WEDNESDAY OF THE THIRTY-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY. TIME NOVEMBER 3, 2021 ST MARTIN DE PORRES

MASS READINGS

A reading from the holy Gospel Lk 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

REFLECTION

"everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12)

St Martin de Porres was an illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed slave. He lived all his life in Lima, Peru. St Rose of Lima was his friend.

As a biracial person he suffered bigotry and prejudice. When he applied to become a friar, the Dominicans refused him because of his heritage. He, therefore, joined as a servant at the age of 15.

There was no chore too big that he did not accomplish with great detail and love. He was a barber, almsgiver, farm laborer, and a curer of the sick. Eventually he broke the racial bonds and became a full Dominican lay brother.

He was known to be compassionate to the sick and suffering. Once he nursed a beggar full of ulcers in his own bed saying, “Compassion, my dear Brother, is preferable to cleanliness. Reflect that with a little soap I can easily clean my bed, but even with a torrent of tears I would never wash from my soul the stain that my harshness toward the unfortunate soul would create.“

He always prayed to God for assistance when he would go out to beg for money, showing his full dependence on God. He worked hard achieving God’s purpose in his life.

Whippings, done on himself for reparations for his own sins and those who had not converted, were performed daily.

He died on November 3, 1639. He was canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1962.

God bless you