This morning we come to celebrate this Green Mass where we pray in a special way for those who have or are currently serving our nation in the military. Tomorrow our nation comes to celebrate Veterans Day where we come to honor those who have served our nation. Veterans Day also falls on the Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours who is the patron saint of soldiers. May Saint Martin of Tours pray for each of you that you may always be kept safe and continue to follow after God above all things.
Saint Martin of Tours gives this example by the way in which he lived his life on this earth. Saint Martin was required to join the cavalry at age 15. Eventually Saint Martin underwent his conversion from chasing after the ways of the world through his following of Caesar Julian in order to follow after the ways of Christ. As he is quoted: “I am the soldier of Christ: it is not lawful for me to fight.”
Therefore, we can see that Saint Martin of Tours knew where it was that he was headed within this life. For many of us we forget about where we are headed. When we lack a goal for which we are to work it is easy to get caught up in many practices along the way which are harmful. From our first reading we see that there were those who were so convinced of where they where headed that they would not break the Jewish dietary laws even when it meant that they would be put to death. If they had allowed themselves to give in to something like this then they would also compromise on everything.
As Christians we cannot walk down the buffet line and pick what we want to follow and don’t. The Church in her teachings is to accept the totality of what Christ taught and handed down to His apostles. It is like having the whole pie instead of simply taking a slice. Some of these teachings may be difficult for us to wrestle with, but that does not mean that we are to dismiss them because they are tough. In John 6:66 those present had everything before them in the form of Christ Jesus and yet we are told, “many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”
Instead of simply living for the here and the now we should look towards where we are headed especially if we are to find any inspiration when the road that has been set before us begins to get difficult. With this our Gospel passage comes to set our attention upon the Beatific Vision. As the Catechism defines it: “Those who die in God’s grace and friendship and are perfectly purified live for ever with Christ. They are like God for ever, for they see him as he is; face to face.” As was stated in our Gosep: “he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
