November 11, 2026
Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop
Lectionary: 493
Reading 1
Beloved:
Remind them to be under the control of magistrates and authorities,
to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise.
They are to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate,
exercising all graciousness toward everyone.
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded,
slaves to various desires and pleasures,
living in malice and envy,
hateful ourselves and hating one another.
But when the kindness and generous love
of God our savior appeared,
not because of any righteous deeds we had done
but because of his mercy,
he saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our savior,
so that we might be justified by his grace
and become heirs in hope of eternal life.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there
is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
In all circumstances, give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying,
“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”
And when he saw them, he said,
“Go show yourselves to the priests.”
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
“Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111126.cfm
Commentary on Titus
3:1-7
Today, our third and last reading from the Letter to Titus
consists of some general instruction for church members. The living of a full
Christian life touches not only on our direct relations with God, but also
permeates even the smallest actions of our day and the role we play in the
everyday world.
It is not right for us to make a division between what is
‘religious’ and what is ‘secular’ in our lives. Christianity, as a vision of
life, touches everything. We live, as the Jesuit philosopher theologian
Teilhard de Chardin put it, “in a milieu divin“, everything around us is
touched by God.
Today’s Letter urges the Christian community to obey
government officials and representatives. As ‘citizens of heaven’ (see Phil
3:20), some of the early Christians had problems about this, and it seems to be
reflected in the scene where Jesus is asked whether it is lawful to pay taxes
to Caesar or not.
The answer is ‘Yes’ to both: give to God what belongs to God
and to Caesar what belongs to Caesar (the ruling authorities). Although
believers are indeed ‘citizens of heaven’, they should also submit themselves
to the moral and legitimate demands of an earthly government and co-operate
actively in promoting the well-being of the community.
Of course, everything belongs to God and that is the bottom
line. But we also love and serve God when we work with conscientious people in
promoting the overall well-being of the community (including the responsible
paying of taxes). In fact, we have a Christian duty to do so. For Christians to
abdicate their responsibilities to the wider community and lock themselves into
an isolated ghetto would not be consistent with the love we are asked to have
for all.
At the same time, we need to adopt what Cardinal Jaime Sin
of Manila once described as “critical cooperation” with any government or its
officials. All forms of injustice and corrupt use of power must be resisted and
denounced. Obedience here would be tantamount to cooperation. As has been said,
for evil to prevail all that is needed is that good people remain silent.
Some of the other pieces of advice Paul gives Titus are
fairly general:
- to
be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
- to
speak evil of no one [even if true],
- to
avoid quarreling,
- to
be gentle,
- to
show every courtesy to everyone.
This is “love your neighbour” being carried out in practice
and the advice is as relevant as it ever was. Sometimes we are not very
different from non-Christians in this area.
The Christians are reminded that there was a time, before
they became Christian, when their own behaviour left much to be desired, when
they shared many of the vices of their fellow-Cretans:
…we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray,
slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy,
despicable, hating one another.
At that time, they still lived in an atmosphere of
wickedness and hostility, full of hate for others and quite obnoxious
themselves.
Perhaps we could look into our own lives and see if any of
these things are in ourselves:
- Ignorance
in the content and meaning of our Christian faith: How many Christians,
especially Catholics, have very little familiarity with the Scriptures,
both Old and New Testaments? How many could, if asked by a non-Christian,
give a coherent and persuasive account of what Christianity really is?
- Disobedience,
in the sense of lacking in real respect for authority, both in civil and
church society: Obedience does not mean subservience; it means working
together with civil and religious leaders for the well-being of all. And,
as we mentioned, that working together may mean at times challenging and
calling in question—but not copping out.
- Slaves
to various passions and pleasures: We live today in a very materialist,
consumerist and hedonistic society. It has become a kind of fashion to
live in this way. But as we see again and again, pleasure is not a real
source of happiness; it is often quite the contrary. As Christians we need
to be able to show a viable alternative where happiness is to be found in
other ways of living.
- Hating
and being hateful: Many people’s lives are consumed by hatred, resentment,
anger and even violence towards others. Such people are not attractive and
can only really find company in others equally full of hate and rancour.
