary church.

Saint Colmcille’s Church, Knocklyon, has a batik-style set of Stations of the Cross (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

When Pope John Paul II visited Maynooth during his visit to Ireland in 1979, he blessed the foundation stone of the new Church of Saint Colmcille, which opened in April 1980. Ten years later, the Youth and Community Centre opened in 1989, thanks to a fundraising effort spearheaded by Liam Mongey of Glenvara Park.

Meanwhile, a seven-acre site on Idrone Avenue was bought in 1975 for £36,000 to provide a primary school for the Knocklyon area. The 16-classroom school was completed in July 1976 and admitted its first pupils in September 1976.

The school was officially opened in March 1977 by the then Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, who lived on Scholarstown Road. A second building was erected in 1982 and the original building became the junior school and the second new building became the senior school. Knocklyon Community School opened in 2000.

Bishop Eamonn Walsh opened the Iona Centre on 9 June 2000, the Feast of Saint Colmcille, and it has become the focal point of parish activity. Saint Colmcille’s Community School opened on 4 September 2000.

The Iona Centre opened on 9 June 2000, the Feast of Saint Colmcille (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The relics of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux were brought to the parish on 5/6 May 2001 during their visit to Ireland.

In recent years, the Carmelite community in Knocklyon included Father Fintan Burke, Father Martin Parokaaran, Father Joe Mothersill and Father Michael Morrissey. However, the Council of the Carmelites in Ireland informed the parish of the intention to return the care of the parish to the Archdiocese of Dublin from 30 January 2022.

The parish is now under the patronage of the Divine Word Missionaries. The Parish Priest is Father Cyril Ma Ming, the curate is Father Adrian Boysala, and the deacon is the Revd Michael Giblin.

• Sunday Masses are at 9:30, when it is streamed on YouTube, and 12 noon, with the Saturday Vigil Mass at 7 pm. Weekday Masses, Monday to Saturday, are at 10 am.

Looking out on the world from Saint Colmcille’s Church, Knocklyon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 139, Thursday 26 September 2024

‘It was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared’ (Luke 9: 7-8) … the Prophet Elijah by Phyllis Burke in the Carmelite Church in Clarendon Street, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVII). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (26 September) remembers Wilson Carlile (1942), founder of the Church Army.

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

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

A hilltop chapel dedicated to the Prophet Elijah in a small graveyard east of Georgioupoli (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 9: 7-9 (NRSVA):

7 Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8 by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. 9 Herod said, ‘John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?’ And he tried to see him.

‘It was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared’ (Luke 9: 7-8) … Elijah in the Chariot of Fire, depicted in a window in the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Newport, Essex (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Prophet Elias (Hλίας) or Elijah is a popular dedication for mountain-top and hill-top churches and chapels throughout Greece, because of his association with hilltops and mountains, including, in the New Testament, the mountain of the Transfiguration.

Elijah, one of the most studied prophets in the Old Testament, is perhaps too the loftiest and the most worthy of all the prophets.

Of all the Biblical prophets, the New Testament mentions Elijah more than any other: he is mentioned by name 29 times in New Testament and he is alluded to a few other times.

Some English translations of the New Testament use Elias, a Latin form of the name, and in the King James Version the name Elias appears in texts translated from the Greek.

In the New Testament, both Christ and Saint John the Baptist are compared with Elijah and on some occasions they are thought by some to be manifestations of Elijah.

In the Annunciation narrative in Saint Luke’s Gospel, an angel appears to Zechariah, the father of Saint John the Baptist, and tells him that John ‘will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God,’ and that ‘the spirit and power of Elijah will go before him’ (Luke 1: 16-17).

In Saint John’s Gospel, Saint John the Baptist is asked by a delegation of priests and Levities from Jerusalem if he is the Messiah or Elijah. He replies: ‘No’ (John 1: 19-21).

