5th November.  Sunday All Saints. Fr Teddy asked the congregation, “Why do you suppose the gospel for this feast is the Beatitudes?  I have been wondering about that myself until I realised that the qualities of those mentioned there in the way they live are in fact the qualities of saints.  You know that St Paul called his people saints while they were still alive, but we tend to think of saints only after death and a process of canonisation.  But let’s try to be saints in the way Paul saw it and live the beatitudes in our lives, our family lives.  On top of that of course we must reflect on the saints in heaven. Who is your favourite?  Mine is…..” 

Reflect, share, Scripture.    Blessed are the poor in Spirit. Blessed are the merciful, those that mourn, those that hunger and thirst for justice.  Blessed are the peacemakers and the pure in heart.   From Matthew 5. Pope Francis:  .     Blessed Charles de Foucauld  Having been a soldier, a priest in Palestine, he finally directed his ideal of total surrender to God towards an identification with the poor, abandoned in the depths of the African desert.   In that setting he expressed his desire to feel himself a brother to every human being and asked a friend to pray to God “that I truly be the brother of all.”  He was killed by a band of marauders in 1916 as he wanted to be, in the end the universal brother.  FT 287. Action and prayer:  Share about favourite saints and ask their intercession for the needs of those we have loved and lost.