Saint Martin de Porres, whose feast day we celebrate today, lived in times much like ours.
A native of Peru, he joined a local Dominican monastery at the age of 15, doing menial tasks to pay for his tuition. But his servant’s heart never left him.
He spent the final 25 years of his life caring for the sick and the dying.
When an epidemic broke out around him, for example, he went into the streets and welcomed the sick and homeless into the monastery.
He even carried a beggar covered with ulcers and sores into his room, offering him his bed.
Martin slept on the floor.
When one of his fellow monks, clearly uncomfortable with the presence of the sick around him, asked Martin why he insisted upon sharing his room with a man half-dead, Martin replied:
“Compassion, my dear brother, is preferable to cleanliness.”
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Martin’s example speaks clearly to all of the healthcare workers fighting on the frontlines – not only caring for COVID patients, but also those with cancer, the flu, heart conditions, and so on.
But what about the rest of us? How is the Lord inviting me to have a deeper sense of compassion on my neighbor?
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Maybe someone you love made a mistake and needs forgiveness.
Maybe a neighbor is overburdened and needs a helping hand.
Maybe a family member or a friend is confined to a nursing home and needs a phone call.
Or maybe we ourselves are in need of compassion.
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In every case, Martin reminds us that charity is preferable to selfishness; forgiveness is preferable to anger; humility is preferable to pride; and action is preferable to indifference.
Saint Martin de Porres, pray for us.
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Image credits: (1) livewell.church (2) St. Martin Apostolate
“Jesus said to the crowds: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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What will heaven be like?
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If only we could ask those who’ve gone before us.
The truth is, we just don’t know. But I’ll share an image with you that comforted my mother during her final days here on earth.
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In college, I travelled to the Grand Canyon with my buddies. When we first arrived at the Northern Rim Trail, I was speechless.
I’d never seen anything so vast, so wide, so colorful.
But after I adjusted to the breathtaking view, I reached out to put my arms around them.
Although the canyon never changed, somehow seeing it with my friends made it all the more beautiful.
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That, I believe, is what heaven is like.
When we first enter the Kingdom of God, I’m sure we’ll be overwhelmed by its beauty – how vast, how wide, how colorful it is.
But after our eyes adjust, we’ll reach out for our “buddies” – those whom we’ve journeyed with through life – because seeing the same place with our loved ones makes it more complete.
Heaven never changes, but, perhaps, our experience of it does. Every person added makes a unique difference.
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And so, my mother reaches out for me from the “Northern Rim Trail,” as it were. Although she’s safely and peacefully in the presence of God, being there with me will change her experience of it.
Since I’ve not arrived yet, she longs for me – she prays for me – in a way that she simply couldn’t here on earth.
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Imagine this incredible chain of waiting – of loving arms reaching out from heaven. Your loved ones and mine are among the “blessed,” who are waiting for the rest of us to come home.
When the last person shuffles into heaven from earth, that chain will be complete. We’ll join hands and, together, descend into the “canyon” – into the depths of God.
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Often, we dream of heaven being a place filled with Saints – gloriously crowned, bowed in humility, praising God with the angels.
But if you look at the picture up on the screen tonight, you’ll see a familiar, perhaps more accessible, picture. That, to me, represents all people from every place and time.
I see a father and his two sons. An elderly couple, perhaps married for a half-century. A middle-aged husband, his wife, and their daughter.
Then I think of the two-hundred people who’ve I’ve commended to the Lord during my priestly ministry: World War Two veterans who fought for peace; a grandmother and her four-year-old granddaughter, a father and his son.
People who were loved deeply, and often enough, left this world too soon.Â
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So, who do you see on those benches along the Northern Rim Trail?
“In my Father’s house,” Jesus says, “there are many dwelling places.”
A place for you. A place for me. A place for all those whom we remember this night.
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May they pray for us as we reach out for them – and they reach out for us – that our hearts may be filled with hope and the love of God, which alone can bring us the peace we need.
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So, what will heaven be like?
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I’m not sure. But something tells me, it’ll be even more beautiful than the Grand Canyon. And Mom will be there with Jesus, waiting to welcome me home.
Just as your loved ones will be there waiting for you.
There’s room for us all.
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Image credits: (1) Farmer’s Almanac (2) Grand Canyon Northern Rim Trail, Christopher Arndt (3) Ibid. (4) Unsplash
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Before celebrating a wedding, I always ask the engaged couple: “What is love?”
“If the two of you are preparing to love one another for the rest of your lives, then what is it? How would you define love?”
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Often their reactions are similar. It’s something like, “Sigh…. Umm…That’s a toughie.” Then they turn to each other with that look of, “You first!”
Love is something every human being desires to give and receive, but how do you define it?
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Some brides have said to me, “Love is a feeling of being complete.”
“Love is creating a safe space for each other to learn, to grow, and to make mistakes.”
Meanwhile, many grooms have quoted Owen Wilson in Wedding Crashers, “True love is your soul’s recognition of its counterpoint in another.”
It’s a romantic definition that sounds nice and gets them off of the hook!
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I think the best definition of love comes from William Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet.
One summer evening, as a young Juliet gazes down upon Romeo from her balcony, she says, “Romeo, the more I give to you, the more I seem to have.”
The more I give…the more I have.
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On the surface, Juliet seems to have everything a young girl could want: a healthy family, a palace to live in, and the blue blood of royalty running through her veins.
But without Romeo, she has nothing.
As Saint Paul says:
“If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal…If I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
It’s a scary truth to accept, but the more we give, the more we have. And, conversely, the less we give of ourselves, the less we have.
This is why, the Gospel tells us today, love is the fulfillment of religion.
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I believe God has written this truth – the more we give, the more we have – into all of creation. Everything in this world is designed to give itself away.
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For example, if you wander behind this church into our backyard, what do you see?
The sun does not shine on itself; it gives its light away, brightening and warming the earth.
Trees do not eat their own fruit; they offer it for the nourishment of others. Meanwhile, their branches reach for the heavens while growing leaves, offering others shade from the noonday heat.
Rivers do not drink their own water. Flowers release their fragrance, even after their plucked.
Creation is meant to give itself away.
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You and I are no different.
The more we give, the more we have.
So, how do I give myself away? Think about this in the context of marriage, parenting, faith, friendship, or ministry.
How do we offer ourselves to others?
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It’s the newlywed who carries his bride’s Amazon packages up three flights of stairs.
It’s the wife, who after fifty years of marriage, cares for her husband, who can no longer care for himself.
It’s the young mother who shows up at 7 am on a Monday morning to cook Bolognese in the soup kitchen for people she’ll never meet.
It’s the person standing in front of you or behind you, who promised to pray for you at the beginning of this Mass.
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Before celebrating a wedding, I always ask couples one question: “What is love?”
It can be hard to define – and, sometimes, even harder to live. But the more we give ourselves away – in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health – the happier we become.
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Image credits: (1) What is Love?, Slide Share (2) Deseret News (3) (4) Ignatian Solidarity Network
