So yesterday, we celebrated and remembered all those Heroes of the faith, the Martyrs and those who died for their faith. Today we celebrate and remember the ordinary faithful Christians. In the New Testament “the saints” means “Christian believers”, that is, all members of the church. Gradually the term “saint” came to mean the heroes of the faith, and that was how All Saints’ Day on 1 November was eventually regarded. Odilo, the abbot of Cluny in the first half of the 11th century, provided for the commemoration of all the departed on 2 November, and this Benedictine tradition spread throughout the church. The feast was abolished in England at the Reformation, but has been restored to many Anglican Calendars as a general commemoration of the faithful departed.

It is good today to remember those in our own families who have gone to their reward and 'when the roll is called up yonder, will be there'. Our ancestors who faithfully handed down the faith to us. Any person we miss today, who has 'gone to sleep' but we know we will one day see again.