Today is both Veteran’s Day
and the memorial of St. Martin of Tours,
a 4th-century monk and bishop
who was himself a veteran,
though, according to the accounts of his life,
a highly unusual one.
As a young soldier he gave half of his cloak to a beggar,
only later to have a dream in which he saw Christ,
now clothed in the half-a-cloak,
telling him that in clothing that beggar
Martin had clothed Jesus himself.
This prompted Martin to be baptized
and, eventually, after his baptism, to tell the emperor,
“Up to now I have served you as a soldier:
allow me now to become a soldier to God…
I am the soldier of Christ:
it is not lawful for me to fight” (Life of St. Martin ch. 4).
When he was accused of cowardice for this,
he volunteered to stand unarmed
on the front line of battle.
In God’s providence, the enemy army surrendered
before Martin had to face such a trial.
An unusual veteran indeed.
and the memorial of St. Martin of Tours,
a 4th-century monk and bishop
who was himself a veteran,
though, according to the accounts of his life,
a highly unusual one.
As a young soldier he gave half of his cloak to a beggar,
only later to have a dream in which he saw Christ,
now clothed in the half-a-cloak,
telling him that in clothing that beggar
Martin had clothed Jesus himself.
This prompted Martin to be baptized
and, eventually, after his baptism, to tell the emperor,
“Up to now I have served you as a soldier:
allow me now to become a soldier to God…
I am the soldier of Christ:
it is not lawful for me to fight” (Life of St. Martin ch. 4).
When he was accused of cowardice for this,
he volunteered to stand unarmed
on the front line of battle.
In God’s providence, the enemy army surrendered
before Martin had to face such a trial.
An unusual veteran indeed.
Martin then became a monk and later a bishop,
serving his flock with great dedication,
especially the poor and the suffering,
for he knew from experience
that in serving them he was serving Christ.
His friend and biographer, Sulpitius Severus,
writes that, as the end of his life approached,
Martin placed his life in God’s hands:
“unconquered by toil, and unconquerable even by death…
he neither feared to die nor refused to live” (Ep. 3).
Martin, I dare say, had learned
the great secret of the Christian life:
to know that in life or in death
we belong to the Lord.
Such faith frees us from fear,
so that we can pour ourselves into
the life to which God calls us,
and we can pour ourselves out
even into the mystery of death.
I think of St. Martin and his example of courage
as I ponder the newly released Vatican report
on the case of former-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick,
a cleric who rose to great heights of power
and who used this power to abuse a series
of seminarians, young men, and boys,
aided and abetted by others in the Church
who turned a blind eye to his crimes.
I think of the contrast
between St. Martin and these false shepherds.
I think of the contrast between his courage
and their cowardice,
between his dedication to the people entrusted to him,
and their use of their office to satisfy their own lusts,
between his ability to see Christ in the least of these
and their blindness to the abuse of the defenseless.
I have no ready explanation for such evils,
nor any easy remedy for what ails our Church,
nor words sufficient to comfort
the victims of clerical abuse.
But we do have the promise
of Christ’s enduring love
and power to heal,
and we have the intercession
of St. Martin, Christ’s brave soldier.
Let us ask him to pray for justice
for victims of abuse,
and conversion for our Church’s pastors,
that they might serve Christ’s flock
with courage, dedication, and insight,
and may God have mercy on us all.
nor any easy remedy for what ails our Church,
nor words sufficient to comfort
the victims of clerical abuse.
But we do have the promise
of Christ’s enduring love
and power to heal,
and we have the intercession
of St. Martin, Christ’s brave soldier.
Let us ask him to pray for justice
for victims of abuse,
and conversion for our Church’s pastors,
that they might serve Christ’s flock
with courage, dedication, and insight,
and may God have mercy on us all.
