Dress to God's Word / "Liturgical Dress": Martin of Tours

November 11, 2014: St. Martin of Tours, Bishop / Veterans Day

'Sheep' tie bar: "Would you say to your servant back from tending sheep..." (gospel)

'Silverware' tie bar: 'Wait on me while I eat and drink.'" (gospel)

White shirt: color of St. Martin's memorial

'Flags, snowmen, and Christmas trees' tie: honoring our veterans as winter and Christmas approach

Listen

My tribute (To God be the glory)/ Crouch (preview of tomorrow's gospel)

(And don't forget music from Sunday and the surrounding days...)

Pope Francis homily

Resist temptations that distance us from service. Instead, like Jesus, serve without asking for anything. The parable of the unprofitable servant teaches us what Christian service means: it's is total, following the example of Jesus who came to serve, not be served. Christians who receive faith but don't carry it forward by serving lose strength and fertility and become Christians out for themselves, wasting things of the Lord.

Laziness distances us from service; it makes us lukewarm and comfortable and leads to selfishness. Many serve only to a point, but service means everything: worship, prayer, praise, serving others, to the very end, asking nothing in return. Be strong in this, like Jesus.

Don't try to take control. The Apostles distanced people so as not to disturb Jesus, so they could be at ease, taking control of the Lord's time and power to have him for themselves. They turned service into a power structure, as James and John's mother asked Jesus to put her sons in positions of power, and it still happens when Christians try to be masters of the faith, the Kingdom, and Salvation—but the Lord speaks to us about serving with humility, hope, and joy. Struggle against laziness, halfheartedness, control, and trying to becoming master (leading to arrogance, pride, treating people badly, feeling important...). The Lord gives us humility so we can say, "We're unprofitable servants," and hope....

Read

Ti 2:1-8, 11-14 Older men, be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance; older women, teach good, be reverent, not slanderers or addicts. Be a model to the young, with integrity, dignity, and sound speech. God's grace has appeared, saving us and training us to reject godless ways and to live temperately, and justly, awaiting the appearance of God' glory and our savior, who gave himself to deliver us and make us his own...

Ps 37:3-4, 18, 23, 27, 29 "The salvation of the just comes from the Lord." Trust in the Lord and do good. Take delight in the Lord, and he will grant you your heart’s requests. The Lord watches over the wholehearted and makes their steps firm....

Mulberry tree

Lk 17:7-10 “Would you say to your servant back from work in the field, ‘Come take your place at table,’ or ‘Make something for me to eat, wait on me, and eat when I'm finished'? When you've done what's been commanded, say, 'We're unprofitable servants; we've done our duty.’”

Reflect

Creighton: We so value youth, we often pooh-pooh our elders' experience. Some youths may not honor their elders because the elders haven't earned their respect. If we want youths to be self-controlled, we need to set good examples. The devil waits for us to shame and discredit each other. To model virtue, we need to trust God and uplift each other. We can’t model godly lives without God's grace. Jesus makes us eager to do good. Share your experience of trusting God during your struggles with someone younger who's struggling.

One Bread One Body: "Streetcar named Desire": Worldly desires can deform us and rob us of life. Be free in the Spirit, not enslaved by worldly desires.

Passionist: The gospel can rub us the wrong way: don't you reward faithful and hard work with a bonus or at least a compliment? ("I can live for two months on a compliment." —Twain) But the master gives the servant more work, not appreciation. We can't put God in our debt; we have no claim. When we do our best, it's what we're supposed to do as disciples. There's work to be done....

St. Martin of Tours

DailyScripture.net: Are you ready to give God your best at any cost? Who can satisfy the claims of love? God doesn't owe us anything but is ready to work in and through us; his love compels us to give our best. We must regard ourselves as servants; service of God and others is both a voluntary, free act and a sacred duty. True love is sacrificial, generous, and selfless. We can never outdo God's goodness or love.