Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

All Saints’ Day invites us to recognise the quiet holiness around us. In Lourdes, I saw it in a husband’s tender care for his sick wife, and in a volunteer who gently gathered pilgrims’ written prayers from the floor and placed them in the intention box. Through a loving touch, a little patience and simple kindness, God’s love reaches another person. These ordinary moments remind us that we can walk through life’s uncertainties together, sustained by faith and love.

Thank you for your prayers during my pilgrimage. I had a peaceful and deeply fulfilling time, attending Masses and visiting the grotto each morning at 6.00 a.m. I carried your intentions with me for two days before placing them in the intention box on the third day, to be entrusted to the Carmelite sisters for continued prayer.

While praying at the grotto, I also prepared our St Ann’s Hall webpage, now available on our parish website. In that same place, I entrusted our whole hall project and our parish’s hopes to Our Lady’s care. I return grateful and renewed, trusting God to guide the journey ahead.

Today we warmly welcome our children dressed as saints. Each will receive a medal I brought from the house where St Bernadette lived in Lourdes, and a Mass book. May these gifts help them grow in faith, kindness and love, carrying the spirit of the saints into everyday life.

Cemetery blessings – Sunday 1 November: Putney Vale Cemetery at 2.00 p.m. and Kingston Cemetery Chapel at 3.00 p.m. All are welcome to join us in prayer for our departed loved ones.

With prayers and blessings,
Fr James Raj
St Ann’s Catholic Church, Kingston Hill.