Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (25: 31-40) in which Jesus says, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me’. Afterwards, Fr Paul shares a little about St Martin of Tours whose memorial we celebrate today.

St Martin was born in the Roman province of Pannonia (approximating to the western half of modern Hungary) about the year 316 and was educated at Pavia in Italy. He was baptized, left the army and after spending some time as a hermit on an island off the Ligurian coast, founded a monastery in western France, where he lived a monastic life guided by St Hilary.

Later he was ordained priest and became bishop of Tours. In his actions he gave an example of what a good shepherd should be. He founded other monasteries, educated the clergy, and preached the Gospel to the poor. He died in the year 397.

A famous story about St Martin is that while he was a soldier in Amiens he gave half of his military cloak to a beggar and later had a dream in which the beggar revealed himself as Christ.

Today, Fr Paul invites us to pray,’ St Martin of Tours, pray for us!’

St Martin was a soldier and the famous story I have just shared with you tells us that he was a soldier at Amiens in France. Amiens is only 16 kilometers from Villers-Bretonneux where many Australians rest in peace at the military cemetery there. Today is remembrance day…at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month we might pause and remember them. Lest we forget.