Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours

Today's Mass Readings

Today's Gospel reading from St. Luke's Gospel can be a confusing one. Some might mistakenly take it to imply that we will not be asked to fellowship with God at the heavenly banquet table, that God is to be viewed as a tyrant master for Whom we serve as slaves. This image would be mistaken, and it would misunderstand what Jesus is telling His disciples today. Jesus is highlighting the issue of merit. None of us could ever merit what we receive in heaven. The heavenly banquet is a completely undeserved gift from God. It is more than we could ever merit on our own apart from God. But unlike the servants Jesus speaks of, God does invite us to fellowship with Him at the heavenly banquet.

Meanwhile, Paul had already suggested in his letter to the Philippians last week how we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling (phil 2:12). Today, in the letter to Titus he lays out what that means. He suggests that Christians shoulud be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance, not slanderers, not addicted to drink, teaching what is good, self-controlled, chaste, and good homemakers. Of course some of these values are suggested in the cultural milieu of Paul's society. Nevertheless, the values themselves are worth inculcating. After having done all these thing Jesus says, say, "‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.” (Lk 17:10).

So what is Jesus' point then? His point is that we should not respond to God as if we were worthy of the heavenly banquet. We are not worthy of heaven, we are not worthy of the Eucharist. We should expect nothing from God, to whom we do owe a great debt of service, of worship and of service to our fellows.

But God does welcome us to the heavenly banquet. We hear this call not only on our death beds, but also at every Eucharist. Let us, then, approach the Eucharist, and life in general, as a great and wonderful undeserved gift from God, who loves us as more than mere servants, but as His children. St. Martin of Tours was such a servant of God, and today is his memorial. Let us invoke him as an aid in living out this truth in our lives. For we are servants of God, but we are also daughters and sons of the King.

- Jeff Morrow