Daily prayer in Christmas 2024-2025: 24, Friday 17 January 2025

The healing of the paralytic man … a fresco in Analipsi Church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). This week began with the First Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany I, 12 January 2025), with readings that focus on the Baptism of Christ.

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Antony of Egypt (356), Hermit and Abbot, and Charles Gore (1932), Bishop and Founder of the Community of the Resurrection. We are travelling to York later today. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, 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 blessing in the Chapel of the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 2: 1-12 (NRSVA):

1 When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3 Then some people came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. 4 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 ‘Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ 8 At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and take your mat and walk”? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ – he said to the paralytic – 11 ‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’ 12 And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’

Inside the Chapel in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Mark 2: 1-12) is another healing story that follows yesterday’s story of Christ healing a man with leprosy and the story the day before of him healing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.

Today’s Gospel reading has its synoptic parallels in Matthew 9: 2-8 and Luke 5: 18-26

I had one of my regular injections for my B12 deficiency last week, two appointments or consultations earlier in the month, and another one within the next week or two. Meanwhile, I continue to have regular appointments in Milton Keynes University Hospital and the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, monitoring my pulmonary sarcoidosis and as part of the care and attention I continue to receive as a follow-up to my stroke almost three years ago in March 2022.

I remain truly grateful for the caring and attentive treatment I receive in both hospitals and in Sheffield, and I am even more grateful for the way Charlotte Hunter recognised I was having a stroke, brought me to hospital, ensured I received the attention I needed, visited me every day, and brought me back to Stony Stratford.

Some years ago, at an event in Saint Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, when people were asked to bring along their favourite poems, Charlotte brought Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Miracle’, from his collection Human Chain (2010).

In these poems, written after his stroke in 2005, Seamus Heaney speaks of suffering and mortality. This poem ‘Miracle’ retells the story of the miraculous healing of the man variously described as a paralytic man and a man with palsy. The story is told in all three synoptic Gospels, including this morning’s Gospel reading (Luke 5: 17-26), and – like Seamus Heaney, I suppose – my situation makes me wonder whether this man was also suffering after a stroke.

It is interesting how Heaney tells the story of healing and this man from the perspective of the man’s friends. In this way, his poem becomes an expression of gratitude by the poet to all who helped his recovery after his stroke.

When Jesus looks at the paralysed man brought to him by his friends, he sees not just the faith of the man, but the faith of his friends too. In other words, this is a story of the blessing of friendship and the miracle of community as much as it is a story of miraculous healing.

Heaney’s focus is on neither Christ as the healer nor the invalid, but on the friends who helped this sick man to reach Jesus by lowering him through a skylight in the roof. The title of the poem refers to the miracle in the Gospel story, but for the poet the miracle is found in the opening lines:

Not the one who takes up his bed and walks
But the ones who have known him all along
And carry him in.

The friends of this man love him and seek his healing, no matter what it takes for them to do, and so they become the true miracle at this moment. They are there when no one else is, they care for their friend, and they give him the priceless gift of friendship.

When they hear in Capernaum that Jesus is healing the sick, they give their friend one more gift. They carry him to Jesus. And when they cannot get him through the door, they then lower him through the roof.

What persistent love they show their friend, like the persistent love of one who calls a taxi, packs all my bags, brings me to the A&E unit, stays with me while I am admitted, transferred to the emergency unit, and then, late at night, when I am moved to a ward.

This poem sees the Gospel story through the eyes of this man’s faithful friends. So often, I read this story through the eyes of the paralysed man, through the eyes of the crowd, or even through the eyes of the Pharisees and teachers. But Seamus Heaney invites me to join the man’s friends, who stand with

their shoulders numb, the ache and stoop deeplocked
In their backs, the stretcher handles
Slippery with sweat.

We are invited to stand with those friends, with the hope and the faith and the love that brings them there, to stand with them on behalf of all who hurt, to feel the burn in their hands from the paid-out rope, the ache in their backs from the burden they have carried, to see the gift of this miracle, this grace, that was all gift, but that required something extra of them.

There are many miracles in this story and many lessons. This poem reminds us how sometimes we need to be carried by our friends, while at other times we are the ones who need to help ‘bear one another’s burdens’ (Galatians 6: 2).

Miracle, by Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

Not the one who takes up his bed and walks
But the ones who have known him all along
And carry him in —

Their shoulders numb, the ache and stoop deeplocked
In their backs, the stretcher handles
Slippery with sweat. And no let up

Until he’s strapped on tight, made tiltable
and raised to the tiled roof, then lowered for healing.
Be mindful of them as they stand and wait

For the burn of the paid out ropes to cool,
Their slight lightheadedness and incredulity
To pass, those who had known him all along.

Today’s Prayers (Friday 17 January 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘A Bag of Flour’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 17 January 2025) invites us to pray:

Father God, may we be bold with our prayers, actions and words. May our lament turn into action.

