Humans are created for eternity and immortality!

November 11, 2025 Tuesday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop 
Daily Readings: Wisdom 2:23-3:9; Luke 17:7-10
 

By the very fact that God created human beings in His image and likeness, we are created for eternity and immortality. It was the envious Satan who caused the fall of humanity, and thus, death entered the world. But God deals with the souls of the righteous differently. They are in the hands of God, and nothing can torment them. Death is not destruction, but a passage into eternity. They will enjoy peace. It is possible that they may need to be disciplined for a while, but this is only a time of testing to make them worthy of immortality. The righteous are compared to gold tested in a furnace and to a sacrificial burnt offering. The just will govern nations and rule over peoples. They will run like sparks. God loves them. He fills them with His grace and mercy. He watches them because they are His elect.

The Gospel reading gives us a parable. A master and his servant are at the center of it. The master represents God, and the servant represents every believer. After working hard in the field all day, the servant cannot expect to sit at the master’s table for dinner. It remains his duty to prepare the meal and serve his master. Likewise, with God and believers: in the final analysis, God is God, and believers are mere mortals. We are not to expect rewards for doing what we should. It is simply our obligation.

St. Arnold Janssen, the founder of the Society of the Divine Word, was once asked whether his congregation would survive the test of time. He answered with humility: If it survives, he will thank God. If it fails, he will acknowledge humbly that he was not worthy of it. Jesus ends the parable in a similar way. After doing all that is expected of him, the servant confesses that he is a useless servant who has only done his duty. That is the height of humility.

Call to Action: St. Martin of Tours taught the world to care for the needy even when he had very little. His principle was simple: share what you have. He cut his cloak in two and gave half to a beggar. What is my attitude?