Saint John the Baptist preaches a message of repentance and baptism. He predicts the day of judgment, using imagery similar to that of Malachi, and he preaches that the Messiah is coming. For those who hear him, he does all this in a style that immediately recalls the image of Elijah. He wears a coat of animal hair secured with a leather belt (see Matthew 3: 1-4; Mark 1: 6), and he preaches frequently in wilderness areas near the River Jordan (see Luke 3: 4).

Christ says that for those who believe Saint John the Baptist is like Elijah, who would come before the ‘great and terrible day’ as predicted by the Prophet Malachi (see Malachi 3: 1; Malachi 4: 5-6). In Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Christ compares Saint John the Baptist with Elijah, fulfilling his office but not being recognised for this, yet greater than Elijah (see Matthew 11: 7-14, 17: 10-13).

In Saint Luke’s Gospel, Herod Antipas is perplexed when he hears some of the stories about Christ. Some people tell Herod that Saint John the Baptist, whom he had executed, has come back to life, others tell him that Christ is Elijah, and still others think that one of the ancient prophets has risen from the dead (see Luke 9: 7-9).

Later, Christ asks his disciples who do people say he is, and their answers include Elijah, other prophets and Saint John the Baptist (see Matthew 16: 13-14; Mark 8: 27-30; Luke 9: 18-20).

Christ is associated with miracle stories similar to those of Elijah, such as the raising of the dead (Mark 5: 21-23; Luke 7: 11-15, 8: 49-56; John 11) and miraculous feeding (Matthew 14: 13-21, Mark 6: 34-45; Luke 9: 10-17; John 6: 5-16; see II Kings 4: 42 ff). Yet Christ implicitly separates himself from Elijah when he rebukes James and John for desiring to call down fire on an unwelcoming Samaritan village in a similar manner to Elijah calling down fire on the Samaritan troops (Luke 9: 51-56; cf II Kings 1: 10).

Similarly, Christ rebukes a potential follower who wants first to return home to say farewell to his family, whereas Elijah permitted his successor Elisha to do this (Luke 9: 61-62; cf I Kings 19: 16-21).

We might also ask whether the cup Christ blesses at the Last Supper is the Cup of Elijah.

During the Crucifixion, some of the onlookers mistakenly think Christ is calling out to Elijah and wonder whether Elijah will come to rescue him, for in the folklore of the time Elijah was seen as a rescuer of Jews in distress (Matthew 27: 46-49; Mark 15: 34-36).

In all three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration, the Prophet Elijah appears with Moses at the Transfiguration (see Matthew 17: 1-9; Mark 9: 2-8; Luke 9: 28-36).

Elijah’s appearance in glory at the Transfiguration does not seem to startle the disciples, and it appears they are overcome by fear only when they hear the voice from the cloud.

At the summit of the Mount of the Transfiguration, Christ’s face begins to shine. The disciples who are with him hear the voice of God announce that Christ is ‘My beloved Son.’ The disciples also see Moses and Elijah appear and talking with Christ.

Saint Peter is so struck by the experience that he asks Christ if they should build three booths or tabernacles – one for Elijah, one for Christ and one for Moses.

Saint John Chrysostom explains the presence of Elijah and Moses at the Transfiguration in three ways:

• They represent the Law and the Prophets – Moses receives the Law from God, and Elijah is a great prophet.
• They both experience visions of God – Moses on Mount Sinai and Elijah on Mount Carmel.
• They represent the living and the dead – Elijah, the living, because he is taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, and Moses, the dead, because he does experience death.

Moses and Elijah show that the Law and the Prophets point to the coming of Christ, and their recognition of and conversation with Christ symbolise how he fulfils ‘the law and the prophets’ (Matthew 5: 17-19). Moses and Elijah also stand for the living and dead, for Moses dies and his burial place is known, while Elijah is taken alive into heaven in order to appear again to announce the time of God’s salvation.

It was commonly believed that Elijah would reappear before the coming of the Messiah (see Malachi 4), and the three interpret Christ’s response as a reference to John the Baptist (Matthew 17: 13).

