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12/10/2017
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Canon Steve Williams, Bishop of Manchester's interfaith adviser.
Last on
Thu 12 Oct 2017
05:43
成人快手 Radio 4
Script
Good morning.
Today at half past ten a wreath will be laid at a statue on the edge of Trafalgar Square near St Martin in the Fields.
It's of the nurse Edith Cavell, beneath the heading, Humanity - her name in gold lettering, then "Brussels聽 Dawn, 12th October 1915."聽 Beneath this lie some words which, when I first saw them,聽 made me see the national pride of Trafalgar Square in a different context.聽 They say:聽聽 "Patriotism is not enough.聽 I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone."
What she said immediately before these words is equally inspiring.聽 It was the night before her execution.聽 She'd been sentenced to death by the occupying German forces for using her position as a senior nurse in a Red Cross Hospital in Brussels to help Allied servicemen escape.聽 She'd kept resolutely to the nursing code that it was her duty to care for anyone requiring attention, whether friend or foe.聽 There was international outrage at the death sentence, but diplomacy could do nothing.聽聽 Edith Cavell was a firm Anglican Christian, believing her soul was safe with God through Jesus Christ.聽 The English chaplain, Stirling Gahan, brought her Communion the night before she died.聽 It was here that she told him:聽 "Standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough.聽聽 I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone. "
That's a powerful prayer for those who are suffering today from the oppressive nationhood of others, and those who nurse and care for them.
O Lord, standing as we do in view of you and eternity, help us to live as citizens of heaven - welcoming in your rule of love, justice and peace.听听听聽聽
听听听
Today at half past ten a wreath will be laid at a statue on the edge of Trafalgar Square near St Martin in the Fields.
It's of the nurse Edith Cavell, beneath the heading, Humanity - her name in gold lettering, then "Brussels聽 Dawn, 12th October 1915."聽 Beneath this lie some words which, when I first saw them,聽 made me see the national pride of Trafalgar Square in a different context.聽 They say:聽聽 "Patriotism is not enough.聽 I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone."
What she said immediately before these words is equally inspiring.聽 It was the night before her execution.聽 She'd been sentenced to death by the occupying German forces for using her position as a senior nurse in a Red Cross Hospital in Brussels to help Allied servicemen escape.聽 She'd kept resolutely to the nursing code that it was her duty to care for anyone requiring attention, whether friend or foe.聽 There was international outrage at the death sentence, but diplomacy could do nothing.聽聽 Edith Cavell was a firm Anglican Christian, believing her soul was safe with God through Jesus Christ.聽 The English chaplain, Stirling Gahan, brought her Communion the night before she died.聽 It was here that she told him:聽 "Standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realise that patriotism is not enough.聽聽 I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone. "
That's a powerful prayer for those who are suffering today from the oppressive nationhood of others, and those who nurse and care for them.
O Lord, standing as we do in view of you and eternity, help us to live as citizens of heaven - welcoming in your rule of love, justice and peace.听听听聽聽
听听听
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