The Collect:

Most gracious God,
who called your servant Antony to sell all that he had
and to serve you in the solitude of the desert:
by his example may we learn to deny ourselves
and to love you before all things;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Merciful God,
who gave such grace to your servant Antony
that he served you with singleness of heart
and loved you above all things:
help us, whose communion with you
has been renewed in this sacrament,
to forsake all that holds us back from following Christ
and to grow into his likeness from glory to glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

An image of Saint Antony above the entrance to Saint Antony’s Church in Mitropolis Square, Rethymnon … he is commemorated in the Church Calendar on 17 January (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

The magnolia tree in a courtyard in the hospital in Milton Keynes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Advent 2024: 9, Monday 9 December 2024

The healing of the paralytic man … a fresco in Analipsi Church in Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are more than a week into the Season of Advent, the real countdown to Christmas has gathered pace, and yesterday was the Second Sunday of Advent (Advent II, 8 December 2024).

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 blessing in the Chapel of the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 5: 17-26 (NRSVA):

17 One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting nearby (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 Just then some men came, carrying a paralysed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; 19 but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. 20 When he saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven you.’ 21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, ‘Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ 22 When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven you”, or to say, “Stand up and walk”? 24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ – he said to the one who was paralysed – ‘I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.’ 25 Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. 26 Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today.’

Inside the Chapel in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s reflection:

I have an appointment in the John Radcliffe Hospital later this week, which is part of the care and attention I continue to receive following my stroke in March 2022. I remain truly grateful for the caring and attentive treatment I received in Milton Keynes University Hospital and in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. And I am even more grateful for the way Charlotte Hunter recognised I was having a stroke, brought me to hospital, ensured I received the attention I needed, visited me every day, and brought me back to Stony Stratford.

Some years ago, at an event in Saint Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square, when people were asked to bring along their favourite poems, Charlotte brought Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Miracle’, from his collection Human Chain (2010).

In these poems, written after his stroke in 2005, Seamus Heaney speaks of suffering and mortality. This poem ‘Miracle’ retells the story of the miraculous healing of the man variously described as a paralytic man and a man with palsy. The story is told in all three synoptic Gospels, including this morning’s Gospel reading (Luke 5: 17-26), and – like Seamus Heaney, I suppose – my situation makes me wonder whether this man was also suffering after a stroke.

It is interesting how Heaney tells the story of healing and this man from the perspective of the man’s friends. In this way, his poem becomes an expression of gratitude by the poet to all who helped his recovery after his stroke.

When Jesus looks at the paralysed man brought to him by his friends, he sees not just the faith of the man, but the faith of his friends too. In other words, this is a story of the blessing of friendship and the miracle of community as much as it is a story of miraculous healing.

Heaney’s focus is on neither Christ as the healer nor the invalid, but on the friends who helped this sick man to reach Jesus by lowering him through a skylight in the roof. The title of the poem refers to the miracle in the Gospel story, but for the poet the miracle is found in the opening lines:

Not the one who takes up his bed and walks
But the ones who have known him all along
And carry him in.

The friends of this man love him and seek his healing, no matter what it takes for them to do, and so they become the true miracle at this moment. They are there when no one else is, they care for their friend, and they give him the priceless gift of friendship.

When they hear in Capernaum that Jesus is healing the sick, they give their friend one more gift. They carry him to Jesus. And when they cannot get him through the door, they then lower him through the roof.

What persistent love they show their friend, like the persistent love of one who calls a taxi, packs all my bags, brings me to the A&E unit, stays with me while I am admitted, transferred to the emergency unit, and then, late at night, when I am moved to a ward.

This poem sees the Gospel story through the eyes of this man’s faithful friends. So often, I read this story through the eyes of the paralysed man, through the eyes of the crowd, or even through the eyes of the Pharisees and teachers. But Seamus Heaney invites me to join the man’s friends, who stand with

their shoulders numb, the ache and stoop deeplocked
In their backs, the stretcher handles
Slippery with sweat.

We are invited to stand with those friends, with the hope and the faith and the love that brings them there, to stand with them on behalf of all who hurt, to feel the burn in their hands from the paid-out rope, the ache in their backs from the burden they have carried, to see the gift of this miracle, this grace, that was all gift, but that required something extra of them.

There are many miracles in this story and many lessons. This poem reminds us how sometimes we need to be carried by our friends, while at other times we are the ones who need to help ‘bear one another’s burdens’ (Galatians 6: 2).

Miracle, by Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

Not the one who takes up his bed and walks
But the ones who have known him all along
And carry him in —

Their shoulders numb, the ache and stoop deeplocked
In their backs, the stretcher handles
Slippery with sweat. And no let up

Until he’s strapped on tight, made tiltable
and raised to the tiled roof, then lowered for healing.
Be mindful of them as they stand and wait

For the burn of the paid out ropes to cool,
Their slight lightheadedness and incredulity
To pass, those who had known him all along.

Symbols of hope and peace in the Chapel in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 9 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), is ‘Peace – Advent’. This theme was introduced yesterday with Reflections by the Revd Nitano Muller, Canon for Worship and Welcome, Coventry Cathedral.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 9 December 2024) invites us to pray:

Lord, today we pray for peace, especially places, regions and countries caught up in war and violence. May peace be restored.

