A Saint for our Times

ONE

Our Lord offers us the Blessed Virgin Mother and the Communion of Saints as miraculous intercessors and allies in our battle against sin and Satan. Our faith confirms the power of heavenly intervention in the life of the Church and in these Rosary reflections we have many times offered stories on the power of miraculous intervention by Our Lady and the saints in the fight against the devil,  especially when odds were stacked against the forces of good. The book of Hebrews reminds us that “since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…”(Heb 12:1.) Marathoners often place family members and friends at distinct points of the race—usually the most grueling—for support and encouragement so that they don’t quit or fail but carry on in their struggle. God does the same for us with the saints and Our Lady whom He sends to us at distinct points in our life, usually at the most grueling, to encourage us, sometimes even with miracles, so that we don’t quit or fail. Lord, raise our hearts and minds to our heavenly allies to encourage, intercede, and offer miracles when needed so that we may not faint nor fail in our struggle against this present darkness, but may fight with the knowledge of victory burning in our hearts.

TWO

My family has a devotion to one such saint known for his miraculous intercession in the battle against evil, especially when it comes to needs caused by the effects of sin. His name is St. Martin de Porres, whose Feast Day happens to be today. Poverty, illness, abandonment, and persecution were all part of Martin’s life due to the sinful behavior of his father. Thus, the Lord has decided to work particular graces through him to help people who suffer from these same ailments.  A saint of the 16th/17th Century, Martin was born of a Spanish noble father and half African half native Peruvian mother. His father abandoned Martin and his mother into a life of poverty. As bi-racial and born out of wedlock, Martin suffered terrible cruelty and ridicule. Despite these painful struggles, he had a deep faith rooted in an amazing mystical prayer life. As he grew in holiness, he suffered further persecution from those who felt threatened by his sanctity. Perhaps St. Martin stands as a signpost for us in our crisis today—an apparent victim of social injustice for being an outcast on the one side, and tribulation and harassment for being deeply devoted to his Catholic faith on the other. So how did he respond to these injustices and indignities? Examine what he did NOT do—he did not take up the call to violent social revolution or rebellion against systemic injustice on the one hand, nor did he similarly revolt violently against the clergy of the Church on the other for being too worldly. Rather, he embraced these forms of suffering with surrender and complete joy, not as a helpless victim, but as a force of change by recognizing within them an encounter with the suffering of Jesus. In so doing, he conquered these forces of persecution and united a culture, a country, and a Church!

THREE

 St. Martin eventually became a brother in the Dominicans and was filled with supernatural joy despite his trying conditions. There were two principle sources of this joy and faith: his devotions to the Holy Rosary and to the Blessed Sacrament. These two pillars supported and elevated him despite finding himself in conditions that could have very easily ruined his faith in God rather than fostering its strength. These are two pillars upon which we too, can always rely, even in the midst of hardship. Lord, give me such devotion to the Rosary and the Holy Eucharist so I may find faith and joy amidst life’s hardships, no matter how painful or unjust, and, like St. Martin de Porres, experience triumph!

FOUR

My mother contracted polio when she was 9. She was in the hospital for 2 months and suffered paralysis from her neck down. She was kept alive through intravenous feeding. My grandparents were told that my mother most likely would be paralyzed for life or could even die of this disease. Nuns of the Sisters of Mercy often visited her and would even stay with her through the night so my grandparents could return home and rest. They secretly pinned a first-class relic of St. Martin de Porres onto her bedsheet. The sisters would pray the Rosary with her, and if she fell asleep, would stay by her bed and finish it while she slept. They constantly asked for St. Martin’s intercession for my mom. Soon, after about a month or so, his intercession began to be felt, albeit in small ways at first. One day she could move her pinky finger, the first sign that her motion was slowly returning. In February of 1954, my mom walked out of Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs, Iowa, a miraculous recovery. Soon after my mom’s recovery, sorrow visited her best friend, Judy, who contracted a rare blood disease that was also supposed to be fatal. She too miraculously recovered due to this relic of St. Martin and his intercession. Do I trust that God is my good Father who wants only good for me and that He can bring good out of suffering, even if I don’t immediately see it, and do I trust the intervention of His saints?

FIVE

 In our battle against evil and its effects, we may find ourselves in dire predicaments as did St. Martin. Or, we may have loved ones like my mother who are ill and paralyzed, facing grave consequences due to physical sickness or worse, moral and spiritual sickness. Perhaps they, too, are paralyzed and can’t seem to move a muscle towards God. This is why God sends us saints like St. Martin. Being human and immersed in the lives of the suffering, these saints sympathize with our misery. Being united with God in Divine love and having merited such graces from Him for our sakes, they can offer tremendous heavenly assistance. If you are suffering, if a loved one is away from God, if you have an illness or a sense of abandonment or persecution, then call upon our cloud of witnesses, our communion of heavenly saints, allies in the battles against evil, and trust their intercessory power. It is a power flowing from God as its source but comes through the saints as a channel drawing us together in bonds of greater unity and love. Martin loved Jesus so much, he could not spend enough time with his Lord. He went to the church as often as he could. He would just stay by Our Lord Jesus, adoring Him in the Tabernacle. He spent all his evenings alone in his room, arms outstretched in the form of a cross praying, meditating, in ecstasy. He focused his attention on the Crucifix in front of him. He blocked out every other image in the world but Our Lord Jesus on the Cross. Lord, through the intercession of St. Martin de Porres, in these trying times show us the way to embrace your cross of persecution, ridicule, poverty, and illness the way this little saint did, so that we, too, can conquer evil by the power of Your Cross!