Elijah is mentioned on three other occasions in the New Testament: in Saint Luke’s Gospel, in Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans, and in the Epistle of James:

1, After he reads from the scroll in the synagogue in Nazareth and is criticised for his teaching, Christ cites Elijah as an example of the rejected prophets when he says: ‘No prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town’:

24 And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ (Luke 4: 24–27).

2, Saint Paul cites Elijah as an example that God never forsakes his people:

1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’4 But what is the divine reply to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11: 1-6)

3, Saint James says: ‘The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.’ He then cites as examples Elijah’s prayers which start and end the famine in Israel (see James 5: 16-18).

Inside a hilltop chapel dedicated the Prophet Elias in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Elijah is honoured as a saint in the calendars of both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church on 20 July. In Greece, chapels and monasteries dedicated to the Prophet Elias (Προφήτης Ηλίας) are often found on mountaintops, which themselves are often named after him.

Elijah is revered as the spiritual Father and traditional founder of the Order of Carmelites. In addition to taking their name from Mount Carmel where the first hermits of the order established themselves, the Carmelite traditions about Elijah focus on his withdrawal from public life.

It could be said that to read Saint Luke’s Gospel with insight we also need to read the story of Elijah and Elisha. To read their story, keeping in mind the miracles, the actions, and the teachings of these two prophets, is to add a richness to our reading of Saint Luke, but also brings with it a vital understanding of the continuity and discontinuity of God’s ways in the Old Testament and New Testament.

Where do you find Elijah and Elisha in Saint Luke’s Gospel?

What are similarities and contrasts between Jesus and them?

Why is it easier to face a dilemma with the questions ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ rather than the questions ‘What Would Elijah Do?’

What richness does it add to your understanding of the kingdom?

‘It was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared’ (Luke 9: 7-8) … an icon of the Prophet Elijah in a hilltop chapel near Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 26 September 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 ‘Our God is Able.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday in reflections by the Revd Thanduxolo Noketshe, priest in charge at Saint Mary and Christ Church, Diocese of North East Caribbean and Aruba, Province of the West Indies.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 26 September 2024) invites us to pray:

Bless our journey with you Lord. May we walk the path that you have laid before us, singing your praises.

The Collect:

Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Lord, we pray that your grace
may always precede and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

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

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The Monastery of Profitis Elias near Pyrgos on the Greek island of Santorini

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

The Skete of Prophet Elias near the Monastery of the Pantokrator Monastery on Mount Athos

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 101, Monday 19 August 2024

‘He went away grieving, for he had many possessions’ (Matthew 19: 22) … inside an antiques shop in the old town in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

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

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.

‘Give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven’ (Matthew 19: 21) … old coins in a tin box outside an antiques shop in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 19: 16-22 (NRSVA):

16 Then someone came to him and said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ 18 He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; 19 Honour your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ 20 The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these; what do I still lack?’ 21 Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ 22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

‘Sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven’ (Matthew 19: 21) … a market stall in Blackrock, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The man who comes to Jesus for advice in this morning’s Gospel reading is first of all described as ‘someone’ or merely ‘one’ (εἷς). Later, in verses 20 and 22, he is a νεανίσκος (neanískos), a young man, a man in the early stages of adult life, even a young lad.

Earlier in this chapter, in Saturday’s reading (Matthew 19: 13-15), we came across the word παιδία (padía), a term of endearment, ‘my dear children,’ that is also used alongside a similar word τεκνία (teknía) in I John as a term of familiar address or endearment for adult members of the church – our equivalent today of men addressing their friends as ‘lads’, ‘boys’ or ‘guys’. This informed my reflection on Saturday, inspired by the song Τα Παιδιά του Πειραιά (Ta Pediá tou Pireá), ‘The Children of Piraeus’, sung by Melina Mercouri in the film Never on Sunday (1960).

But, somehow, tradition has raised the young man in this morning’s Gospel reading to the status of the ‘rich young man’ or even a ‘rich young ruler’. The word ‘rich’ is used nowhere in the original text, although we are told ‘he had many possessions’ (verse 22).