The Collect:

O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power
and come among us,
and with great might succour us;
that whereas, through our sins and wickedness
we are grievously hindered
in running the race that is set before us,
your bountiful grace and mercy
may speedily help and deliver us;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honour and glory, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Father in heaven,
who sent your Son to redeem the world
and will send him again to be our judge:
give us grace so to imitate him
in the humility and purity of his first coming
that, when he comes again,
we may be ready to greet him
with joyful love and firm faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Almighty God,
purify our hearts and minds,
that when your Son Jesus Christ comes again
as judge and saviour
we may be ready to receive him,
who is our Lord and our God.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The magnolia tree in a courtyard in the hospital in Milton Keynes (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

‘The Mother and Child’ sculpture is among 450 art works on display in Milton Keynes Hospital

‘The Mother and Child’ sculpture by Glynn Williams in a courtyard in Milton Keynes University Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

During our visit to Milton Keynes University Hospital last week, to mark the second anniversary of my stroke, I was taken by ‘The Mother and Child’ sculpture by Glynn Williams in a courtyard near the ward where I stayed in 2022 and close to the magnolia where sat sitting coffee on many afternoons during those two weeks two years ago.

This sculpture was originally in a local park in Conniburrow, near central Milton Keynes. It has since been moved to the hospital grounds, where ‘The Mother and Child’ is now part of the hospital’s art collection.

The artist Glynn Williams was Head of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art from 1990 and then Head of Fine Art from 1995 to 2000. He has monumental pieces on public display, including a portrait of Lloyd George in Parliament Square and the Henry Purcell Memorial in Westminster.

His works are in collections in the Tate and the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, and among the 450 works that form the art collection in Milton Keynes University Hospital.

The Milton Keynes University Hospital art collection includes sculptures from nationally and internationally renowned artists, including Peter Randall-Page, Jon Buck and Glynn Williams. The collection ranges from paintings, prints and drawings to sculptural pieces, photography and commissioned works that are on public display in the corridors, waiting rooms, courtyards and wards.

The architecture of the hospital reflects the original ethos of the new town, where no building was to be taller than the tallest tree, and with great value placed on green spaces and natural light. This means the hospital is full of courtyard gardens. Four of the courtyards are looked after by Arts for Health, and they feature engaging sculptures within creative garden designs.

Since the hospital opened in 1984, evidence has built to show that artwork on display can and does have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of patients, visitors and staff in healthcare settings. The collection is looked after with this in mind, and careful thought is given to what artworks are placed where.

As well as improving the clinical environment, many of the artworks in the collection link the hospital to the local community by telling stories from the birth and development of the new town.

Some pieces were commissioned to mark special anniversaries of the hospital, others were donated by artists or individuals to thank the NHS for caring for their family.

I am back in the hospital tomorrow morning for yet another check-up, and two years after my stroke I am acutely aware of how much I have to be thankful for.

‘The Mother and Child’ sculpture by Glynn Williams … part of the art collection in Milton Keynes University Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

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Two years after a stroke, my eyes have not dimmed and my vigour has not diminished

The blossoming magnolia tree in Milton Keynes Hospital offered fresh hope for health, renewal and new life in the week after my stroke two years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

It is two years today since I suffered a stroke in Milton Keynes on 18 March 2022. At the time, I was on leave from parish ministry in the Diocese of Limerick for compassionate and personal reasons, and I was spending Saint Patrick’s Weekend in Milton Keynes when I had that stroke, unexpectedly and without any warning.

Charlotte and I went back to the hospital this afternoon, to see the magnolia tree that gave me hope in the days and weeks immmediately after that stroke, and to thank each other for the life, health and love that we have enjoyed in the two years since then.

I was admitted to Milton Keynes Hospital immediately after the stroke, and spent two weeks in hospitals, first in Milton Keynes and then from 29 March in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Since that AVM, I have been back to Milton Keynes Hospital for a number of check-ups and consultations, and to Sheffield Hospital for a consultation and overnight for a ‘Gamma Knife’ procedure.

While I was in hospital in Milton Keynes, I was also diagnosed with Covid-19 – for the first time. This did not stop Charlotte visiting me in hospital every day, and eventually, when I was allowed out of isolation, I also took hope for health, renewal and new life from the blossoming magnolia in one of the hospital courtyards, where we sat each afternoon on three consecutive afternoons, sipping coffee and planning our future.

The consequences of that stroke were extensive and far-reaching, beyond the hospital procedures and stays. I had already decided that I was going to retire from parish ministry after that Easter, although I had not yet made any public announcement.

While I was in hospital in Milton Keynes, in advance of being moved to Oxford, I realised I was not going to return to parish ministry in Co Limerick and Co Kerry before my planned retirement date. I agreed with the Dean of Limerick as commissary of the diocese that I would take early retirement at the end of that month, on 31 March 2022.

I was moved to the John Radcliffe Hospital on 29 March and able to leave on 1 April. After another overnight stay in Oxford, I returned to Milton Keynes two weeks after I was first taken to hospital with that stroke.

I eventually moved into a flat in Stony Stratford in early April 2022, and have been living here ever since. I have returned to Ireland four or five times each year for family visits, for research on chapters for books, for interviews with a television station in Montenegro, to meet family members and friends, and I even missed a flight to attend a book launch in Dublin.

