Hello, everyone! Heyo! Welcome back to Scattering Flowers with Elise and Miles, a podcast where we read the daily Gospels and the Saint of the Day.
Let’s get started! Today is Tuesday, November 11th, and the Gospel reading is Luke 17, 7-10, and the scripture to reflect on is Luke 17, 9.
Does he thank the servant because he did what was commended?
My dad loves to watch this show called This Old House.
Sometimes I watch it with him.
One episode we saw, they were working on a house in South Carolina, and they were trying to keep parts of this section of the house a certain way, because it used to belong to the slaves that worked for the original owners.
After watching it, I kind of got a little sad, because the part of the house was plain and one huge room that seemed like it would have been cold, and they didn’t even have a door to the house, so they would have to go all the way around the house to the outside, holding plates of food or dirty laundry to get back into the house to do their work.
Today’s Saint of the Day is Saint Martin of Tours.
He was born 316 and died 397.
He is a patron saint of Gaul, also known as modern-day France.
Martin first heard about Christianity from other soldiers in the ranks.
Their stories fascinated Martin, who was this king they talked about who willingly died for their sins.
Martin kept thinking about Jesus, even when he was sent far away from home to another part of the Roman Empire called Gaul.
Once, when Martin was patrolling the streets of the city, he saw a man shivering in the cold.
Martin thought of Jesus and what he said about taking care of the poor.
Martin tore his own soldier’s cloak in two and handed the other half to the man.
Soon after, Martin became a Christian.
Later, Saint Martin of Tours became a priest, but didn’t want to become a bishop.
The people of Tours loved him so much that they tricked him into it.
I bet it was a good prank! The idea of slavery makes me sad, but I don’t think Jesus meant it as in the reading from today.
Even though it was about servants, I think Jesus was helping us to understand that we are to have a high view of Jesus and make nothing of ourselves.
We can see ourselves as servants doing our duty, but if we don’t keep Jesus to that high level, we come in with our pride and think that we are doing something special for God.
Saint Martin became a disciple of Saint Hilary, and Saint Hilary gave him some land outside the city.
And there Martin established the first monastery in Gaul.
He probably would have remained there for the rest of his life.
But, by some quick trickery, he was made a bishop.
Martin was one of the first non-martyrs widely recognized for his holiness everywhere.
There’s even a relic of Saint Martin’s cloak! Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Thank you, God, for your grace and for the gifts you give.
Thank you for all that you do for us.
And help me to remember that whenever I give to someone in need, I’m giving to you, too.
Saint Martin of Tours, pray for us! Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
We’ll be back tomorrow scattering more flowers.
See ya!