He has many possessions, but he knows this is not enough. He wants to possess eternal life, and comes to Jesus for advice.

Jesus advises him to keep the commandments, and then cites just five of the Ten Commandments, and in an apparently random order: you shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honour your father and mother.’ These are the social commandments, omitting the commandment not to covet, and none of the commandments about our relationship with God are cited.

Jesus then adds a commandment that is not in the Ten Commandments: ‘also, you shall love your neighbour as yourself.’

This too is the summation of Leviticus 19, the chapter that instructs the people on how to ‘be holy.’ Leviticus 19 begins with the commandment, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy’ (19: 2), and then offers a list of laws that mainly have to do with relationships, from honouring parents (19: 3) to caring for the foreigners who live in the land (19: 33-34).

To ‘be holy,’ then, has to do with treating other people with justice and mercy, caring for the poor (19: 9-10), being honest (19: 11-13, 35-36), having respect for elders (19: 32), and, in general, acting with moral and ethical integrity.

At the heart of these laws is the commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (19: 18). It is part of a passage (19: 17-18) that instructs the people not to hate one another, not to take revenge or bear a grudge against one another, but to love one another. This verse and 14 other verses in this chapter in Leviticus end with the refrain of the Holiness Code: ‘I am the Lord.’

The point of the chapter seems to be that because the Lord is holy, and because humans are made in the image of God, those who are called to emulate God’s holiness are to do so by acting with mercy and love toward our fellow humans.

A very similar commandment is at the end of the chapter, in 19: 34: ‘The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’

The commandment to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ is not to be understood, then, as applying only to those we see as being like us. We are also commanded to love the ‘alien,’ that is, the foreigner or outsider in our midst.

The parable of the Good Samaritan – which begins by quoting Leviticus 19: 18 and the lawyer’s question, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ – makes much the same point (see Luke 10: 25-37).

Leviticus 19: 18 is, of course, the verse Jesus cites when he advises the ‘rich young man’ and he cites it again later as the second part of the greatest commandment.

A lawyer asks Jesus, ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ And Jesus replies: ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets’ (Matthew 22: 34-40).

In this morning’s reading, the young man says he has kept all these commandments. Jesus then says to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this word, ‘he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.’

Saint John of the Cross has written: ‘In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human success, but rather on how much we have loved.’

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in a similar vein in The Cost of Discipleship: ‘Earthly possessions dazzle our eyes and delude us into thinking that they can provide security and freedom from anxiety. Yet all the time they are the very source of anxiety.’

‘In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human success, but rather on how much we have loved’ (Saint John of the Cross)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 19 August 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 ‘What price is the Gospel?’ This theme was introduced yesterday day with a programme update from Dr Jo Sadgrove, Research and Learning Advisor, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 19 August 2024) invites us to pray:

We pray for repentance and reflection by those whose ancestors colonised and enslaved others in the name of mission.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God of all mercy,
in this eucharist you have set aside our sins
and given us your healing:
grant that we who are made whole in Christ
may bring that healing to this broken world,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

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

The Ten Commandments on carved stones on display in a synagogue in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2024: 93, Sunday 11 August 2024, Trinity XI

Bread prepared on Saturday for the Sunday Liturgy in Ouranoupolis, near Mount Athos … the Gospel reading today continues the readings from the ‘Bread of Life’ discourse in Saint John’s Gospel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and today is the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XI).

I am back in Stony Stratford after returning yesterday from an overnight family visit to Dublin. Later this morning, I hope to take part in the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church,reading one of the lessons. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

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

‘I am the bread of life … This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die’ (John 6: 48-50) … an icon in a shop window in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 6: 35, 41-51 (NRSVA):

35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ 42 They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ 43 Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) speaks of the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ … her image at her convent church, the Convent of San José or Las Teresas, in Seville (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

This morning’s reflection:

Many people feel a deep experience of being driven into the ‘spiritual wilderness’ at different stages of their lives. During that time in the ‘spiritual wilderness,’ it is difficult to know that we are travelling through a place of pilgrimage rather than a place of abandonment, and that we are being refreshed and nourished there by God.