In many ways, these have not been two easy years. But there have been many joys too, and Charlotte and I got married last November in Camden Town Hall and Southwark Cathedral. Apart from those visits to Ireland, there have been return visits to Lichfield and Tamworth, visits to York and Sheffield, visits to Hungary and Finland on behalf of the Anglican mission agency USPG, and visits to Venice and Prague and a delayed – although brief – honeymoon in Paris.

I am continuing to write for books, journals, magazines and newspapers, I have now settled down into a flat overlooking the High Street in Stony Stratford – I have mused already on how I could say that over the span of over 50 years it has been a move from one High Street to another, from High Street in Wexford to High Street in Stony Stratford.

There have been continuing consultations with the hospitals in Milton Keynes, Oxford and Sheffield as a follow-up to my stroke two years ago. I had another check-up on my Vitamin B12 levels two weeks ago, and I have another hospital appointment in Milton Keynes next week. At 72, I may not quite be in rude health. But my distant ‘cousin’ Kevin Martin, who died last year (14 June 2023), would greet me on my birthdays with the traditional Jewish greeting of ‘ad meah v’esrim’, ‘may you live until 120!’ (עד מאה ועשרים שנה‎).

Deuteronomy recalls that Moses lived to be 120, at which age ‘his eye had not dimmed, and his vigour had not diminished’ (Deuteronomy 34: 7). Great rabbis of the Talmud, including Hillel, Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakkai, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, all lived to 120 as well. The blessing carries the implication that the receiver should retain full mental and physical faculties to the end of life.

With those implications, living until I am 120 does not sound so bad a prospect at all. Another half century after my stroke in 2022, and yet another half century after moving into High Street, Wexford, in the early 1970s, may not be so dim or distant a prospect; it might be a real blessing with the love, care and attention I have been receiving over the past two years.

Coffee under the magnolia tree in Milton Keynes Hospital in the week after my stroke two years ago (Photograph: Charlotte Hunter)

Daily prayer in Lent with early English saints: 34, 18 March 2024, Saint Anselm of Canterbury

Saint Anselm depicted in Westminster Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Passiontide – the last two weeks of Lent – began yesterday, the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent V), also known as Passion Sunday. Today, the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the life of Saint Cyril (386), Bishop of Jerusalem, Teacher of the Faith.

Throughout Lent this year, I am taking time each morning to reflect on the lives of early, pre-Reformation English saints commemorated in the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship.

Today, I am remembering that it is two years today since I suffered a stroke in Milton Keynes on 18 March 2022. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks for life and love, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, A reflection on an early, pre-Reformation English saint;

2, today’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Saint Anselm depicted in the window above the High Altar in Saint Dunstan-in-the-West Church, Fleet Street, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Early English pre-Reformation saints: 34, Saint Anselm of Canterbury

Saint Anselm (1109) of Canterbury is remembered in Common Worship on 21 April as Abbot of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury and Teacher of the Faith, 1109.

Saint Anselm was born in Aosta, northern Italy, in 1033. As a young man, he left home and travelled north, visiting many monasteries and other centres of learning. One of his visits was to the abbey of Le Bec, where he met Lanfranc, who advised him to embrace monastic life.

Anselm had a powerful and original mind and, during his 34 years at Bec (as monk, prior and finally abbot), he taught many others and wrote theological, philosophical and devotional works.

When Lanfranc died Anselm was made Archbishop of Canterbury and had to subordinate his scholarly work to the needs of the diocese and nation. When Queen Matilda, wife of King Henry I, founded the Priory of the Holy Trinity, also known as Christchurch Aldgate, for the Austin canons or Black Canons ca 1108, she was advised and helped by Saint Anselm.

Twice he endured exile for championing the rights of the Church against the authority of the king. But, despite his stubbornness, intellectual rigour, and personal austerity, he was admired by the Norman nobility as well as much loved by his monks. He died in 1109.

Saint Anselm (third from left), with Archbishop Lanfranc, Saint Dunstan and Archbishop Langton depicted in the window above the High Altar in Saint Dunstan-in-the-West Church, Fleet Street, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

John 8: 1-11 (NRSVA):

1 Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ 11 She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone’ (John 8: 7) … rocks, stone and pebbles on the shoreline at Robin Hood’s Bay, Yorkshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 18 March 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 ‘Lent Reflection: True repentance is the key to Christian Freedom.’ This theme was introduced yesterday by the Revd Dr Simon Ro, Dean of Graduate School of Theology at Sungkonghoe (Anglican) University, Seoul, Korea.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (18 March 2024) invites us to pray reflecting on these words:

As yesterday was Saint Patrick’s Day, let us pray for the Church of Ireland and give thanks for the life and legacy of Saint Patrick.

