Christopher 			July 25
Martyr
We have no historical information about Christopher. Even the date of his death cannot be fixed more precisely than somewhere in the third century. He died in Asia Minor, and there are some early legends associated with his name. These stories grew, especially in Germany in the twelfth century, and were eventually gathered in the very popular collection of stories about the saints known as the Golden Legend.
According to the legends, Christopher was a Canaanite giant who, having been converted and instructed in the Christian faith by a hermit, was told to live near a certain river and help travellers across it. This is the setting for the best-known of the stories about Christopher, and one that relates to his name, “Christ-bearer”. A child once asked Christopher to carry him across the river, and Christopher found the child so heavy that he was almost bowed under by the child’s weight. When Christopher asked the child why he had found him so heavy, the child explained that he was Jesus Christ and that, in carrying him, Christopher was also carrying on his shoulders the weight of the whole world he had made. 
Christopher became the patron saint of travellers. In the twentieth century, with a huge increase in travel, he has lost none of his popularity, and the reduction of his feast to optional local observance by the Vatican in 1969 brought vigorous complaints from several quarters.
For Liturgical Use
The enormous popularity of Christopher as the patron saint of travellers has if anything increased as travel has become more common. This is so, despite the fact that nothing is known about Christopher except the fact of his death in Asia Minor during the third century. There are many legends about him, the best loved being the story of how he carried a child across a river, and was almost bowed under by the weight. Asking about this, he learned that he had carried the Christ child and the world he had made.
Sentence
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.	John 3:14,15
Collects
God our guide,
we bless you for all
whose lives have borne faithful witness to Jesus Christ;
may we also bear the living Christ upon our hearts
and follow the way he lays before us,
which leads to eternal life;
this we ask through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

Jesus,
may Christopher, the Christ-bearer, ever proclaim to us
that what we do for the least of your little ones,
we do for you.
Psalms	24	121
Readings
Joshua 3:15-17		Crossing the waters
Galatians 6:1-10		Bearing burdens
Matthew 11:25-30		My burden is light
Post Communion Sentence
Cast your burden on the Lord, and the Lord will sustain you.	Psalm 55:22