Thought and Prayer of the Day
by the Rev. Jennifer Schick

October 2, 2025

This coming Saturday the church celebrates St. Francis of Assisi, the thirteenth-century Italian whose greatest honour was to be known as il Poverello, “the little poor one of Christ.”

The book For All The Saints describes St. Francis in this way “He grew up in a very wealthy family and seemed to have not a care in the world until he was twenty years old, when a chance encounter with a leper left him appalled by his own uselessness. Soon afterwards he heard Jesus speaking to him from a painting of the crucifixion over the altar of a local church. He threw away his wardrobe and renounced his father’s wealth in order to care for the poor and the crippled. In 1208 he heard the commission which the risen Lord gave to his apostles, “Go, make all nations my disciples,” and knew that it was also addressed to him. Francis began to train his followers for the task of making Jesus truly known and loved among the ordinary people of Italy. Out of this movement developed the Order of the Lesser Brethren, commonly called the Franciscans.

St. Francis is often known most by his love of all creation, as he recognized God in all people, all creatures and even in the elements of nature. He honoured God in all things and gave thanks for all things which came from God. On Sunday at 2pm in honour of St. Francis we will hold a blessing of the animals service on our West Lawn. Bring your pet, a picture of your pet, invite a neighbour who has pet, or just bring your own love of all creation to this outdoor service. We hope you can join us.

Prayer:

Almighty, eternal just, and merciful God,
grant us in our misery the grace
to do for you alone
what we know you want us to do,
and always to desire what pleases you.

Thus,
inwardly cleansed,
interiorly enlightened,
and inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
we may be able to follow
in the footprints of your beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ

And by your grace alone,
may we make our way to you, Most High,
who live and rule
in perfect Trinity and simple Unity,
and are glorified, God all-powerful,
for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer from a letter to the entire order written by St. Francis of Assisi

September 25, 2025

by Deacon Joanne Warman

September 25 – 3 months today will be Christmas! If this thought causes you to go into full blown panic mode, take a deep breath and relax. Enjoy the season you are in now.

At the last couple of funerals I’ve been involved with, a passage from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 has been read. The words from this passage were used in a song written by Pete Seger in the late 1950’s. This song would later be immortalized by The Bydds in 1965. The song was called Turn, Turn, Turn. It is a song about the cyclical nature of life and opposing events. Here in Canada, we are very aware of this as we experience 4 seasons – each one different and each one intertwined with another.

We are now officially in the season of Fall. This is my one of my favourite seasons. Bring on the pumpkin spice and the cozy sweaters, but also those beautiful sunny days when no sweater is required.

We all go through different seasons in our life.

We have our joyful seasons of first loves, births, weddings, reunions, graduations. We all start our lives as children. This should be a joyful season but sadly for some, it is not. This Sunday is Orange Shirt Sunday where we remember and recognize the childhoods that were stolen because of residential schools. Don’t forget to wear your orange shirt to church this Sunday. In July 2014, the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs-in-Assembly passed a resolution declaring September 30th Orange Shirt Day. It committed members to raising awareness of the day and its message. The resolution asked all Canadians to listen “with open hearts” to the stories of residential school survivors as “a first step in reconciliation.”

September 30 is now a federal holiday designated as the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. All Saints’ will once again commemorate this day with a sunrise service outside in the breezeway followed by refreshments in the hall.

As we age, we go though various seasons in our life childhood, teenage, young adult, middle age, post middle age, senior. Each one of these will have a mixture of seasons – joyful, sorrowful, hopeful, despair.

There is one constant in all of these seasons: God. God is present in all of our seasons. He is with us in the good times and bad times. There will be times when we will shout “Thank you God” for this blessing and there will be times when we cry out “Why God.” As our seasons come to an end, He will be there and we will be with Him for all eternity.

Thanks be to God, Amen.

Prayer:

Gracious and holy Father, give us wisdom to perceive you, intelligence to understand you, diligence to seek you, patience to wait for you, eyes to behold you, a heart to meditate on you and a life to proclaim you; through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

– Benedict of Nursia