Collect for the Day

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Scriptures for the Day

Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Psalm 116:1, 10-17

Thought for the Day

(a poem by Mary K. Himens)

Holy Thursday
On seeing a Bradford pear tree 

   "Do this in memory of Me ..."
    echoes round the globe. 

    As, pointing heavenward,
    the topmost branches skim the sky
    while all the others
    swoop and stretch
    in yearning …

Here are some resources to remind us all that this day began as a church festival-

Collect

Almighty God, in your providence you chose your servant Patrick to be the apostle of the Irish people, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us so to walk in that light that we may come at last to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Patrick was born about 390, in southwest Britain, somewhere between the Severn and the Clyde rivers, son of a deacon and grandson of a priest. When about sixteen years old, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. Until this time, he had, by his own account, cared nothing for God, but now he turned to God for help. After six years, he either escaped or was freed, made his way to a port 200 miles away, and there persuaded some sailors to take him onto their ship. He returned to his family much changed, and began to prepare for the priesthood, and to study the Bible.

Around 435, Patrick was commissioned, perhaps by bishops in Gaul and perhaps by the Pope, to go to Ireland as a bishop and missionary. Four years earlier another bishop, Palladius, had gone to Ireland to preach, but he was no longer there (my sources disagree on whether he had died, or had become discouraged and left Ireland to preach in Scotland). Patrick made his headquarters at Armagh in the North, where he built a school, and had the protection of the local monarch. From this base he made extensive missionary journeys, with considerable success. To say that he single-handedly turned Ireland from a pagan to a Christian country is an exaggeration, but is not far from the truth.

Almost everything we know about him comes from his own writings, available in English in the Ancient Christian Writers series. He has left us an autobiography (called the Confessio), a Letter to Coroticus in which he denounces the slave trade and rebukes the British chieftain Coroticus for taking part in it, and the Lorica (or “Breastplate” a poem of disputed authorship traditionally attributed to Patrick), a work that has been called “part prayer, part anthem, and part incantation.” The Lorica is a truly magnificent hymn, found today in many hymnals (usually abridged by the omission of the two stanzas bracketed below). The translation into English as given here is by Cecil Frances Alexander, whose husband was Archbishop of Armagh, and thus the direct successor of Patrick. She published nearly 400 poems and hymns of her own, including the well-known “There is a green hill far away,” “Once in royal David’s city,” “Jesus calls us; o’er the tumult,” and “All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small.”

(From Mission of St. Clare)

The only trouble is that in spiritual life there are no tricks and no short cuts. Those who imagine that they can discover special gimmicks and put them to work for themselves usually ignore God’s will and his grace. They are self-confident and even self-complacent.  …Those who think they “know” from the beginning will never, in fact, come to know anything.

Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer (New York: Image Books, 1996). p 37.

MONDAY, March 15

Mark 7:24-37. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

Anthony Bloom, archbishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church in England, records that one of the first people to seek his advice after his ordination was an elderly lady. “I have been praying almost unceasingly for fourteen years,” she said, “and I have never had any sense of God’s presence.” It appeared that her prayer times were filled with her talking, so Anthony Bloom suggested that she set apart fifteen minutes a day to “sit and just knit before the face of God.” The woman later reported that when she talked to God she felt nothing, but when she sat quietly she felt wrapped in his presence.

When we wish that we had more recorded prayers of Jesus, it may be that we too regard prayer predominantly as conversation. In today’s reading, Jesus is not in solitude but fully engaged at the point of human need. Prayer consisted of a look towards heaven and a sigh. Maybe there was no time for more than this. But could it be that even on the lonely hillsides Jesus often simply looked toward his Father, and the uplifted spirit was the prayer? Prayer can be a trustful waiting, a single word or sentence, a look of hope. (1975)