Homily
for the Memorial of
St.
Martin of Tours
Collect
Nov.
11, 2021
Christian
Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, New Rochelle, N.Y.
“Make new the wonders of
your grace in our hearts” (Collect).
In today’s gospel, Jesus
tells the Pharisees that the kingdom of God is among them (Luke 17:21), meaning
in his own person. We also witness the
presence of the kingdom in the saints.
Martin of Tours was single-minded in his pursuit of Christ, from the time of his conversion as a teenager. His parents were pagans, his father a soldier in the Roman frontier army. After a brief army career of his own—during which occurred the famous episode of his sharing his warm military cloak with a roadside beggar—Martin became a disciple of St. Hilary of Poitiers, founded the 1st monastery in Gaul, and combatted Arians and other heretics.
Against his will Martin
was made bishop of Tours because people—not the hierarchy, incidentally, who
thought him rather uncouth—recognized his qualities of holiness, peaceableness,
and leadership. Altho he strenuously
opposed heresy, he refused to condemn heretics to civil punishment. He evangelized his diocese by courageously
challenging pagan superstitions and offering Christ. By God’s grace he worked numerous wonders
like physical cures, well attested even if they seem unbelievable. He fought the Devil in person and even told
him he might yet seek the mercy of Christ.
In Martin, then, we find a
saint who responded to God’s grace by denying his own will and seeking God’s
will, who was passionate for truth but also compassionate. Such virtues are as wonderful in our hearts
as in his. May St. Martin pray to God
for us as he did for his own flock, that we bear witness to the presence of the
kingdom of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment