Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, bishop
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father”
This saying of Jesus is wonderfully exemplified in the life of St. Martin of Tours. Forced to serve in the army at 15, he became a Christian catechumen and was baptized at 18. He is famous for having cut his cloak in half for a beggar, to have Christ appear to him clothed in the half!
At 23, he was discharged to fight as a soldier of Christ, becoming a disciple of St. Hilary.
Martin’s response to God, from a young age, was ‘a blessing by Christ’s Father.’
We must continually allow this truth of our faith to enter our consciousness. We want all our responses as Christ’s disciples to become deeply embedded with the Father’s action in our lives. We are, after all, only his disciples because we are blessed by the Father: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).
One thing this means for our lives is that in our praying and in our interior lives, we rely more and more on God to lead us and to draw us. Our lives become thanksgiving, even constant thanksgiving. Our efforts become suffused with praise and thanksgiving of the loving Father who sees us as sons in Christ, his Son!
The dashboard light that will signal this for us is a gradually increasing joy in our hearts, regardless of obstacles.
Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections