The Gospel for The memorial of St. Martin of Tours Bishop is taken from Luke 16th chapter, ninth through the fifth verse. Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones. And the person who is dishonest in small matters is also dishonest in great ones. If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?

If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours? No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. The Pharisees who loved money, heard all these things and sneered at him. And he said to them, you justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts.

For what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God. Jesus is making it clear that the Pharisees are living in the wrong world. They’re living in the world of power and money and esteem. They want to be seen as people of great importance, and yet their hearts are so far from what God wanted them to be. And so he uses a word that he rarely uses. He’s saying, esteem is an abomination.

That means there’s something about the part of us, the human part of us, that wants to be great and awesome in the eyes of others is a great obstacle to the kingdom. Foreign Closing Prayer Father, awaken us to the dignity and the beauty of each human being. Help us never to put others down and never to lift ourselves higher than we are. Give us wisdom to know the beauty of everything you’ve created and for us to feel the fullness of what you have done. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.