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Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Saint Martin de Porres, whose feast day we celebrate today, was known for his overwhelming sense of compassion – perhaps a byproduct of the pain and discrimination he experienced as a child.
Born in 16th century Peru, Martin was the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed African slave. Raised in poverty after his father abandoned his family, Martin faced unrelenting discrimination for being poor and bi-racial.
But his life was forever changed when, at the age of 24, the prior of the local Dominican monastery allowed Martin to enter, taking vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and prayer.
He was never ordained a priest, but Martin spent the rest of his life as a religious brother, serving in the infirmary, caring for the sick and the dying. He also founded an orphanage and hospital for abandoned children.
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Vignettes describing Martin’s compassion can still speak to us today.
For example, when an epidemic broke out around him, and the other monks quarantined themselves in their cells out of fear of becoming ill, Martin went out into the streets and brought the sick and homeless into the infirmary.
He even carried a beggar covered in sores into his room, offering the man his bed.
Martin slept on the floor.
When asked why he was bringing germs into the monastery, Martin replied, “Compassion, my dear friend, is preferable to cleanliness.”
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While we may not find ourselves in Martin’s position, we can all embody his mantra, “compassion is preferable to cleanliness,” in some form.
Generosity is preferable to greed; selflessness is preferable to selfishness; love is preferrable to hatred; and action is preferable to indifference.
May we find some way to be compassionate towards a neighbor today.
Saint Martin de Porres, pray for us.
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Image credits: (1) Pinterest (2) shinzoo.com (3) anastpaul.com