Eade's Bedes (November 2008)
Reflections on St Martin
St. Martin was a somewhat complex man. Intelligent, passionate, full integrity, he lived in a time of great turmoil. He was born about the time that Constantine made Christianity legal. He died shortly before barbarians sacked Rome. He was born and died in the same month – November. Martin was a soldier who never used violence, and a man of means who largely used his resources to help the poor and downtrodden. He was a staunch Trinitarian when the dominant force was Arianism (an heretical teaching that claimed Christ was created and not eternal with God, therefore was less than God).
It was hard to take those positions. It made him seem strange to his peers, sometimes even to the point feeling threatened by him. He saw life in terms of service to God in Christ, and tried to shape his life to conform with Jesus, rather than following along with the conventional wisdom of the times. He bucked the “go along” attitude, because his integrity and conviction would not allow him to do so.
St. Martin trusted in God form all things. He turned from a secure comfortable existence to a monk’s cell, which was probably a cave in a chalk cliff. He was willing to do with less so others could have enough. He lived in without violence when violence was the norm. He found fulfillment in Christ rather than ‘the world.’
In the difficult times in which we live, St. Martin offers us an example that may well be worthy of our emulation.
