Why Do We Celebrate the Saints?
- We celebrate the Saints because they are living pages of the Gospel of Christ. In them we learn that the Gospel is not a fable; it is not a fairy tale but something real, as real as the bones and flesh of these heroic men and women.
- We celebrate them because no joy could be more justifiable. What profit is to conquer this Earth if we were to lose Heaven? The Saints are people that won the true battle and deserve the true prize.
- We celebrate them as a means of inspiration for each one of us. Life has been likened to a road, and as travelers we constantly need new strength, advise and direction. We get them from the Saints.
Basic Facts about St. Martin de Porres’ Early Life
- Martin was the son of a freed slave woman from Panama and a Spanish conquistador, who abandoned the young mother and son for many years.
- He was born during the Colonial period of the Spanish dominion over South America. Poverty, racism and illiteracy pressed heavily down on the young boy.
- He was particularly discriminated against, for he would not be seen as neither Spanish nor native south American. His neighbors would call him “Blackish Dog!” just to enrage him.
What We Can Learn from St. Martin To-day
- Martin was an ideal candidate for hatred and resentment. Yet neither could really grab his heart. We are not defined only by the circumstances, no matter how difficult they are.
- Martin is remembered as a joyful man. He had the capacity of picking the best from everybody. How did a rich man get his riches? Collecting them. To be rich in virtue we have to collect virtues, as we can find them in others. It is our choice, whether we focus our attention in the good that others have or only in their defects, faults and failures.
- Life is not what happens to you; is what you do with what happens to you. Many people have gone through situations similar to St. Martin’s. Most of them left no trace of their path. We are happy to celebrate someone that threw himself so completely in God’s hands, as to receive from God his victory–and a well deserved place among the Saints.