Today Father Martin presided at Thorpe le Soken so Father Mervyn was the Celebrant and preacher at the Parish Mass. The atrocious weather in the half an hour immediately before Mass probably prevented some from coming today but we still had quite a full church. In his sermon Father Mervyn posed the questions “why do we need the All Saints Solemnity when we have so many saints already.” As he pointed out the calendar is full of saints we commemorate throughout the year so why did we need another celebration. Father Mervyn said that whilst we knew about many famous saints there thousands of others who we didn’t know but who, never-the-less, had, at death, been admitted to the closer presence of God. They were "a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands" (Rev 7:9). All the saints we celebrate today walked the hard and narrow path of the Beatitudes to arrive at the heavenly kingdom. To become a Saint was something we should all aim for and we had the Beatitudes which had been the guides for the saints as our guidelines for achieving this.
At the end of the service Father Mervyn, on behalf of Father Martin and himself presented to Monte and Claudette a card signed by the congregation wishing them every blessing when they move to their new home several miles away on Thursday.
Despite the fact that the heating has broken down in the hall and we are waiting for the boiler to be replaced yesterday’s Saturday Shop produced a very creditable £123
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