Today’s saint offers us a lens through which we can interpret Jesus’s Gospel teaching. Martin of Tours was one of the early “confessors,” a model of holy life after the time of Christian persecution in the Roman Empire had passed. Although he desired to spend his life as a monk, Martin was called to serve as bishop of Tours, somewhat against his will. And once he began that ministry, he was kept quite busy, as if the Lord were constantly saying to him through the people, Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished. Of course, the Lord did not ask anything more of Martin than he would of himself; after all, there were times in his life when Jesus and his disciples were too busy even to eat (Mark 3:20; 6:21).
Perhaps in our own daily duties—whether in family, in our religious community, in our work, or in our apostolate—we can keep in mind the example of our Lord and of so many holy ones like Saint Martin, who saw in their toil a labor of love. And let us ask for the grace of fidelity in these labors of love, so that when we meet the Lord, we can say with the saints, "We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do."