The Collect:

Most merciful God,
who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ
delivered and saved the world:
grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross
we may triumph in the power of his victory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ,
you have taught us
that what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters
we do also for you:
give us the will to be the servant of others
as you were the servant of all,
and gave up your life and died for us,
but are alive and reign, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Gracious Father,
you gave up your Son
out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know eternal peace
through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Joseph of Nazareth:
God our Father,
who from the family of your servant David
raised up Joseph the carpenter
to be the guardian of your incarnate Son
and husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
give us grace to follow him
in faithful obedience to your commands;
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: Saint Osmund of Salisbury

Tomorrow: Saint William of York

The ‘Site of the Priory of the Holy Trinity Founded 1108’ in London, founded by Queen Matilda with the advice and help of Saint Anselm (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

A blessing in the Chapel of the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, seen shortly after my stroke two years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Daily prayers in Advent with Leonard Cohen and USPG: (12) 14 December 2023

The prayer ‘Mi Sheberach’ is reflected in the words of Leonard Cohen’s song ‘Come Healing’

Patrick Comerford

We are in the countdown to Christmas in the Church, with just 11 days to go to Christmas. Sunday was the Second Sunday of Advent (10 December 2023), and we are half-way through what is a very short Advent this year.

Today (14 December), the Church Calendar celebrates the life of Saint John of the Cross (1591), poet, teacher of the faith and Carmelite mystic.

Throughout Advent this year, my reflections each day include a poem or song by Leonard Cohen. These Advent reflections are following this pattern:

1, A reflection on a poem or song by Leonard Cohen;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

‘O, longing of the branches / To lift the little bud’ (Leonard Cohen) … blossoms and art in the outpatients reception area in Milton Keynes University Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

The Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen: 12, ‘Come Healing’:

I find it interesting that Saint John of the Cross, who is remembered in the Church Calendar today, and so many other Spanish mystics, came from Jewish family backgrounds. There are echoes of his ideas of the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ in so many of the poems and songs of Leonard Cohen, including these lines in Leonard Cohen’s ‘Come Healing’:

O, solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

O, see the darkness yielding
That tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason
Come healing of the heart

It feels like a long time now since I had a stroke almost 21 months ago (18 March 2022), followed by treatment in Milton Keynes University Hospital, the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield.

In my reflections and prayers this morning, I am listening again to Leonard Cohen’s song, ‘Come Healing,’ and reading one of the central Jewish prayers for those who are ill or recovering from illness or accidents, the Mi Sheberach, a prayer that is reflected in the words of this song.

The name of the prayer comes from its first two Hebrew words. With a holistic view of humanity, it prays for physical cure as well as spiritual healing, asking for blessing, compassion, restoration, and strength, within the community of others facing illness as well as all for Jews and for all human beings.

Traditionally, the Mi Sheberach is said in synagogues when the Torah is read. If the patients themselves are not present, close relatives or friends may be called up to the Torah for an honour, and whoever is leading the service offers this prayer, filling in the name of the one who is ill and her or his parents.

Increasingly, the Mi Sheberach has moved into other settings. Chaplains, doctors, nurses and social workers are now joining patients and those close to them in saying the Mi Sheberach at different times, such as before and after surgery, during treatments, on admission or discharge, on the anniversary of diagnosis, and more.

The words of this traditional prayer are reflected in Leonard Cohen’s song, ‘Come Healing,’ which I heard him sing 11 years ago at his concert in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin (11 September 2012).

After last year’s stroke, I am more than conscious of some of the lines in this song:

O, longing of the arteries
To purify the blood

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

Mi Sheberach (English translation):

May the One who blessed our ancestors —
Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
Matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah —
bless and heal the one who is ill, …
son/daughter of …

May the Holy Blessed One
overflow with compassion upon him/her,
to restore him/her,
to heal him/her,
to strengthen him/her,
to enliven him/her.

The One will send him/her, speedily,
a complete healing —
healing of the soul and healing of the body —
along with all the ill,
among the people of Israel and all humankind,
soon,
speedily,
without delay,
and let us all say: Amen!

‘The Gift of Life’ … art and music in the outpatients reception area in Milton Keynes University Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Leonard Cohen: Come Healing:

O, gather up the brokenness
Bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow

The splinters that you carried
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

Behold the gates of mercy
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
Of cruelty or the grace

O, solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind

O, see the darkness yielding
That tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason
Come healing of the heart

O, troubledness concealing
An undivided love
The heart beneath is teaching
To the broken heart above

And let the heavens falter
Let the earth proclaim
Come healing of the altar
Come healing of the name

O, longing of the branches
To lift the little bud
O, longing of the arteries
To purify the blood

And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

O let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb

‘Come healing of the spirit / Come healing of the limb’ (Leonard Cohen) … a magnolia tree in a courtyard in Milton Keynes University Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Matthew 11: 11-15 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 11 ‘Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John came; 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 Let anyone with ears listen!’

‘Ars Longa, Vita Brevis’ … words from Hippocrates at the Medical School in the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 14 December 2023):

The theme this week in the new edition of ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Faith of Advent.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (14 December 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

Lord Jesus Christ, when we are uncertain about what we should do, show us your ways. When we don’t know which way to turn, teach us Your paths. Help us to be attentive to your voice as you guide us through life.

