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| The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant Fresco by Andrea de la Firenze, in Santa Maria Novella, c. AD 1365 |
All Saints Day is the second day in the triduum of Allhallowtide. The first is All Hallow's Eve (Hallowe'en, October 31) and the third, All Souls (November 2). While Hallowe'en (or Halloween) has become a cultural celebration -- at least in North America -- All Saints (or All Hallows) Day and All Souls are observed in various ways (or not at all) by Christians around the world.
A little research (okay; Wikipedia) reveals that All Saints and All Souls observances are based in the belief that "...there is a powerful spiritual bond between those in heaven (the "Church triumphant") and the living (the "Church militant") -- hence the illustration above, from a 14th century fresco.
Today's poem by Malcolm Guite remembers the quieter saints among us here in the "Church militant"...in our local parishes...and is taken from his book, Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year (Canterbury Press, London, 2012).
A Last Beatitude
And blessed are the ones we overlook;
The faithful observers 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 organize 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.
