Homily, 11-11-24; Memorial of Memorial of St. Martin of Tours:
In the lengthy introduction to his letter to Titus, St. Paul refers to himself as a slave of God. He is a slave because he is trying to be totally obedient to Jesus Christ who sent him out to be an apostle to the Gentiles. Being a slave is bad when you are forced into against your own will. But when you freely accept being a slave it is something of great virtue.
St. Martin, who we celebrate today, followed much in Paul’s footsteps as a slave of God. He devoted his whole life to service to the Church. And at the end of his life, when he was worn down and frail, his flock begged him not to abandon them. But, as a slave, he turned the decision back to God saying: “Lord, if your people still need me, I am ready for the task; your will be done.”
Being a slave does not have a very good connotation in our society today. Everyone wants to be free to do what they want. I used to help Jenni as she served as a coordinator for people making their Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary according to the St. Louis de Montfort method. In the consecration prayer there is imagery of slavery that many people found difficult to accept. In the beginning of the prayer we thank Jesus for being a slave to save us from slavery to Satan saying: “I thank you for having emptied yourself in assuming the condition of a slave to set me free from the cruel slavery of the evil one.” But the stumbling block for folks was when they had to commit to being slaves themselves saying: “I choose you, Mary, as my Mother and Queen. I surrender and consecrate myself to you, body and soul, as your slave, with all that I possess, both spiritual and material, even including the value of all my good actions, past, present, and to come.” To conclude the ceremony, I would bless small pieces of chain that Jenni gave the participants as reminders of their consecrations and willingness to be slaves. I have my small piece of chain attached to my scapular.
Jesus chose to be obedient to Mary. He freely accepted His Father’s will and was obedient to death, death on a cross. He put His Father’s will ahead of His own. Paul was obedient to Jesus who he came to know on the way to Damascus. He accepted Jesus’ will even though it caused him great suffering.
And St. Paul says that he accepted his role as slave “for the sake of the faith of God’s chosen ones and the recognition of religious truth, in the hope of eternal life.” St. Paul accepted slavery to lead us to the truth that Jesus taught him.
So the question for us is whether we are willing to give up slavery to sin, those sins that we confess over and over, and completely accept slavery to the truth—the truth taught to us by Jesus through scripture and the Magisterium of the Church. Are we willing to pick up our crosses and accept sufferings and inconveniences to be completely obedient to God’s will?