For All the Saints - Reflection by Canon Bob

All Saints day, the 1st of November, is often seen as the beginning of a season of remembering. The Saints can sometimes be thought of as people who in the past have done great things and who have set examples of courage and Godly living. This is undoubtedly true although a quick look at the qualities necessary for Sainthood suggests there have been different standards for women and men! It seems that as a woman you had a better chance if you were a reformed prostitute or died protecting your virginity as did St Wilgefortis who prayed for deliverance on the night before her arranged marriage and woke up on her wedding day with a full beard! Consequently, she lost both her husband-to-be and her life. Some men got there by merely being reasonably good Bishops.
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However, it would be wrong I think, merely to consign the Saints to history. There is a story, told on more than one occasion in assemblies at St Margaret’s High School by the Reverend Ken Miller, school chaplain and undoubted saint, of a young girl going on a school trip visiting a Cathedral. The guide showing them around spent a great deal of time explaining about the significance of some fine stained glass windows.

When she got home her mother asked her how the day had gone and what she had learned. “ We saw lots of interesting things”, said the girl “ but the best thing was, we learned about the Saints”. “What did you learn?” asked her Mother. “O it’s really great”, came the reply, “the Saints are the ones the light shines through”.

I have met many people over the years in very different circumstances who have struck me as people through whom the light shone, Ken himself being one of them. They will be unsung but they will have made a difference to those round about them. They are in our midst now at a time when they are most needed and I thank God for them.
 
Canon Bob

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