Two of the great Carmelite spiritual writers in Spain, Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) and Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), write about the ‘Dark Night of the Soul.’

One of the themes running through this morning’s readings is the feeling of abandonment and exile, and how in the very moment we feel most distanced from God we find we are fed and nourished by him and are in his very presence.

In the first reading (II Samuel 18: 5-9, 15, 31-33), David and Absalom feel abandoned by each other, father and son. Yet David shows in the most appalling outcome to this rift that he has never lost his love for rebellious Absalom.

In Psalm 130, the psalmist cries ‘out of the depths’ to God, asking God to ‘hear my voice,’ and realises that God’s love is steadfast and everlasting.

In the Epistle reading (Ephesians 4: 25 to 5: 2), Saint Paul reminds us – no matter how we feel – to put away all anger and bitterness and to be kind to one another.

In the Gospel reading, the crowds who follow Christ into the wilderness are fed and then find that he is the ‘Bread of Life.’ They are being told that when we feel abandoned by family, friends and neighbours, God has not abandoned us; when we feel alone and as if we are in desert places, God never abandons us.

One of the reasons many people say they are turned off the ‘Old Testament’ is the amount of violence they find in it.

People who seem to have no problems passively watching news reports of starvation, war and oppression without feeling the need to respond, have real problems when it comes to Bible stories of wars, murders and battles.

We have them all here this morning in the first reading. It is a story of violence: father and son fighting each other after son has violated sister, mercenaries, pitched battles, slaughter and overkill – in those days a battle force of 20,000 amounted to weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.

Trying to find religious meaning in all of this is difficult with our modern approaches to issues of justice and peace.

So difficult that it is not surprising some people find it difficult to reconcile what they see as the ‘God of the Old Testament’ with the loving God that Jesus addresses not just as Father, but simply and directly as Abba.

Yet, as we wade through the horror and gore, we catch a glimpse of the love of God as a perfect father.

David has never been a perfect father, a perfect husband, never a perfect king. All these failings are seen in earlier stories in this book: David and Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah (II Samuel 11: 2-27), and then David’s failure to deal with Amnon’s violation of his own half-sister Tamar (II Samuel 13: 1-21).

In this story, David’s love for his first-born son and heir is great, but it prevents him from administering justice. Yet, we know, justice delayed is justice denied.

Frustrated by David’s inaction, his third but second surviving son, Absalom, takes the law into his own hands, and has Amnon killed. After time in exile, Absalom returns to the court of his father. But David’s refusal to see him for two years leads Absalom to hate his father. Absalom plans a coup d’état and marches on Jerusalem.

David escapes across the Jordan with his army and begins a military comeback. But David’s advisers keep the king away from any direct decision about what should happen to Absalom.

David orders his commanders to ‘deal gently’ with his rebellious son. Despite his rebellion, David still loves Absalom, perhaps hoping against hope at this late stage to save his life.

Absalom’s militia are no match for David’s army. It is a cataclysmic battle. In the midst of the slaughter of perhaps tens of thousands, we hear of the death of one individual, the wayward Absalom.

As he is riding through the forest, the handsome prince is caught by the ‘head,’ perhaps by his long hair, and is left dangling from the branches of a great oak tree (verse 9; see II Samuel 14: 25-26).

In his desperate plight, we are left hanging too, wondering what happens, for this morning’s reading hastens the pace as it skips over some verses (10-14).

In those missing verses, a man tells Joab of the plight of the dangling Absalom. But he leaves it to Joab to make the decision of whether to kill Absalom.

He is still hanging from the tree when he is killed. But the men who are brave enough to kill the prince when he is an easy target are not brave enough to tell David what they have done to his son. It is amazing how brave men can become so timorous.

