SERVING THE LIVING GOD

SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS, BISHOP

Wis 13:23-3:9; Ps 34:2-3,16-19; Lk 17:17-10

Servants in the Temple

Continuing from the comment we made in our reflection yesterday, the knowledge or revelation that God made us to be His dwelling place ought to swell our heads, for it is no mean thing to contain His divine Majesty. God is exceedingly holy and incomprehensible, and that he made us to be his dwelling place points to the mystery that we are. But the mystery of our human nature is not a stand-alone mystery, for it is a mystery only in relation to the mystery of God. Our nature is a mystery as a container of the great mystery of the Godhead. Our relationship with God is defined by God’s intention or will to make us like Him, meaning our nature can contain any creature and still remain unknown and unfulfilled. Our insatiable desire for vice and sinful pleasure stems from the mystery of our nature as a temple of God. Because our souls are thrones of God, no demon can fulfil the aspirations of a human soul or satisfy its desires; only God can. The evil one explores this unfathomable abyss within each of us in an attempt to sink us into unthinkable vices and demonic cravings. The knowledge of the abyss within us ought to make us wary of ourselves and our desires for passing pleasures, never to give rein to our sinful desires.

The truth we explained yesterday about our nature is confirmed by the scripture. “God made man imperishable, he made him in the image of his own nature; it was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world, as those who are his partners will discover.” A deep understanding of our nature as the throne and temple of God is also a great anchor for a virtuous or God-seeking soul. Understanding our wretchedness and misery without God helps us to humbly wait on God to purify and prepare us for his indwelling in us. The awareness of our inability to help ourselves in our sinfulness helps foster in us the humble disposition that is a solid foundation for professing faith in God's word and reconstructing the temple of God within us. The work belongs to God alone; what is ours is this humble disposition and willingness to cooperate with God at all times for our purification and illumination. Hence, Wisdom continues: “But the souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God; no torment shall ever touch them. In the eyes of the unwise, they did appear to die, their going looked like a disaster, their leaving us, like annihilation; but they are in peace.” Virtues, as we noted yesterday, come from our faith in the word of God, for they are pillars of the spiritual temple within us; they arise as the river of grace and Spirit flows from the altar of sacrifice of the Son of Man in us to all we do. The sacrifice manifests as afflictions to others beholding us.

The psalmist gives us the refrain of the virtuous who have learnt to worship God within, as the angels do on high. “I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise always on my lips; in the Lord my soul shall make its boast. The humble shall hear and be glad.” Our understanding that God does all the work within us through His word helps us to imbibe the right attitude our Lord proposes to us in the Gospel. “Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, Come and have your meal immediately”? Would he not be more likely to say, “Get my supper laid; make yourself tidy and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink yourself afterwards”? This was the attitude of the humble servant of God, Saint Martin of Tours. He was born in the Roman province of Pannonia, now part of Hungary, about 316 and educated at Pavia in Italy. He was baptised, left the army and lived as a hermit off the Ligurian coast. He founded a monastery at Liguge in western France, guided by St. Hilary. He was ordained a priest and became the bishop of Tours. He was a good shepherd. He founded monasteries, educated the clergy, and preached the Gospel to the poor. He died in 397. The famous story of his conversion has it that, as a soldier, he gave half of his cloak to a poor beggar, who later revealed himself to be Christ in his dream.

Let us pray: O God, who are glorified in the Bishop Saint Martin both by his life and death, make new, we pray, the wonders of your grace in our hearts, that neither death nor life may separate us from your love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.