Rectory Ramblings… November 2024
Wednesday, 23 October 2024 20:53
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7)
In the Anglican and Catholic Church’s calendar the First of November is celebrated as All Saints Day, in old language All Hallows Day, For many in the modern world this important celebration has been overshadowed by All Hallows Eve or Halloween as we now call it, but for the church it is still an important time to remember all the saints who have gone before us: from the first martyr St. Stephen to modern saints like Teresa of Calcutta; from well-known saints like St. Peter and St. George to little known saints like Wilfrid of Ripon, and whether they have a dedicated saint’s day or not.
Saints days are usually on the anniversary of their death and “passing into Glory”, so on the day I write this article, the 12th October, (such is the wonder of copy deadlines) we are celebrating the feast of Wilfrid of Ripon, also commemorating Elizabeth Fry and Edith Cavell, and next year another will be added to the list of October 12th saints – Carlo Acutis. Wilfrid was a missionary and for some time Archbishop of York dying in the year 709. He was credited with guiding the early Anglo-Saxon church in the North of England. Elizabeth Fry, who died in 1845, is best known for her work as a prison reformer and especially her work in women’s prisons, for which she earned her place on the £5 note. Edith Cavell, who has a memorial plaque in Peterborough Cathedral, worked as a nurse in Belgium at the start of the First World War, and was executed by the Germans in 1915 for helping British and French soldiers escape to safety. And Carlo Acutis, who was an unusually devout Italian teenager died of leukaemia in 2006, aged just 15 years old. In language 20thcentury saints would not recognise, he has been referred to as God’s influencer: his story, and the website of saints lives he created, went viral only after his death, and he has already been credited with miraculous healings.
What all these, and other saints we remember share, is the way in which their faith shaped their lives, giving them the inspiration and determination to achieve great effect by their quiet and unswerving commitment to the task they had been called to. It is in following their example that those of us who follow also find our inspiration and our own faith strengthened. So whether they carry the title of saint and are officially commemorated, or they are unsung heroes, personal friends and relatives who have gone before us and continue to inspire us, this is why we celebrate their lives.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it. (2 Timothy 4:7)
Revd Eddie