‘The splinters that you carried / The cross you left behind’ (Leonard Cohen) … Saint John of the Cross in a window by Phyllis Burke in Saint Teresa’s Carmelite Church, Clarendon Street, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Leonard Cohen, ‘Come Healing’ … live in Dublin

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 prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (106) 11 September 2023

The Unitarian Church on Prince’s Street, Cork, is in the heart of the city (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the week began with the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XIV, 10 September 2023).

Initially, I had been booked for a consultation today at John Radcliuffe Hospital, as a follow-up to my stroke last year. But this has now been put back to 10 Oct0ber. Meanwhile, before the day begins, I am taking some time this morning for prayer and reflection.

This week, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at a Unitarian church I know;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The Unitarian Church claims it is the oldest place of continuous worship in Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Unitarian Church, Cork:

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and the Sundays at this time are also counted as the Sundays after Trinity. In contrast to this way of counting the Sundays and the weeks at this time in the Church Year, my photographs in my Prayer Diary this week include a selection of Unitarian churches.

The Unitarian Church at 39 Prince’s Street, Cork, is in the heart of the city centre, beside one of the entrances to the English Market, but when it was built it was outside the crumbling mediaeval walls of the city.

The church opened as the ‘Old Presbyterian Church’ or meeting house in August 1717 and claims it is the oldest place of continuous worship in Cork: although Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral (Church of Ireland) stands on a much older site, the present building was completed in 1879; the Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Anne was built in 1808 and rebuilt in 1828; and Saint Anne’s Church (Church of Ireland), Shandon, was built on the present site in 1722-1726.

Building work on what became the Unitarian Church began around 1711 in an area then called Dunscombe’s Marsh, outside the city walls. It was built as a dissenting Presbyterian meeting house to replace a smaller church in Watergate Lane, now South Main Street, that the congregation had outgrown.

Hard rock and rubble had to be brought into the area to secure the foundations and reclaim the land, and so it took around five years to build the church.

Like all dissenting chapels or meeting houses, the interior design was simple, lacking the more ornate designs associated with Anglican and Roman Catholic churches at the time. The church was a plain meeting house, designed for the congregation to hear the minister. A balcony ran around three sides of the building, and it could seat up to 800 people. The buildings to either side were the minister’s manse and a school.

The new church opened on 4 August 1717, and the first service was led by its minister, the Revd Samuel Lowthian.

A document dated 8 January 1719, signed by James Weekes, asks the Bishop of Cork, Peter Browne, to approve the registration of the meeting house on Dumscomb’s Marsh, Cork, under the 1719 Act.

At the time, Presbyterians in Ireland were not organised into one single church body, and by the early 18th century divisions were emerging among Presbyterian ministers over subscribing at their ordination to the Westminster Confession, although the Synod of Munster never subscribed to it.

These divisions would lead to the formation of the Presbytery of Antrim in 1725 and the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster in 1830. These two bodies joined with the Synod of Munster in 1835 to form the Association of Irish Non-Subscribing Presbyterians. The Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland was consolidated in 1910 when the Presbytery of Antrim, the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster and those congregations that had formed the Free Congregational Union formed the General Synod.

By 1910, only three congregations of the original Synod of Munster remained in the south of Ireland, including the church in Cork. Although the Synod of Munster was and remained a member of the Association of Irish Non-Subscribing Presbyterians, it did not formally join the General Synod until 1935.

The Unitarian Church in Cork continues to have a formal association with the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church in Ireland to this day.

The church on Prince’s Street soon became known as the ‘New Meeting House’ but was also known as the ‘Old Presbyterian Church,’ and was one of the first buildings on reclaimed marsh to the east of the mediaeval walls of Cork.

A list of ministers in Prince’s Street from 1670 to 1961, notes that five were Unitarian ministers, but 13 were Trinitarian. The House of Lords was told that for many years there were two preachers in the chapel, one Trinitarian and one Unitarian.

The chapel in Prince’s Street was at the centre of debates and divisions within Irish Presbyterianism (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The divisions among Presbyterians become more difficult in Cork when the Revd Thomas Dix Hincks (1767-1857) was appointed to the church and came to be debated in the House of Lords. Hincks was a known Unitarian and was appointed an assistant to the Revd Samuel Perrott in Cork. However, the Presbytery of Munster refused to ordain him, and eventually he was ordained by the Presbytery of Dublin in 1792.

Hincks remained in Cork until 1814, and was the founder of the Royal Cork Institute. Two of his sons were Church of Ireland priests: the Revd Dr Edward Hincks (1792 -1866), who is commemorated in a plaque by the church gates, was the Rector of Killyleigh, Co Down, and a distinguished Oriental and Greek scholar; the Ven Thomas Hincks (1796-1882) was Archdeacon of Connor from 1865.

Two other sons were Unitarian ministers: the Revd William Hincks (1794-1871), was a minister in Cork, Exeter and Liverpool, and later became Professor of Natural History at Queen’s College, Cork (1849-1853); the Revd John Hincks (1804-1831) was a Unitarian minister in Liverpool (1827–31). The youngest son, Sir Francis Hincks (1807-1885), was a colonial governor.

Many of the members of the congregation left to join Trinity Presbyterian Church, a ‘subscribing’ Presbyterian congregation formed in 1830, and popular with Scottish immigrants at the time. The Prince’s Street congregation continued to meet, and to hear various clergy, including Unitarians and Trinitarians.

