Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop
Today is the feast day of Martin of Tours. He was a soldier who gave up fighting in the world to fight for Christ. He laid his weapons down and picked up spiritual tools to labor on behalf of Christ. As he was leaving his military career he told one of his commanders who was about to give him a bonus: “I have served you as a soldier; now let me serve Christ. Give the bounty to those who are going to fight. But now I am a soldier of Christ."
In the Gospel, Christ reminds us that we cannot serve two masters, we must choose who we will serve, who we will put first, and who gets our allegiance and our hearts. On this feast day, let us reflect on what we fight for most in this life and is Christ and the faith a part of that? Do we serve other things in this world besides Jesus and where might the Lord be calling us, like Martin of Tours, to make Christ our sole commander in all that we say, think, and do.