- Isaiah 50:10-11 -
Who among you fears the LORD
and obeys the word of his servant?
Let him who walks in the dark,
who has no light,
trust in the name of the LORD
and rely on his God.
But now, all you who light fires
and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
You will lie down in torment.
________________________________________________________
If we walk by our own light and reject God's, we become self-sufficient,
and
the result of self-sufficiency is torment. When we place confidence in our
own intelligence, appearance or accomplishments instead of God, we risk
torment later when these strengths fade.
<<>><<>><<>>
November 11th - St. Martin of Tours
"St. Martin's mission was to complete the destruction of paganism, which
had
been driven from the towns by the martyrs but remained up to his time
master
of vast territories removed from the influence of the cities. All of Gaul
heard from him. In all its provinces he overthrew the idols one after
another, reduced the statues to powder, burnt or demolished all the
temples,
destroyed the sacred groves and all the haunts of idolatry. Martin,
consumed
with zeal for the House of God, was obeying none but the Spirit of God.
"Against the fury of the pagan population Martin's only arms were the
miracles he wrought, the visible assistance of the Angels sometimes
granted
to him, and, above all the prayers and tears he poured out before God,
when
the hard-heartedness of the people resisted the means by which Martin
changed the face of the country.
"Where he found scarcely a Christian on his arrival, he left scarcely an
infidel at his departure. The temples of the idols were immediately
replaced
by temples of the true God. For, says Sulpicius Severus, as soon as he had
destroyed the houses of superstition, he built churches and monasteries.
It
is thus that all Europe is covered with sanctuaries bearing the name of
St.
Martin."
From The Liturgical Year by Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B.
Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)
Dom Guéranger presented a first rate history of St. Martin of Tours. He
went
to the very heart of his mission, expounded it and analyzed it. It seems
to
me that its sociological aspect is the following:
In the Roman Empire the Catholic Religion conquered the cities more
rapidly
because of the vaster concentration of people in the urban centers. The
evangelization was more successful and rapid because all the people were
congregated together. Then the cities became the great focus of
irradiation
spreading the Catholic Religion. The cities were also the focus of the
greater persecutions, and most of the martyrdoms took place in them.
Since the roads to the countryside were poor, people outside the cities
lived isolated, far from each other, and the Catholic Religion did not
reach
them so easily. This was the reason why, even after the Christian Empire
had
been established in Rome and the great cities, paganism was still strong
in
the countryside. And this was the reason why St. Martin received the
mission
to destroy that paganism.
Pagus in Latin means village. From this came the name paganism, as
synonymous with a village life, in the sense of a "hillbilly" backwoods
life. The pagan was the primitive who still wor****ped stones and groves
instead of realizing that there is only one God, spiritual, immortal, King
of all ages, and only one Jesus Christ, His Son, Our Lord the Savior, etc.
Therefore, St. Martin set out on a mission in which he was both the
preacher
who spread the Word of God, but also the warrior who destroyed the idols
and
the temples dedicated to the false gods. It is interesting to note that
St.
Augustine of Canterbury used to recommend that the pagan temples should
not
be destroyed. But here St. Martin did exactly the opposite, he destroyed
the
pagan temples. Naturally, the Saints had their different reasons. Most
probably one reason was because the people in Britain could be attracted
to
the Catholic Church in those temples, which would then be purified for the
practice of the true Faith. However, in France the temples were symbols
that
would invite the people to remain pagan. So, the great St. Martin spent a
considerable part of his life preaching and destroying pagan temples.
If you look at the normal biographies of St. Martin, you will see that
they
generally don't present this aspect shown by Dom Guéranger. They recount
the
famous case of St. Martin on horseback, stopping before a poor, cold
beggar,
and then tearing his mantle in half to share it with him. For a
sentimental
Catholic this episode summarizes the entire life of St. Martin.
I agree that it was good and noble to do that, but to take this as his
whole
life is to present a reality different from what actually happened. If it
only demanded this kind of charity toward the poor to be a saint, we could
leave aside every other concern and concentrate only on dividing mantles
to
give to the poor. It would be very easy. But this is not all that sanctity
calls for. To present it as such is to distort the picture for persons and
close them to the full reality of the lives of the saints. It is a poison,
a
kind of idolatry of sentimentality where there is no place for Catholic
militancy. St. Martin, who was so saintly and had so many merits,
including
a great hatred for the pagan idols, certainly would likewise abhor this
modern idol of sentimentality.
We might ask St. Martin to give us his zeal for the House of God, the Holy
Catholic Church, and his efficiency in destroying idols. We should ask him
to help us apply this spirit in fighting the idol of sentimental
religiosity
in our souls, so that we might truly understand the lives of the saints,
follow their example, and become saints ourselves.
See pictures at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j046sdMartin11-11.htm
Saint Quote:
A slight sabre-cut will separate my head from my body, like the spring
flower which the Master of the garden gathers for His pleasure. We are all
flowers planted on this earth, which God plucks in His own good time: some
a
little sooner, some a little later . . . Father and son may we meet in
Paradise. I, poor little moth, go first. Adieu.
-Saint Theophane in a letter to his father just before his martyrdom
Bible Quote:
Every individual is capable of sin and every individual can by God's grace
repent of sin. As Jesus said in the parable about the rich man, "For God,
everything is possible."(Matt. 19:25-26)
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Prayers
Lord God of hosts, who didst clothe thy servant Martin the
soldier with the spirit of sacrifice, and didst set him as a
bishop in thy Church to be a defender of the catholic faith:
Give us grace to follow in his holy steps, that at the last we
may be found clothed with righteousness in the dwellings of
peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth
with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Almighty God our Heavenly Father, guide the nations of the
world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among
them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness, that they
may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
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