St. Martin of Tours, bishop

One winter day, St. Martin as he was on his way to a town.

He noticed near the gate a begga, without any protection from the cold begging alms.

Since he had nothing with him, he took his sword and divided his winter cloak into two.

He used one piece to wrap around the shivering beggar.

That night he saw in a dream Jesus, surrounded by angels, wearing half of his cloak.

 

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Titus 1:1-9

From Paul, servant of God,

Apostle of Christ Jesus, at the service of God's chosen people, so that they may believe, and reach the knowledge of truth and godliness.

The eternal life we are waiting for was promised from the very beginning, by God, who never lies, and as the appointed time had come, he made it known, through the message entrusted to me by a command of God, our Saviour.

 

Greetings to you, Titus, my true son in the faith we share. May grace and peace be with you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I left you in Crete because I wanted you to put right what was defective, and appoint elders in every town, following my instructions.

 

They must be blameless, married only once, whose children are believers, and not open to the charge of being immoral and rebellious. Since the overseer (or bishop) is the steward of God's House, he must be beyond reproach: not proud, hot-headed, over-fond of wine, quarrelsome, or greedy for gain.

 

On the contrary, he must be hospitable, a lover of what is good, wise, upright, devout and self-controlled. He must hold to the message of faith, just as it was taught, so that, in his turn, he may teach sound doctrine, and refute those who oppose it.

 

Ps 24:1b-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 17:1-6

Jesus said to his disciples, "Scandals will necessarily come and cause people to fall; but woe to the one who brings them about. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck. Truly, this would be better for that person, than to cause one of these little ones to fall.

 

Listen carefully: if your brother offends you, tell him, and if he is sorry, forgive him. And if he offends you seven times in one day, but seven times he says to you, 'I'm sorry,' forgive him."

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." And the Lord said, "If you have faith, even the size of a mustard seed, you may say to this tree, 'Be uprooted, and plant yourself in the sea!' and it will obey you."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"Increase our faith."

We often hear the expression, "Faith can move mountains." Thus, if things do not happen despite our best effort to pray, then we may be lacking in faith. There is a need to increase our faith. The Lord is the one who can increase our faith but there has to be, at least, a little of it for the Lord to make it grow.

 

In today's Gospel, the apostles of Jesus pleaded with him to increase their faith. Jesus told them that if they would have a faith even the size of a mustard seed, impossible things will be possible such as commanding a tree to uproot itself and plant itself in the sea. Moreover, in the Gospel passage, the request of the apostles for Jesus to increase 

 

their faith happened after Jesus taught them to forgive. They have to forgive seven times in one day if the one who sinned would ask for it. It seems that Luke put the element of faith and forgiveness together in this pericope. To forgive once might already be difficult. To forgive endlessly is impossible but possible for a person who has faith even the size of a mustard seed because Jesus will surely do the rest.