Thought for the day
William Butler Yeats' The Ballad of Father Gilligan read by Richard Wallace
The Ballad Of Father Gilligan
William Butler Yeats
The old priest Peter Gilligan
Was weary night and day;
For half his flock were in their beds,
Or under green sods lay.
Once, while he nodded on a chair,
At the moth-hour of eve,
Another poor man sent for him,
And he began to grieve.
'I have no rest, nor joy, nor peace,
For people die and die';
And after cried he, 'God forgive!
My body spake, not I!'
He knelt, and leaning on the chair
He prayed and fell asleep;
And the moth-hour went from the fields,
And stars began to peep.
They slowly into millions grew,
And leaves shook in the wind;
And God covered the world with shade,
And whispered to mankind.
Upon the time of sparrow-chirp
When the moths came once more.
The old priest Peter Gilligan
Stood upright on the floor.
'Mavrone, mavrone! the man has died
While I slept on the chair';
He roused his horse out of its sleep,
And rode with little care.
He rode now as he never rode,
By rocky lane and fen;
The sick man's wife opened the door:
'Father! you come again!'
'And is the poor man dead?' he cried.
'He died an hour ago.'
The old priest Peter Gilligan
In grief swayed to and fro.
'When you were gone, he turned and died
As merry as a bird.'
The old priest Peter Gilligan
He knelt him at that word.
'He Who hath made the night of stars
For souls who tire and bleed,
Sent one of His great angels down
To help me in my need.
'He Who is wrapped in purple robes,
With planets in His care,
Had pity on the least of things
Asleep upon a chair.'
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Preached by the Revd Dr Brutus Green
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The diocesan synod, as well as receiving all the usual reports from bishop's council, general synod and the diocesan board of education, heard that if everyone increased financial giving by the cost of one cup of coffee per week, the diocese's shortfall would be eliminated! The diocesan strategy, Transforming Church Together, TCT, was also discussed at length. The strategy can be summarised as: following Jesus, serving others, transforming communities. It is intended to enable churches to become more open and inclusive, and thereby, to achieve growth. Good news stories were heard of how the strategy had worked in practice, such as helping to turn a church around to make it much more effective in its local area, and on better terms with its neighbouring schools. The synod heard that, while, sadly, funding for Carbon Net Zero was paused at the end of 2025, due to financial constraints, work, intentions and commitment in this area has not ceased, and it is saving money on utility bills as a result. The synod voted to adopt the ten year financial plan. A written question was submitted about the need to increase diversity: the best we can come up with so far is... choose people to do things who are not like you, ask someone different! I shall attempt to do a short summary of each synod which I attend. I shall also undertake to write up all of last year's synods, in one document, but this involves condensing every set of minutes into a paragraph or so, and given that each is the size of a small book, that's quite difficult to do. We need four new deanery synod rep's, so please all put your names forward and be elected at the APCM. Thank you. Auriol Britton 21.03.2026
Preached by the Revd Dr Brutus Green
