The Feast of Brother Martin de Poress, OP.

"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." (Philippians 2: 5 - 7).

Tuesday 3rd November 2020, 31st Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Martin de Poress (1579 - 1639). Martin de Poress, OP was a Dominican lay brother of mixed races. Born in Lima, Peru of a Spanish father and a black mother. His father gave Martin a decent education and His creator, the eternal Physician, endowed Martin with immense pharmaceutical and medical skills. He deployed these gifts in the service of the poor and animals.

Martin was not disgusted with the menial tasks he was alloted: cooking, cleaning and sweeping. He fed the unwanted and the hungry that came to the monastery looking for food. He cured the sick in the infirmary. He fed animals in the backyard.

Our key Scripture says that Christ Jesus humbled Himself before His Father and became obedient and accepted to die a shameful death on the Cross. For this reason, His Father promoted and bestowed a jewel crown of the name Jesus. The Father also made Jesus the First Born among His children.

Martin de Poress highly gifted and talented humbled himself and never raised his voice or showed off his skills. He accepted the humble place given to him by his brother Dominicans and worked cheerfully in the kitchen and as a doorkeeper. Even in these humble places, he still became the salt of the earth and the light of Christ. God blessed him with miraculous powers. After his death in 1639, the power of his intercession and miraculous power made Martin a favorite patron saint in the Church. I took Martin as my Confirmation name. 

St Martin de Poress pray for us.

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