Daily Gospel Reflection
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November 11, 2023
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 very 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.”
My friend and I have an unusual mutual interest (at least for 20-year-olds). We love reading obituaries, and we often send one another obits of friends’ family members or distant acquaintances. This odd interest stems, I believe, from our desire to live an intentional and purposeful life serving God. We see beauty and inspiration in what God has done in and through Christ’s body in a well-lived life. Sometimes, I pause to wonder how our obituaries read in God’s eyes. Do they include what God values most?
Today, we’re reminded that only God knows our hearts and that often, what is praiseworthy in the eyes of the world is not what God values as most important. Our God cares about those acts that go unseen to others, where character is cultivated.
Recently, I reread my grandmother’s obituary. Though this life summary covered her nursing career and decades of service to her local church and community, it left out so much—staying up with me in the middle of the night when I was sick, crochet lessons, handwritten letters with newspaper clippings. If these are the moments I did see, I wonder how many more there were that no one knew about—those hidden acts of love that were a gift only for God.
The most important moments in life, the very small matters, rarely make obituaries. Today’s gospel passage tells us that God, who knows our hearts, looks not at what others most often applaud but at our faithfulness in the little things. While we hope that we live a life where our hearts and outward actions align, Jesus today reminds us that the path to a life well-lived—of serving him above all—begins with the small matters.
Prayer
Dear Lord, On this November 11th, we ask for an additional outpouring of grace and strength on all who have served in our armed forces. Only those who have served can understand the cost of time, sweat, and heart required to protect that which we cherish. May their sacrifices always be remembered and their hearts be filled with peace and love. Amen.
Saint of the Day

St. Martin of Tours is famous for sharing his cloak with a man who was begging in the cold, but his faithful life also included standing up to the Roman Caesar as a conscientious objector and his election as bishop by popular acclaim.
Martin’s father was a soldier, an officer in the Roman army, and the family relocated several times to accompany him on different assignments. Because Martin was the son of a veteran, at the age of 15, he was forcibly enlisted into the army, though he lived more like a monk than a soldier.
One day, during a severe winter, he met a poor man who was begging near the gate to the city. The man was almost naked and was trembling with cold. Martin felt called to help the man but had nothing with him. He drew his sword and cut his army cloak in two—wrapping himself in what was left and giving the beggar the other half.
That night, Martin had a dream in which he saw Jesus himself dressed in the half of the cloak that he had cut. “Martin has covered me with his garment,” he heard Jesus say. Martin had been learning the faith, but was not yet baptized—after that dream, he rushed to complete his initiation into the Church.
As a soldier, he was called upon to fight the barbarians in Gaul, but he refused. He appeared before Caesar before deployment and told him, “I am a soldier of Christ and it is not lawful for me to fight.” The emperor was furious and accused Martin of being a coward. Martin replied that he was willing to advance alone upon the enemy without any weapons. He was thrown into prison.
When he was released, he went to Poitiers, where St. Hilary—now a saint and doctor of the Church—was the bishop. Martin followed Hilary and joined his work in opposing heretical strains of the Christian faith.
After a great deal of travel, Martin wanted to pursue holiness in solitude. Hilary gave him a portion of land where he could live as a hermit. Others joined Martin there and he established a monastery. He lived there for 10 years, preaching through the region and working miracles.
In 371 the people of nearby Tours demanded that Martin become their bishop. He refused, so they tricked him: they invited him to the town to visit a sick person, and when he arrived, they kidnapped him and delivered him to the church, where other bishops were ready to ordain him. Martin was in poor shape—unkempt and wearing worn-out, humble clothes—and the bishops thought he was not fit for this role, but the people clamored for his ordination.
As bishop, Martin tried to live in a cell attached to the church but was often interrupted, so he moved to the countryside. Again, many others joined him there, so he established another monastery. He opposed paganism in the region, confronting idolatry, preaching, and working miracles to spread the faith. Many other signs and prophecies were attributed to Martin—he advocated for the imprisoned and begged for mercy for those awaiting execution.
Martin died of an illness in old age on Nov. 8, 397, and was buried on this date that year. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel and he is shown sharing his cloak in this stained glass image from the chapel in Geddes Hall.
St. Martin of Tours, generous soldier who saw Christ even in the poorest beggar—pray for us!