As we sang these stirring verses, I couldn’t help but reflect on how many saints we have celebrated in the last week or so.
We began with the feast of Alban, our local saint, and the pilgrimage through the centre of the city to the cathedral built on the spot where Alban died. What an amazing witness of our faith – and his - as we followed the enormous puppets through the streets crowded with onlookers, to the cathedral and there, on the grass outside, watched as the first executioner refused to behead this follower of Christ and the second lost his eyes.
Then, Saturday, the saints’ day of both Peter and Paul. Of course, we celebrate Peter, our own patronal saint but, when teaching at Loreto, I became used to commemorating both of them, remembering Paul’s conversion to ‘the new faith,’ which he had previously opposed and his travels promoting that belief in Jesus Christ, as well as all that Peter did. Peter is, naturally, special to us as we remember both his very human mistakes and his enormous bravery as his attempts to pass on the story of his Lord and Master eventually led to his own death.
If all that is not enough, the next few days include remembering another of the apostles, Thomas, and all his missionary work in India, clearly successful even though Thomas doubted his ability to fulfil the task.
What stands out is that the saints we celebrate were ordinary people who, in spite of misgivings and even failures, achieved extraordinary success; they were by no means ‘holier than thou’, which perhaps would deter us more than attract us.
In conclusion, the collect for St. Peter:
Almighty God,
who inspired your apostle Saint Peter
to confess Jesus as Christ and Son of the living God:
build up your Church upon this rock,
that in unity and peace it may proclaim one truth
and follow one Lord, your Son our Saviour Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen