Their grandparents went to war

For many years, I accompanied the boys of the 1st Sackville Cub Pack to the Cenotaph for the commemoration of respect for those who had died in military sevice for the Country. To the boys, this was about events mostly in the time of their grandparents. Now, sadly, the events are as recent as today. If my grandchildren are going to remember war as something long ago, we need to begin to make that happen. On Remembrance Day, the Roman Catholic Lectionary recognizes Saint Martin of Tours, bishop with a Memorial day. One story of St. Martin who lived in the 4th century and who served as a soldier in a Roman guard, tells of his refusal to carry arms into battle. The day when this certainly would have resulted in his death on the battlefield the opponents sought a peace treaty. Today Luke brings us to the region between Samaria and Galilee, where the Samaritans people considered by the Jewish people as unclean lived. Jesus encounters and cures ten lepers. The one who returns to thank him is a Samaritan. Jesus proclaims that the faith of the unclean leper has saved him. I believe Richard Rohr would echo that our movement toward the Divine requires us to take the step, to act in faith. Isaiah 2 looks to the time when we “they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Those to whom war is personal, veteran, soldier, widow, widower, father, mother, son, daughter of those who serve, and those who die in service are the most ardent in the hope for the end of war. Perhaps Martin of Tours is the Saint for this day where we need the faith of the Samaritan to change our attitude toward war.