Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop

Saint Martin of Tours wasn’t always a follower of God. He was a soldier and served the Roman Army. But he chose to be baptized and took to his heart the Gospel and commandments to love God and others.
His story is told, that he would cut his own cloak in half to give to a poor man. And Jesus came to him in a dream to tell him as he gave the cloak to the poor, he also gave it to Jesus. And St Martin would then focus his life on following Jesus Christ and evangelizing to the poor. For he saw the real connection between helping others and its direct union with doing the same for Jesus Christ.

Jesus told us that when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked and help the poor we are doing the same for him. Those we helped will be the ones standing beside Jesus to welcome us into heaven. It is works done because our heart and love of God demand it. As it did for St Martin.

Those who trust in Jesus Christ for everything are given an understanding of that truth. And their lives are filled with mercy and grace.

We all hear the same words. Love God and love others. Give to those who have less. Feed those who are hungry. But today we see what really believing that means. That means we give and share and love all knowing they are cherished by Jesus Christ. So once seeing how one is loved, he equates helping the poor as helping the one who loves him.

The one who hesitates to be charitable does not love as we were told to love. If you see a poor man and are caught up in asking if he is deserving of your charity, you have missed the point and do not see the truth Jesus is talking about. St Martin didn’t ask the poor man if he was poor by his own fault or did he really deserve part of his cloak. He trusted in Jesus. He knew that the Christian’s vocation is to share and love as Jesus loved them. They give because Jesus gave all.

How are we doing today? Do we trust in Jesus yet? St Martin chose to let nothing get in the way of helping another. That is the heart of one who trusts in Jesus Christ. Do we see that truth?

Let’s strive to trust more in Jesus? Just today, give everything over to Jesus Christ …just for one day. Do not worry or fear. Let go and obey his commands to love God with everything and trust. And love others, really love others as much as we love ourselves.
Then and only then can we do the actually work of Jesus Christ for we will be filled with his mercy and grace.