At the bottom of such feelings there is fear. In the New Testament, the
opposite of love is not hatred, it is fear. And true love casts out fear;
these states of being are incompatible.
Let us then try to be more loving people, allowing God’s
love to work in us and through us so that the deep-down fear gradually seeps
away.
In the second half of the reading, we are reminded that all
that God has done for us in Jesus Christ was in no way a kind of reward for our
faithfulness to him. We have been saved and liberated for no other reason than
the deep compassion that God had for us when we were still immersed in our sin.
Our liberation came, rather:
…when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior
appeared…he saved us…not because of any works of righteousness that we had
done, but according to his mercy…
The word “loving” here translates the Greek philanthropia,
that is, love for all mankind.
We were washed clean by the waters of Baptism and made a new
person in the power of God’s Spirit working in and through us:
This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus
Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become
heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
We have been made right with God by a purely gratuitous
display of his love. We have now become the Father’s heirs, sharing with Jesus
our Brother and Lord life without end. To remain in that state, it is up to us
to remain totally open to God’s love and allow him to transform us to become
daily more like him in all our words, actions and relationships.
Commentary on Luke
17:11-19
This story of Jesus’ compassion is unique to Luke. We are
told that Jesus was travelling on the borders of Galilee, the northern province
of Palestine, and Samaria, which lies between Galilee and the southern province
of Judea. Jesus is making for the Jordan valley on his way south to Jericho,
one of his last stops before reaching his final destination in Jerusalem.
Just as he entered a village he was met by ten lepers (it
does not specify whether they were men or women). As lepers they were not
allowed to come in close proximity with other people. This was because it was
(rightly) known that the condition could be transmitted to others by physical
contact—though we know now it needed to be fairly prolonged contact. (Remember
how the famous Fr Damien, the Apostle to the Lepers, eventually contracted the
disease through his ministering to a colony of lepers on the island of Molokai
in Hawaii.)
Because of their dreaded disease, such people were outcasts,
condemned to live their lives on the fringes of society. The tragedy is that,
given the limited medical knowledge of the times, many such people were almost
certainly not suffering from leprosy at all, but from some other
non-contagious, perhaps chronic skin disease.
So, calling Jesus from a safe distance, they cried out:
Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!
Jesus simply told them to go and show themselves to the
priests. And, while they were on their way, they were all cured. Presumably
they continued on their way to see the priests who would give them an official
declaration of being ‘clean’ so that they could once again legitimately return
to life in society. A major element of their healing was their re-integration
into society.
Just one of the cured lepers then came back to Jesus
“praising God with a loud voice”, and in deep gratitude fell at the feet of
Jesus:
And he was a Samaritan.
These words are loaded with meaning, for it is presumed that
the rest were Jews. In the first place, Jews and Samaritans could not stand
each other, and the Jews tended to look down on the Samaritans as ungodly and
unclean. But in the misfortune of their leprosy, these Jews and Samaritans,
rejected by both their own peoples, found common support in each other’s
company.
But now that they are cured, only one of them comes to say
thanks and he is still—in the eyes of the Jews—an outcast. Jesus, looking
around at the Jews in his company, expresses surprise:
Were not ten made clean? So where are the other nine?
The only one to come back and give thanks was a despised
foreigner.
This unexpected action is also seen in another of Luke’s
stories, which we reflected on earlier, that of the so-called ‘good Samaritan’.
Today, in this Gospel reading is another good Samaritan. And, of course, there
is a third—the Samaritan woman who is featured prominently in John’s Gospel
(John 4:4-42).
To the man in today’s Gospel, Jesus says:
Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.
That “get up” or ‘rise up’, which Jesus often uses with
those he heals, has echoes of resurrection and entry into new life—a life of
wholeness brought about by the man’s trust in Jesus and his acknowledgment of
the source of his healing.
In the context of Luke’s Gospel, the story prepares us for
developments in the growth of the early Church, described in Luke’s Acts of the
Apostles. This is because, as the early Christians (all of them Jews) flee from
persecution in Jerusalem, the people of Samaria are among the first to accept
Jesus as Lord and to become followers of the gospel. On the other hand, many of
the Jews in Jerusalem remained closed to Jesus’ message and call.
