Words of Light and Hope from Helena Crockford LLM

Words of Light and Hope from Helena Crockford LLM

1st November 2026

Today is All Saints Sunday, one of the nine major festivals of the church year, which marks the last month of the liturgical year with a season of remembrance. With All Souls on 2nd November, they give us a time to give thanks for those whose lives have borne witness to God’s blessings. It is interesting how the saints, and the saintly in our midst, seem not ‘other worldly’ as one might expect, but more deeply human. This poem and prayer capture that.

 

 

‘A Last Beatitude’ by Malcolm Guite

And blessèd are the ones we overlook;
The faithful servers on the coffee rota,
The ones who hold no candle, bell or book
But keep the books and tally up the quota,
The gentle souls who come to ‘do the flowers’,
The quiet ones who organise the fete,
Church sitters who give up their weekday hours,
Doorkeepers who may open heaven’s gate.
God knows the depths that often go unspoken
Amongst the shy, the quiet, and the kind,
Or the slow healing of a heart long broken
Placing each flower so for a year’s mind.
Invisible on earth, without a voice,
In heaven their angels glory and rejoice.

Prayer: For All the Saints by Janet Morley

For all the saints who went before us
who have spoken to our hearts
and touched us with your fire,
we praise you, O God.

For all the saints who live beside us
whose weaknesses and strengths
are woven with our own,
we praise you, O God.

For all the saints who live beyond us
who challenge us to change the world with them,
we praise you, O God.