So, they send a Cushite, an Ethiopian or Sudanese mercenary or slave (verse 21), to tell David the whole story, both the good news and the bad news, about the victory and about his son being slain (verses 31-32).

David is heartbroken, and his open grief makes him politically weak too. Instead of honouring the victors, he mourns the death of his son.

The cry of a grieving parent for the death of a son or daughter, at any age, is a cry that pierces the soul. And David’s grieving, despite all that has happened before, is a truly authentic passage of reportage in the Bible:

‘O my son Absalom, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’

These truly are the words of a distressed father’s love for his son, a parent’s love for the child. No matter how wayward, how rebellious or how violent that child may be, the love of a parent for a child is impossible to quench totally.

This reading was chosen by Archbishop John McDowell for a devotional reflection at the General Synod some years ago. And, as he read it, I could feel my heart breaking.

David’s heartbreaking grief in the first reading is echoed in the opening words of our Psalm, the Psalm known as De Profundis: ‘Out of the depths have I cried to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice’ (Psalm 130: 1).

Yet, in this Psalm, David’s cry for deliverance ends with a message of hope for all. God is attentive to our pleas, despite everything that has gone wrong. God forgives, God is merciful, God offers unfailing ‘love,’ freedom from grievous sin.

Christ understands the difficulties created by the relationship between a parent and child, and between a parent who is grieved by the bickering and battling between two children: think of the parable of the Prodigal Son.

God’s love for us surpasses the love of any father or mother for their children.

God’s bitter weeping and grieving when he sees our plight is expressed most perfectly in the life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.

Of course, we can all cite exceptions to what I say. We know only too well there are abusive parents and there are dysfunctional families. But we also know that with God that there are no exceptions, that in Christ there is no abuse, and that Christ calls us into a relationship with his Father that is free of any dysfunction that we may have known in the past.

God’s grief for us is more perfect that David’s grief for Absalom. God does not refuse to meet us when we reach out to him. And the love of God the Father, offered to us through Christ his Son, knows no exceptions, knows no boundaries, when it comes to his children.

David and Absalom (Marc Chagall, 1956)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 11 August 2024, Trinity XI):

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 ‘Whom Shall I Send?’ This theme is introduced today with a programme update from the Revd Davidson Solanki, Regional Manager Asia and Middle East, USPG:

In our last edition of the prayer diary we wrote about the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East’s new programme that they have launched in accompaniment with USPG ‘Whom Shall I Send’. And despite the continuing conflict that is taking place in the Middle East we are comforted that we can commence the second year of training this August.

The training programme has been created to equip lay and ordained young people called to serve in local parishes. The current cohort will continue to support parish priests and participate in practical workshops to deepen their understanding and sensitivity to the complexities of the area where they will commence their ministries.

Prayer for peace in the Holy Land

O God of all justice and peace, we cry out to you amid the pain and trauma of violence and fear which prevails in the Holy Land.

Be with those who need you in these days of suffering; we pray for people of all faiths – Jews, Muslims, Christians and all people of the land.

While we pray to you, O Lord, for an end to violence and the establishment of peace, we also call for you to bring justice and equity to the people. Guide us into your Kingdom where all people are treated with dignity and honour as your children.

Amen

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 11 August 2024, Trinity XI) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:

And now we give you thanks
because in choosing the blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of your Son
you have exalted the humble and meek.
Your angel hailed her as most highly favoured;
with all generations we call her blessed and with her we rejoice and magnify your holy name.

The Collect:

O God, you declare your almighty power
most chiefly in showing mercy and pity:
mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace,
that we, running the way of your commandments,
may receive your gracious promises,
and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Lord of all mercy,
we your faithful people have celebrated that one true sacrifice
which takes away our sins and brings pardon and peace:
by our communion
keep us firm on the foundation of the gospel
and preserve us from all sin;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

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

‘By our communion keep us firm on the foundation of the gospel’ (Post Communion Prayer) … preparing bread for the Eucharist (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

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

‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’ (John 6: 35) … bread in a restaurant in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)