We, too, must never give in to a temptation to exclude any
people as possible followers of Christ. We must be ready to reach out to all,
even the most unlikely. None must be treated as outsiders or untouchables, even
those who show themselves extremely hostile to the gospel.
And while there may not be any real lepers in our own
society, today is an occasion for us to reflect on who could be regarded as
lepers, outsiders, outcasts and untouchables among us at the present time. I
might also consider whether I personally treat any person as an outsider in my
home, in my work or in other places where I meet people. Such exclusion is
totally contrary to what we celebrate in the Eucharist.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary
Wednesday,
November 11, 2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
God of power and mercy, protect us from all harm. Give us
freedom of spirit and health in mind and body to do your work on earth.
We ask this through our Lord
Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 17: 11-19
Now it happened that on the way to Jerusalem Jesus was
travelling in the borderlands of Samaria and Galilee.
As he entered one of the villages, ten men suffering from a
virulent skin-disease came to meet him. They stood some way off and called to
him, “Jesus! Master!
Take pity on us.”
When he saw them he said, “Go and show yourselves to the
priests.” Now as they were going away they were cleansed.
Finding himself cured, one of them turned
back praising God at the top of his voice and threw himself prostrate at the
feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan.
This led Jesus to say, “Were
not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they? It seems that no one
has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner.” And he said to the
man, “Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.”
Reflection
In today’s Gospel, Luke gives an account of
the cure of the ten lepers, of whom only one thanked Jesus. And he was a
Samaritan! Gratitude is another theme which is very typical of Luke: to live in
an attitude of gratitude and to praise God for everything which we receive from
Him. This is why Luke says many times that people were admired and praised God
for the things that Jesus did (Lk 2: 28, 38; 5: 25, 26; 7: 16; 13: 13; 17: 15:
18; 18: 43; 19: 37; etc). The Gospel of Luke gives us several canticles and
hymns which express this experience of gratitude and of thanksgiving (Lk 1:
46-55; 1: 68-79; 2: 29-32).
•
Luke 17: 11: Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. Luke
recalls that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, passing through Samaria to go
to Galilee. From the beginning of his journey (Lk 9: 52) up until now (Lk 17:
11), Jesus walks through Samaria. It is only now that he is leaving Samaria,
passing through Galilee in order to reach Jerusalem. That means that the
important teachings given in these last chapters from the 9th to the 17th were
all given on a territory which was not Jewish. To hear that must have been a
great joy for Luke’s communities, which were from Paganism. Jesus the pilgrim
continues his journey toward Jerusalem. He continues to eliminate the
differences or inequalities which men have created. He continues on the long
and painful road of the periphery toward the capital city, from a religion closed
up in itself toward an open religion which knows how to accept others as
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same Father. This openness is
manifested also in the acceptance given to the ten lepers.
•
Luke 17: 12-13: The calling out of the lepers.
Ten lepers went close to Jesus; they stopped at a distance and called out:
“Jesus, Master! Take pity on us!" The leper was a person who was excluded;
was marginalized and despised; and had no right to live with the family.
According to the law of purity, lepers had to go around with torn clothes and
uncombed hair, calling out: “Impure! Impure!” (Lev 13: 45-46). For the lepers
to look for a cure meant the same thing as to seek purity in order to be able
to be integrated again into the community. They could not get close to others
(Lev 13: 45-46). Anyone who was touched by a leper became unclean and that
prevented him from being able to address himself to God. By means of crying out
they expressed their faith in Jesus who could cure them and give them back
purity. To obtain purity meant to feel again accepted by God and be able to
address him to receive the blessings promised to Abraham.
•
Luke 17: 14: The response of Jesus and the cure.
Jesus answered: "Go and show yourselves to the priest!” (cf. Mk 1: 44).
The priest had to verify the cure and bear witness to the purity of the one who
had been cured (Lev 14: 1-32). The response of Jesus demanded great faith on
the part of the lepers. They had to go to the priest as if they had already
been cured, when in reality their bodies continued to be covered with leprosy.
