Dear All,
Over these next days we will celebrate ‘All Saints Day’ and then commemorate the dead on ‘All Souls Day’.
So, for our reflection today we offer two pieces of writing: ‘For Everyone Born’ – this seems to be a recipe for ‘sainthood’ – if we can be part of making it a reality. Quite a challenge! And also an extract from Pope Francis’s preaching on All Saints Day.
We hope one or other may have meaning for each of you.
We have included our ‘Song of Farewell’ from our CD which people usually enjoy, & ‘The Funeral Blessing’ which seems to be a blessing as appropriate for the living as for the dead, so we pray it for all today’s living saints & for all who have died.
Deep peace of the running wave to you;
Deep peace of the flowing air to you;
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you;
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you;
Deep peace; deep peace
With our love
Pope Francis:
The saints were real people whose strength to face daily challenges came from the grace of Jesus Christ, showing that everyone can be holy. The saints of all times, which we all celebrate together today, are not simply symbols, distant human beings, unreachable. On the contrary, they are people who have lived with their feet on the ground. They have experienced the daily toil of existence with its successes and its failures, finding in the Lord the strength to always get up and continue the journey.
The saints demonstrate that holiness is not achieved alone, but is the fruit of the grace of God and of our free response to it.
Holiness is not only a gift from God, it is the common vocation of the disciples of Christ.
Responding to God’s call to be holy, and accepting the gift of his grace, means taking a serious and daily commitment to sanctification in the conditions, duties and circumstances of our life, trying to live everything with love and with charity.
The Church has many examples of how to live with charity, both in the canonized saints in heaven as well as those who live in one’s community, even next door, and are witnesses of holiness.
Shirley Erena Murray
For Everyone Born
For everyone born, a place at the table,
for everyone born, clean water and bread,
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
for everyone born, a star overhead,
and God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice, justice and joy!
For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong,
and God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice, justice and joy!
For gay and for straight, a place at the table,
a covenant shared, a welcoming space,
a rainbow of race and gender and colour,
for gay and for straight, the chalice of grace,
and God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice, justice and joy!
For just and unjust, a place at the table,
abuser, abused, with need to forgive,
in anger, in hurt, a mindset of mercy,
for just and unjust, a new way to live,
and God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice, justice and joy!
For everyone born, a place at the table,
to live without fear, and simply to be,
to work, to speak out, to witness and worship,
for everyone born, the right to be free,
and God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice, justice and joy!