“Everything, even sweeping, scraping vegetables, weeding a garden and waiting on the sick could be a prayer. If it were offered to God” ~ St. Martin de Porres.
After celebrating the Church Triumphant and praying for the Church Suffering, it’s fitting November 3rd be Martin de Porres’ feast. He is the perfect example for us, the Church Militant, to look to. He encapsulates the function of the third state of the Church.
A servant of God and man.
Martin was born in Peru in 1579. He was a Dominican Lay Brother who did anything anyone needed. In my home parish, there is a statue of him holding a broom, with scissors in his pocket. Mice hug his feet, and there are loves of bread in his other hand. Martin was everything anyone needed him to be. He was a servant of God and man, serving as a physician, a gardener, janitor, barber, and baker. Martin lived a quiet life doing everything he could to serve his community. He has no big special story or miracle in his lifetime. Martin de Porres was a simple man who shows us how to be the Church Militant.
The Church Militant.
We are called the Militant because we are God’s military on earth. But as the apostles had to learn, the Messiah is not a general or a king. He is a servant, and so we as his soldiers must be servants too. Our function as the third state of the Church is to serve one another and take each other to Heaven.
The saints in Heaven are our inspiration. They deserve our honor. The saints are ready to pray with us that we too will join them in paradise.
The souls in purgatory are the souls we should fight for. They need our prayers. We have a responsibility to help them reach the beatific vision.
The faithful on earth are our brothers and sisters. We should be striving to lead each other to Heaven, no matter our backgrounds or beliefs. The world is a battlefield we are called to fight on. Martin knew that, and he showed us how to fight.