But they believed in Jesus’ word and went to the priest. And it happened that,
along the way, the cure took place. They were purified. This cure recalls the
story of the purification of Naaman from Syria (2 Kgs 5: 9-10). The prophet
Elisha orders the man to go and wash in the Jordan. Namaan had to believe in
the word of the prophet. Jesus orders the ten lepers to present themselves to
the priests. They should believe in the word of Jesus.
•
Luke 17: 15-16: Reaction of the Samaritan. “One
of them, seeing himself cured, turned back praising God at the top of his
voice; and threw himself prostrate at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The
man was a Samaritan.” Why did the others not return? Why only the Samaritan?
According to the opinion of the Jews of Jerusalem, the
Samaritan did not observe the law as he should. Among the Jews there was the
tendency to observe the law in order to be able to merit or deserve or acquire
justice. Thanks to the observance, they already had accumulated merits and
credit before God. Gratitude and gratuity do not form part of the vocabulary of
the persons who live their relationship with God in this way. Perhaps this is
the reason why they do not thank God for the benefits received. In the parable
of yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus had formulated the same question: “Must he be
grateful to the servant for doing what he was told?” (Lk 17: 9) And the answer
was: “No!” The Samaritan represents the persons who have a clear conscience
that we, human beings, have no merits or rights before God. Everything is
grace, beginning from the gift of one’s own life!
•
Luke 17: 17-19: The final observation of Jesus.
Jesus observes: “Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they?
It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God except this
foreigner?” For Jesus, to thank the others for the benefit received is a way of
rendering praise that is due to God. On this point, the Samaritans gave a lesson
to the Jews. Today the poor are those who carry out the role of the Samaritan,
and, help us to rediscover this dimension of gratuity of life. Everything that
we receive should be considered as a gift from God who comes to us through the
brother and the sister.
The welcome given to the Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke.
For Luke, the place which Jesus gave to the Samaritans is the same as that
which the communities had to reserve for the pagans. Jesus presents a Samaritan
as a model of gratitude (Lk 17: 17-19) and of love toward neighbor (Lk 10:
30-33). This must have been quite shocking, because for the Jews, the
Samaritans or pagans were the same thing. They could have no access inside the
Temple of Jerusalem, nor participate in the worship. They were considered as
bearers of impurity, they were impure from birth, from the cradle. For Luke,
instead the Good News of Jesus is addressed in the first place to the persons
of these groups who were considered unworthy to receive it. The salvation of
God which reaches us through Jesus is purely a gift. It does not depend on the
merits of anyone.
Personal Questions
•
And you, do you generally thank persons? Do you
thank out of conviction or simply because of custom? And in prayer: do you give
thanks or do you forget?
•
To live with gratitude is a sign of the presence
of the Kingdom in our midst. How can we transmit to others the importance of
living in gratitude and in gratuity?
Concluding Prayer
Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing. In grassy
meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he leads me. (Ps 23: 1-2)
Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop
Martin, who became one of the most popular saints in
medieval Europe, was born in 316 in Savaria, Pannonia (now Szombathely,
Hungary). His father was a tribune (senior officer) in the Imperial Horse
Guard, a unit of the Roman army. He was stationed at Ticimum, Cisalpine Gaul
(now Pavia in Italy) and it was here that Martin grew up.
Already at an early age he had a desire to become a
Christian, although it was still very much a minority religion in Europe, and
began receiving instruction as a catechumen. At the age of 15, as the son of a
senior officer, he was expected to join the cavalry and was stationed near
Ambianensium civitas (now Amiens).
It is at this period of his life that occurred the event for
which he is best known and which became a favourite subject for artists. On
seeing an almost naked beggar at Amiens, he cut his own cloak in two and gave
one part to the beggar. This act of charity was followed that night by a dream
in which Christ appeared to him wearing the part of the cloak he had given
away.
The dream confirmed Martin in his Christian leanings and he
was baptized at the age of 18. He served in the military for another two years
until, just before a battle with the Gauls at Worms in 336, Martin determined
that his faith was incompatible with war. He was quoted as saying:
I am a soldier of Christ. I cannot fight.
