This week, our first readings come from the book
of Wisdom. This book is included in the
canon of Scripture for the Catholic and Orthodox churches, but it is consider
Deuterocanonical by the Protestant churches and thus not included in their
canon of Scripture. Many Scripture scholars believe that this book
was originally written in Greek, but that its style is modeled after Hebrew
verse. In today’s reading, the author of Wisdom reminds the
rulers of nations that they hold office from God in whose name they are called
to govern the people. God will punish those who abuse their elected office
and act unjustly and unlawfully, whereas the Lord will reward those rulers who
govern mercifully and justly.
Martin of Tours lived in the 4th century, but he
remains a very popular saint to this day. He was born of pagan parents and was forced to
serve in the military at a very young age. He left the military service as an adult, having
heard the call to serve Christ in a special way in service to the Church. A famous recollection about Martin recounts how
he as a soldier met a beggar on the road, how all he had on him was he weapon
and his cloak. He cut his cloak in half and gave the other half
to this poor man. It was a strange sight to see Martin only wearing
half a cloak, but he knew he did the right thing. Martin later became the Bishop of Tours. He worked hard during his lifetime not only
fighting the heresies in the Church, but also in trying to bring the heretics
back into the flock.
Martin is one of the patron saints of soldiers
and tailors. As we celebrate Veteran’s Day today, it is
appropriate that our saint of the day served as a soldier himself. Let us unite our prayers with the prayers of
Martin of Tours to pray for our veterans and for the men and women currently
serving in the military.
No comments:
Post a Comment