Word to the Wise
Saturday, November 3, 2018 - Saturday in the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
[Phil 1:18b-26 and Luke 14:1, 7-11]Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, 'My friend, move up to a higher position.'" [Luke]
NOVEMBER 3 ST. MARTIN DE PORRES, O.P.- patron saint of social justice and patron saint of the Southern Dominican Province.
[Philippians 1:18b-26 and Luke 14:1, 7-11. These scriptures are the ones given in the general calendar. They will vary at Dominican locales for this feast.]
Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, 'My friend, move up to a higher position.'" [Luke]
Today the entire Order of Preachers [Dominicans] celebrates the feast of a humble brother who served in some of the most menial tasks of the large priory in Lima, Peru, where he had been taken by his father as a youth. Because he was the son of a Spanish solder and a freed slave woman, he could not aspire to clerical status. The institutionalized racism of the era would not have permitted him to do that. Yet, he is the one from that priory whose life and holiness is celebrated today. God and the church have said to him, "My friend, move up to a higher position."
Martin's "front door" ministry is his trademark. He was the "porter" of the priory, which meant he was part janitor and part doorkeeper. He lived in a closet under a stairwell near the front door. He greeted and served anyone who came to that door without discrimination, finding food or medicine especially for the poorest who knocked on the door. His statues often portray him with a broom and with mice at his feet. One story has it that he may a deal with the mice that he would feed them if they stayed out of the priory!
Martin serves as a reminder to us of welcoming those who come to us for help. Hospitality of his kind exemplifies what the Lord speaks of in Matthew 25:31-45, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me." Nowadays he might be arrested for doing that in our country! We celebrate St. Martin De Porres' life in our order because he was (and is) a beacon for challenging any form of institutionalized or legalized discrimination. Please pray today for our Southern Dominican Province, for which St. Martin De Porres is the patron that we may be equally beacons for Jesus' words in our preaching and our actions. AMEN
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