A Day of Days

Today is stir-up day. I learned this morning that some take stir up day as the day to start the stirring of the Christmas pudding.
Stir up, we beseech thee, the pudding in the pot;

And when we get home we'll eat the lot.

Others see it at the last Sunday of the church year. Our collect for this day reads ...
Stir-up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people;

that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,

may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

And today is the feast of Christ the King, a relatively new feast instituted by the Pope in 1925:

The faithful, moreover, by meditating upon these truths, will gain much strength and courage, enabling them to form their lives after the true Christian ideal.

He must reign in our minds

He must reign in our wills

He must reign in our hearts

He must reign in our bodies and in our members

It's also the day we remember Cecilia, a woman who, as a youth, gave herself to the service of God. Her parents were keen to marry her off and did so. Cecilia's husband became a believer and he and his brother took upon themselves the dangerous ministry of burying the bodies of martyrs. They were both martyred and so Cecilia buried their bodies. She was then martyred.

And today is our gift day. It's the day we collect gifts for a church in Victoria Docks. A church who serve the poor and homeless in their community. Hence the gifts, and the blip, destined for Victoria Docks.