Martin was baptized into the Church at the age of 18. Just before a battle, Martin announced that his faith prohibited him from fighting. Charged with cowardice, he was jailed, and his superiors planned to put him in the front of the battle. However, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred, and Martin was released from military service at Worms.
He moved to a hermit’s cell near Tours. Other monks joined him, and a new house, Marmoutier, soon formed. He rarely left his monastery, but sometimes went to Trier to plead with the emperor for his city, his church, or his parishioners. Once when he went to ask lenience for a condemned prisoner, an angel work the emperor to tell him that Martin was waiting to see him; the prisoner was reprieved.
It has given me great joy to find that your children have been living the life of truth as we were commanded by the Father. I am writing now, dear lady, not to give you any new commandment, but the one which we were given at the beginning, and to plead: let us love one another.
To love is to live according to his commandments: this is the commandment which you have heard since the beginning, to live a life of love.
There are many deceivers about in the world, refusing to admit that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. They are the Deceiver; they are the Antichrist. Watch yourselves, or all our work will be lost and not get the reward it deserves. If anybody does not keep within the teaching of Christ but goes beyond it, he cannot have God with him: only those who keep to what he taught can have the Father and the Son with them.
‘As it was in Noah’s day, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating and drinking, marrying wives and husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in Lot’s day: people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but the day Lot left Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from heaven and it destroyed them all. It will be the same when the day comes for the Son of Man to be revealed.
My son has had the wonderful opportunity to learn and play 2 sports: table tennis and judo, although he has played the former for a much longer time. Since he started some 4 years ago, he has gone through so many sessions with coaches to hone his skills.
Last year, in a table tennis competition, my son came face to face with a player who was known for his ‘chopping’ skills. This involves playing the ball in a defensive way, ‘chopping’ the ball (with a strong backspin). Because he had never trained to play against such a player, my son’s coach spent a few minutes teaching him the strategy to play against such a player, focusing on the type of strokes to use. Guess what happened in this match?
Unsurprisingly, my son lost, and by quite a huge margin.
This happened mainly because of the lack of preparation. Following that competition, a lot more time was spent on preparing and training for future games against ‘choppers’ and while he still finds it challenging, my son is now much more prepared.
In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds us of what to expect at perousia, or during the time Christ returns. We need to be prepared, and not be caught off guard like some of the bridesmaids (Matthew 25).
Like many others, I am guilty of not keeping myself ready as well. In my mind, I somehow think and feel that Perousia would never happen during my lifetime; but this is a dangerous attitude. It is this similar attitude that the bridesmaids had as well, resulting in them missing the bridegroom.
Brothers and sisters, let us all pray that we always remain vigilant for when God calls on us.
Prayer: Lord, help us to keep our eyes upon You. Help us to be prepared for the day of your return, and for the time that we will meet you in heaven.
Thanksgiving: Thank you dear Jesus, for your repeated reminders to us to be always prepared, and for showing us the right things to do in order to do so. Amen!