The Temperance campaigner, Father Theobald Mathew (1790-1856), signed his famous Temperance Agreement in the Unitarian Church in 1839, and six years later the American social reformer, abolitionist, author and statesman Frederick Douglass visited the church in 1845.

Members of the church in the mid-19th century include Richard Dowden (1794-1861), a Mayor of Cork and uncle of Charles Dowden, Episcopalian Bishop of Edinburgh, and the painter Daniel Maclise (1806-1870).

Numbers began to dwindle in the 20th century, and in 1958 Mrs Marjory Thompson of Blackrock Road was said to be the only remaining Unitarian in the city. There were plans to sell the building, and reports a grocery chain was planning to buy it and convert it into a supermarket. But the plan never went ahead because the building was listed.

The building saw little Unitarian activity until the 1990s, when a small group, including Fritz Spengeman and Dr Martin Pulbrook, resumed weekly services. The Rev Bridget Spain was the minister-in-charge from 2007 to 2017. Today the church has its own minister, my friend and colleague the Revd Mike O’Sullivan. He was ordained in 2017 and was the first Cork man to hold the position in almost 200 years.

The church celebrated its tercentenary in 2017. The celebrations included a visit from President Michael D Higgins, an anniversary service attended by civic and religious leaders, and staging a specially commissioned play to celebrate the visit Frederick Douglass in 1845.

In recent years, extensive cosmetic work was undertaken on the building, including opening the ‘South Chapel,’ where services are held every Sunday. The church received a gift of a pulpit from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.

The features in the church include early 18th-century oval windows, and a semi-circular 300-year-old-gallery with its original staircase. The original pulpit was on the west wall facing east and a pillar, door and gate stood perfectly in line from there to the street outside. But the original pews, pulpit and organ were removed in the late 1990s.

The church remains one of Cork’s religious architectural gems, and is a growing, vibrant and inclusive community.

The building is used throughout the week by a variety of local groups and for hosting events from experimental rock concerts to craft fairs.

An innovative service was the ‘First Friday Jazz Vespers,’ an initiative of the Methodist and Unitarian churches at 6 p.m. on the first Friday of each month.

Prince’s Street is between Saint Patrick’s Street and Oliver Plunkett Street. Sunday services are at 11 am. The courtyard is open daily from 11 am to 4.30 pm.

A memorial at the church gates to the Revd Dr Edward Hincks a distinguished Oriental and Greek scholar (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 6: 6-11 (NRSVA):

6 On another sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. 7 The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. 8 Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Come and stand here.’ He got up and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?’ 10 After looking around at all of them, he said to him, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

The church was threatened with closure in the late 20th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

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 ‘Holy Cross Day Reflection.’ This theme was introduced yesterday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (11 September 2023) invites us to reflect on these words:

Yesterday was World Suicide Prevention Day so let us pray for God’s blessing and compassion on all who feel hopeless or vulnerable.

The pulpit in the Unitarian Church, Cork, is a gift from the Church of Ireland Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

Almighty God,
whose only Son has opened for us
a new and living way into your presence:
give us pure hearts and steadfast wills
to worship you in spirit and in truth;
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 God, the source of truth and love,
keep us faithful to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship,
united in prayer and the breaking of bread,
and one in joy and simplicity of heart,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prince’s Street, Cork, with the entrance to the English Market beside the Unitarian Church (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


This reflection was prepared for a series of evening reflections in the Unitarian Church, Cork, and was posted on Facebook and YouTube on Friday 19 February 2021.

Morning prayers in Easter with USPG: (10) 18 April 2023

The Church of the Four Martyrs … one of the largest churches in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This is the second week of Easter, and Sunday (16 April 2023) was Easter Day in the calendar of the Orthodox Church.

Later today, I hope to have a post-troke consultation with John Racliffe Hospital, Oxford, which has been reschedules on two occasions. But, before this day begins, I am taking some time early this morning for prayer, reflection and reading.

As this is Easter Week in the Orthodox Church, I am reflecting each morning this week in these ways:

1, Short reflections on an Orthodox church in Crete;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The Church of the Four Martyrs, Tessaron Martiron Square, Rethymnon

Immediately outside the old town of Rethymnon, at the Porta Guora Gate, one of the largest churches in the city is the Church of the Four Martyrs, which stands in a busy square of the same name, Tessaron Martiron.

The church is often mistaken as the cathedral of Rethymnon and is a fashionable venue for baptisms and weddings at weekends. It was completed on 28 December 1975, but stands on the site of two previous churches, the first from 1905 to 1947 and the second, which was demolished in 1972.

The church stands on the place where the four martyrs of Rethymnon were executed on 28 October 1824. Throughout Greece, 28 October is a national holiday, ‘Οχι’ Day, recalling Greece’s trenchant ‘No’ to Mussolini that brought Greece into World War II on 28 October 1940. In Rethymnon, 28 October is also the day when the city recalls the Four Holy Martyrs who give their name to this church. The four were Crypto-Christians, all from the Vlatakis family and from the Melambes region, who were executed by the Turks on this spot in 1824 for standing up for their Christian faith.

