03 November 2024
10:30 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
Another busy weekend at St Mary our Lady. On Saturday night we had a Eucharist for All Souls Day with the Faure Requiem sung liturgically in the service. St Mary's choir was joined by a number of guest singers and our soloist was our friend Peter Webster. It was a very lovely event to recall all those who have gone before us. Many thanks to Joanna for all the work involved in the music.
A reading from the book of Revelation
I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun,
having the seal of the living God,
and he called with a loud voice to the four angels
who had been given power to damage earth and sea,
saying,
‘Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees,
until we have marked the servants of our God
with a seal on their foreheads.’
And I heard the number of those who were sealed,
one hundred and forty-four thousand,
sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel:
After this I looked,
and there was a great multitude that no one could count,
from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’
And all the angels stood around the throne
and around the elders and the four living creatures,
and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God,
singing, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honour and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying,
‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’
I said to him,
‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’
Then he said to me,
‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
1 John 3:1-3
A reading from the first letter of John
See what love the Father has given us,
that we should be called children of God;
and that is what we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we will be has not yet been revealed.
What we do know is this:
when he is revealed, we will be like him,
for we will see him as he is.
And all who have this hope in him purify themselves,
just as he is pure.
Matthew 5:1-12a
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain;
and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.
Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful,
for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you
and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward is great in heaven,
for in the same way they persecuted the prophets
who were before you.
