Care for Creation

“Lord God, We ask you to open our eyes to recognize you, learning from the mystery of your closeness to all creation, that the world is infinitely more than a problem to solve. It is a mystery to be contemplated with gratitude and hope. Help us to discover your presence in all creation, so that in fully recognizing it, we may feel and know ourselves to be responsible for this common home where you invite us to care for, respect, and protect life in all its forms and possibilities.
Praise be to you, Lord!
amen” 
[Pope Leo XIV]

A prayer for our earth by Pope Francis

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.

Amen

The Living Gospel on All Hallows Eve.

D C Parker tells the story of Codex Sinaiticus

The Living Gospel 

Whenever I visit the British Library in London I try to search out two very special manuscripts ~ The Codex Siniaticus and the Codex Alexandrinus. They are two of the rarest copies of Bible texts in Greek. In the case of Codex Siniaticus it is one of the most important books in the world. It is, arguably, the oldest complete copy of the New Testament that is still in existence, though not all of it is kept in London with a portion still being in Egypt, Russia and Leipzig.  However, it has been digitally re-united so a complete copy now exists.
From its text (and others which are less complete) all our translations of the New Testament are influenced.

It is also rather beautiful to look at in its handwritten script.
To come close to what is the earliest known version of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, lovingly scripted in the 4th century at the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, is to come close to the Living Gospel. It is the closest we get to God’s Holy Word spoken by Jesus and the New Testament apostles and evangelists.
Yet this is not the only example of the Living Gospel.

I write this on All Hallows Eve or ‘Halloween’ – a night when we try not to think of ghosts and scary things but rather of the Holy Ones of God—the saints whose lives God touched and who became, in the way they lived those lives Living  copies of the Good  News of Jesus Christ. I think not only of the many saints we commemorate in our Church Calendars but also those whose holiness is known to but a few, though always to God. People who, through the lives and values they have tried to lead and the faith they have proclaimed, been influential and an encouragement to others. Most, if not all, of us who embrace the Christian faith, can think of such people whose nurture of our Christian understanding and practice have laid the foundation of our belief in Jesus Christ and our love for Him. These are the unsung hero’s of our Church. These we remember at All Saints’ tide.
But their specialness is not about them being unique. All of us are called to be the Holy Ones of God. We are all called to saintliness and to nurture and grow the faith of others by our example, our prayers and our living out of the Gospel—a Gospel we should know by heart because it is absorbed into our souls. Someone once said that we should remember that we may be the only copy of the Gospel that others may read!

As I keep the Hallowed (sacred) evening on the cusp of All Saints’ Day, I think of those holy ones of God  who have made such a difference in my own life with their outflowing of God’s love. They have been the beacons which have illuminated my journey towards God. I am thankful that they were placed in my way to bring God’s heavenly glow to my pilgrimage to heaven.
They are also a reminder that, as we can read in the Book of Wisdom (Chapter 3) “The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God.“
That includes all the Saints, and all who, today, are trying to live close to God and who continue to show us the way to God’s Heart.

[Mr G. All Hallows Ever 2025]

Learning of God from Island Saints

Sunrise from Lindisfarne over the Farne Islands, St Cedd’s day, October 26th 2025. Photo by Gill Henwood.

October 26th is St. Cedd’s Day:

The little that is known about Saint Cedd comes to us mainly from the writing of Saint Bede in his Ecclesiastical History Of The English People.
Cedd was born in the kingdom of Northumbria and brought up on the island of Lindisfarne by Saint Aidan. He was one of four brothers: Chad (originally Ceadda), Cynibil and Caelin being his siblings. The first datable reference to Cedd by Bede makes clear that he was a priest by the year 653. It is likely that Cedd was oldest of the brothers and was acknowledged the head of the family. While he was alive, he seems to have taken the lead, while Chad was his chosen successor.
Cedd was sent out from Lindisfarne to take the Gospel to Essex, landing after a sea journey at Bradwell where, today, there is still a Chapel built on the foundation of Cedd’s monastery.
As well as this mission, Cedd also established a monastery at Lastingham in the Cleveland Hills. From here he established a mission in North Yorkshire. When he died of the Plague, his brother Chad took over. Today, at Lastingham, the crypt chapel is said to date back to Cedd’s time.

Learning of God from Island Saints.

I come to this Holy place
where, when the tide turns,
silence and conversation
meld into stillness.
God is here.
His sanctuary, enclosed by the sea,
welcomes those who are seeking after meaning.

What am I looking for, here on Lindisfarne,  
where the spirit of Aidan
gathered together those chosen by God,
on whom the Saint poured out his soul,
his faith, into their waiting hearts?

I sense and seek the company
of those who first prayed here
through the storms of the sea, the blowing of the winds
sweeping over the Headland Heugh,
in the strange light of pale day
and the fading shadows of eventide.
In silence and in prayer; through learning and in listening;
by becoming steeped in God’s word;
twelve young monks, were inspired to mission the good,
Gospel news, of Jesus Christ.

Cedd and Chad, Cynibil, Caelin and companions
allowed Jesus to be etched upon their hearts,
discovering a love which must be shared.
How else would others inhale God’s blessing
and love in their own lives
and cause a world’s darkness to be bathed and transformed
by the dazzling  light of God’s Spirit?

And I, kneeling somewhere between the waves and shore
of my inner being, must hear anew this call
to open the Gospel pages illuminated by God within my soul,
that through me also
God may mission to others His amazing and saving Love.

Mr. G.
St Cedd’s Day 2025.

Dawn over Lindisfarne, taken from Bamburgh by Gill Henwood. St Cedd’ s Day 2025