For four months, Manouil, Nikolaos, Georgios and Angelis Vlatakis were held prisoner in the building at the old harbour that later housed the custom house. As they were taken to their place of execution outside the Porta Guora gate, with their hands tied up, they saw their executioner holding his sword, and heard him ask: ‘Will you adopt the Turkish faith?’ The standard answer was a humble ‘Yes, my Lord.’ But instead the first man in line surprised everyone with a scornful ‘No.’ A few seconds before his head was cut off, he added: ‘I was born a Christian and a Christian I will die.’ One by one, the others did the same. As each was executed, his dying words were ‘Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy.’

The central aisle of the church is dedicated to these four local saints. But the northern aisle is also dedicated to the Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste – Roman soldiers, martyred in Armenia during the reign of Licinius in AD 320. The southern aisle is dedicated to the Ten Holy Martyrs of Crete who were beheaded by Decius in 250 AD.

Inside the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon on a recent Good Friday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 3: 7-15 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 7 ‘Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” 8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ 9 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ 10 Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

11 ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.’

Inside the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

The theme in this week’s prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is ‘Safeguarding the Integrity of Creation.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday by USPG’s Regional Manager for East Asia, Oceania and Europe, Rebecca Boardman, who reflected on ways to get the climate justice conversation started, in the light of this week’s International Earth Day.

The prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (18 April 2023) invites us to pray:

Let us pray for a spirit of openness. May we have courage to hear the voices of those speaking from the frontlines of climate change and the conviction to carry the message.

Collect:

Almighty Father,
you have given your only Son to die for our sins
and to rise again for our justification:
grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness
that we may always serve you
in pureness of living and truth;
through the merits of 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.

Post Communion:

Lord God our Father,
through our Saviour Jesus Christ
you have assured your children of eternal life
and in baptism have made us one with him:
deliver us from the death of sin
and raise us to new life in your love,
in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

An icon of the Four Martyrs of Rethymnon by Alexandra Kaouki (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

A year after a stroke, my eyes have not dimmed and my vigour has not diminished

Coffee under the magnolia tree in Milton Keynes Hospital in the week after my stroke last year (Photograph: Charlotte Hunter)

Patrick Comerford

It is one year today since I suffered a stroke in Milton Keynes on 18 March 2022. At the time, I was on leave from parish ministry for compassionate and personal reasons, and I was spending Saint Patrick’s Weekend in Milton Keynes when I had this stroke.

I was admitted to Milton Keynes Hospital immediately, and spent two weeks in hospital, first in Milton Keynes and then from 29 March in the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Since then, I have been back to Milton Keynes Hospital for a number of check-ups and consultations, and to Sheffield Hospital for a consultation and a ‘Gamma Knife’ procedure.

The consequences of that stroke were extensive and far-reaching, beyond the hospital procedures and stays. I had already decided that I was going to retire from parish ministry after Easter, although I had not yet made any public announcement.

While I was in hospital in Milton Keynes, in advance of being moved to Oxford, I realised I was not going to return to parish ministry in Co Limerick and Co Kerry before my planned retirement date. I agreed with the Dean of Limerick as commissary of the diocese that I would take early retirement at the end of that month, on 31 March 2022.

I was moved to the John Radcliffe Hospital on 29 March and able to leave on 1 April. After another overnight stay in Oxford, I returned to Milton Keynes two weeks after I was first taken to hospital with that stroke.

I eventually moved into a flat in Stony Stratford in early April, and have been living here ever since. I have returned to Ireland on a few occasions in fitful but not-very-successful efforts to tie up some personal matters.

In many ways, these have not been 12 easy months. I was reminded last night how unsettling these changing times have been when I realised I have slept in over two dozen different beds in the space of 12 months – although that number includes five different hospital wards or beds, two return visits to Ireland, return visits to Lichfield and Tamworth, and visits to Hungary and Finland on behalf of the Anglican mission agency USPG.

I have now settled down into a flat overlooking the High Street in Stony Stratford – I suppose I could say that over the span of 50 years it has been a move from one High Street to another, from High Street in Wexford to High Street in Stony Stratford.

I had another check-up on my Vitamin B12 levels last week, and earlier this week I had yet another consultation with the University Hospitals in Oxford as a follow-up to my stroke a year ago. At 71, I may not quite be in rude health. But I have a distant ‘cousin’ who greets me on my birthdays with the traditional Jewish greeting of ‘ad meah v’esrim’, ‘may you live until 120!’ (עד מאה ועשרים שנה‎).

Deuteronomy recalls that Moses lived to be 120, at which age ‘his eye had not dimmed, and his vigour had not diminished’ (Deuteronomy 34: 7). Great rabbis of the Talmud, including Hillel, Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakkai, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, all lived to 120 as well. The blessing carries the implication that the receiver should retain full mental and physical faculties to the end of life.

With those implications, living until I am 120 does not sound so bad a prospect at all. Another half century after last year’s stroke, and yet another half century after moving into High Street, Wexford, may not be so dim or distant a prospect; it might be a real blessing with the love, care and attention I have been receiving over the past year.