Many of the following surnames (I noticed on the occasion of the service at the Cenotaph for the fallen) are inscribed into the town's Great War and Second World War memorials. These often familiar names are the Beatified Martyrs of Clifton Diocese:

For those of us educated by Carmelites, or with relatives in on of the Carmelite orders, we might wish to celebrate with them the Feast of All Carmelite Saints. This is an optional feast - but worth observing, as our Carmelites, both those in communities (discalced, nuns and monks) and OFM (the carmelite friars) have long connections with our area. The Whitefriars established and ran a school for boys in Charlton Kings (which lives on in part within the school of St Edwards), and the White Friars also had a monastery in Gloucester before the reformation. There are some archeological remains of the friary in Gloucester.

Think of the timing of the authorship of Luke - some 70 years (perhaps - it is a little vague, but not before 50 years) after the resurrection. The early christians were expecting an imminent return of the Lord, this time in Glory, to bring in the end of days and the resurrection of all. In fact, Jesus, and indeed most of the people who knew him, had died, and the second coming of the messianic saving king had decidedly not happened.  It is likely that Luke wrote today's Gospel to tell them, the second or even third generation christians, that they should not be looking to the return of the king, but to be looking among themselves, to see (to it) that the kingdom of God is formed by them.

There are perhaps three ways to read this "in the midst of you" or as the Jerusalem Bible had it "within you".

1. 'already here' , you live in the kingdom
2. 'within your grasp' - you just need other make the effort to reach out, and live in it
3. 'a spiritual reality' - just live as if this was true, and you make it so.

I like the third most of all, but you are open to make your own interpretation. Just - live faithfully by your view. We are all destined for the same eternal Kingdom, that is assured to us by Christs Resurrection - but we are called to life our part, in the way we see to be true.

Do not fall into the concept that foreigner in Luke's Gospel means someone from elsewhere. The Samaritans lived very close to the Israelites and in faith and practice would have been almost indistinguishable from them. They did have arguments - bitter arguments - between each other about the content of the sacred scripture (what should or should not be read in synagogues) and about the advent of a Messiah. Our Lord needs us to apply his teaching to anyone whom we might find it to be uncomfortable to be with. Very often, the difficult ones are those who lead us closer to God. It can be hard to understand how, but patience and trust in the Lord will show us.

It might sound like the master is being unfair to the servant - demand to be fed by the slave after making them work all the day in the fields. Well - yes it is, but do not forget the example set by Our Lord. At the Last Supper he put on an apron and cleaned his disciples feet - not in response to being asked to do this, but out of love for them. An example to follow! We also are not saved by our efforts - willingly given or otherwise - but by Jesus' salvific work in the Cross and Resurrection. However - we still have to labour and strain - to help others to be saved.

Today's Saint is Martin of Tours. He was born in the Roman province of Pannonia (approximating to the western half of modern Hungary) in about 316 and was educated at Pavia in Italy. He was baptized, left the army and after spending some time as a hermit on an island off the Ligurian coast, founded a monastery at Ligugé in western France, where he lived a monastic life guided by St Hilary. Later he was ordained priest and became bishop of Tours. In his actions he gave an example of what a good shepherd should be. He founded other monasteries, educated the clergy, and preached the Gospel to the poor. He died in 397.

The number 7 crops up over and again in the Bible - and in popular culture. Of course - the week is divided into 7 days. Why might this be? 7 is regarded as a perfect number, complete and sufficient in itself. Our biology means that if you look at a collection of things, up to 7, it is very easy to count and remember them all. One of the many uses of 7 is to indicate time - both a short time, as in '7 days time' and in the sense of a long time ' Ruth waited 7 years for a baby brother'.

The Lord is using 7 here to mean a number of times, to few to be uncountable, but enough to be more than 'just a few'. So we should not ignore a plea for help which comes over and over again. Don't dismiss someone because they are being a persistent nuisance - find out what they need, listen to them, and give help.

Pope St Leo the Great was born in Etruria and became Pope in 440. He was a true shepherd and father of souls. He constantly strove to keep the faith whole and strenuously defended the unity of the Church. He repelled the invasions of the barbarians or alleviated their effects, famously persuading Attila the Hun not to march on Rome in 452, and preventing the invading Vandals from massacring the population in 455.

Leo left many doctrinal and spiritual writings behind and a number of them are included in the Office of Readings to this day. He died in 461.