He was charged with cowardice and jailed, but in response to
the charge, volunteered to go unarmed to the front line. Before his commanders
could challenge his offer, the enemy sued for peace. There was no battle and
Martin was discharged.
After this, Martin became a disciple of Hilary at Poitiers,
was baptized, and, after Hilary had been sent into exile, travelled to
Pannonia, Milan, and IlIyricum. When Hilary returned to Poitiers in 360, Martin
rejoined him and became a solitary hermit in Liguge, on a piece of land given
to him by Hilary. It was here that some disciples joined him and formed what
was the first monastery in Gaul. Martin remained a pioneer of the monastic
movement until he was made bishop of Tours in 372 by the popular demand of the
clergy and the people.
Even as a bishop, he continued to lead the very austere life
of a monk. At first, he lived in a cell near his cathedral church, but later in
Marmoutier, a monastery of 80 monks he founded facing Tours from the opposite
bank of the Loire River. He also established other monasteries which he saw as
an effective means for one of his objectives, the conversion of rural areas.
Prior to this, Christianity had been largely confined to urban areas (the Latin
word paganus means a ‘rural person’). Martin demolished temples built to
idols, cut down trees believed to be sacred, and visited the more remote areas
of his diocese on foot, by donkey, or by boat. During his 25 years as bishop,
he earned an increasing reputation in miraculously healing lepers and even of
bringing a dead man back to life.
He was also know for his involvement in doctrinal disputes.
His main targets were the followers of Priscillian, a Gnostic sect. Priscillian
was condemned by the Synod of Bordeaux in 384, having been already condemned by
Pope Damasus and St Ambrose. The sect appealed to the Emperor Maximus, but in
the end they were convicted of sorcery, then a capital offence, by the
emperor’s court at Trier in 386.
But Martin pleaded in Priscillian’s favour on the grounds
that heretical teaching was a matter to be handled by the Church, and not by a
secular court. Martin’s stand was not supported by many of his contemporaries.
When Priscillian was put to death, the first time a person had been executed
for heresy, his sect actually increased in numbers in Spain. It would continue
to survive until about the 6th century.
As Martin grew older and death was approaching, his people
asked him not to leave them. As a response to their plea he prayed:
Lord, if your people still need me, I do not refuse the
work; let your will be done.
He died at the age of 81 on 8 November, 397 at Candes, and
was buried at Tours on 11 November.
His cult spread rapidly not only because of his reputation
as a miracle-worker in life and after death, but also because of the Life of
St Martin written by his friend Sulpicius Severus. This became one of the
most popular books of the Middle Ages, comparable in influence with Athanasius’
Life of Antony, as a model for medieval hagiographers.
His cult in France is reflected in the 500 villages and 4,000
parish churches which are dedicated to him. His tomb became the principal place
of pilgrimage for the Franks, and was a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on
the road to Santiago de Compostela.
Outside of Gaul, churches were soon consecrated in his honour
at Rome, Ravenna, and later Chioggia. Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands all
revered him widely. In Britain, from early times, he was a patron of
churches—the most ancient being Canterbury (under Augustine) and Whithorn
(under Ninian). By 1800, 173 churches in Britain bore his name.
From the late 4th century to the late Middle Ages, much of
Western Europe, including Britain, engaged in a period of fasting beginning on
the day after St Martin’s Day, November 11. This fast period lasted 40 days,
and was, therefore, called Quadragesima Sancti Martini (the forty days
of St Martin). At St Martin’s eve and on the feast day, people ate and drank
heartily for the last time before beginning the fast. This fasting time would
later be called Advent by the Church.
In art, the most popular scene is that of dividing his cloak
to clothe a beggar, but there are also innumerable other representations in
illuminated books and in stained glass at Tours, Chartres, Beauvais, and
Bourges (in France) and York, Chalgrave and Nassington (in England). His
emblems are either a globe of fire over his head seen while he celebrated Mass,
or (from the 15th century) a goose, whose migration often coincides with his
feast. ‘St Martin’s Summer’ is a spell of fine weather which sometimes occurs
around his feast.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/f1111s/
Deus caritas est!
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