Friday 11 th november 2022
St. Martin of Tours
(c.316 – 397)
He was born in the Roman province of Pannonia. He spent some time as a hermit on an island off the Ligurian coast and founded a monastery at Ligugé in western France. The famous story about St Martin is that while a soldier in Amiens he gave half of his military cloak to a beggar and later had a dream in which the beggar revealed himself as Christ. He died in 397.
Entrance Antiphon : Cf. 1 Sam 2: 35
I shall raise up for myself a faithful priest who will act in accord with my heart and my mind, says the Lord.
Collect
O God, who are glorified in the Bishop Saint Martin both by his life and death, make new, we pray, the wonders of your grace in our hearts, that neither death nor life may separate us from your love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : 2 John 1:4-9
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.
Psalm 118:1-2,10-11,17-18
R/ They are happy who follow God’s law.
- They are happy whose life is blameless, who follow God’s law! They are happy who do his will, seeking him with all their hearts.
- I have sought you with all my heart; let me not stray from your commands. I treasure your promise in my heart lest I sin against you.
- Bless your servant and I shall live and obey your word. Open my eyes that I may see the wonders of your law.
Gospel Acclamation : Heb 4:12
Alleluia, alleluia! The word of God is something alive and active: it can judge secret emotions and thoughts. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 17:26-37
Jesus said to the disciples: ‘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. ‘When that day comes, anyone on the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must not come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back either. Remember Lot’s wife. Anyone who tries to preserve his life will lose it; and anyone who loses it will keep it safe. I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed: one will be taken, the other left; two women will be grinding corn together: one will be taken, the other left.’ The disciples interrupted. ‘Where, Lord?’ they asked. He said, ‘Where the body is, there too will the vultures gather.’
Prayer over the Offerings
Sanctify these offerings, we pray, Lord God, which we joyfully present in honour of Saint Martin, so that through them our life may always be directed whether in tribulation or in prosperity. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon : Cf. Mt 25: 40
Amen, I say to you: Whatever you did for one of the least of my brethren, you did it for me, says the Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Grant to us who have been restored by this Sacrament of unity, O Lord, perfect harmony with your will in all things, that, just as Saint Martin submitted himself entirely to you, so we, too, may glory in being truly yours. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
A disciple once went to his teacher and asked him three steps towards spiritual growth. The master replied “awareness, awareness, awareness.” To be aware is to be conscious of what one is doing at every point in one’s life. The people living in the days of Noah and Lot lacked awareness. They were so engrossed in a life of debauchery that they did not know when Noah entered the ark or when Lot left the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. The day of the Son of Man will be so sudden that one may not have the time to put things right with God. It is the wisdom that comes from God that enables us to know what is expedient in our lives.