Dear Martin, Still suffering from racial slurs, eh?\u00a0 It pains me to hear it, but I have to say that it doesn\u2019t surprise me.\u00a0 Racism is not dead, and, in some form or other, it will always live on.\u00a0 Certainly, that doesn\u2019t mean that we should condone it or give in to it \u2013 on the contrary, we should be the first ones to condemn and undo it, without, of course, falling into the equally deplorable trap of angry resentment.\u00a0 Racism is sin, and all sin is rooted in rebellion against God.\u00a0 So only a deeper love for God will enable us to battle effectively for racial justice, and for all justice, as a matter of fact.\u00a0 Today\u2019s saint shows us the way. Martin was born in Peru, the son of a Spanish knight and a black woman (a former slave).\u00a0 From his childhood he was scorned for being mulatto.\u00a0 Perhaps it was this experience that made him so sensitive to the message of Christ.\u00a0 He used to contemplate the crucifix with extraordinary love and devotion, deeply sorrowful at the suffering Christ had to endure, but deeply joyful that Christ had thereby penetrated our miserable lives with his grace and his love.\u00a0 The only earthly entity Martin loved more than the crucifix was the Blessed Sacrament, which he tried to receive as frequently as possible (he was helped in this endeavor once he became a Dominican lay brother, where he served as infirmarian and general caretaker of the Friary of Dominican priests in Lima), and which he often accompanied in prayer for hours on end, even entire nights.\u00a0 This deep appreciation for the sufferings and generosity of Christ was the motor of his own remarkable life.\u00a0 He spent every waking (and non-praying) hour caring for people in need, seeing in them the needy Christ, the souls for whom Christ had died.\u00a0 He cared for the sick Dominicans with the gentleness of a mother, and extended that service throughout the city.\u00a0 He founded orphanages and hospitals, raised money to feed the poor, tended the maltreated slaves, and even took care of stray animals (he kept a \u201ccats\u2019 and dogs\u2019 home\u201d at his sister\u2019s house) \u2013 though his Dominican confreres considered his attentions towards the rats and mice a bit exaggerated.\u00a0 He truly considered others to be God\u2019s children, and himself to be their less worthy brother.\u00a0 Once when the integrity of the Friary was threatened by heavy debts, he offered himself as payment, \u201cI am only a poor mulatto,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m the property of the order. Sell me.\u201d\u00a0 It was with this absolute humility, which overflowed in tireless and selfless service, that he won countless hearts to God \u2013 and that was his greatest joy. I will ask him to pray for you, my young nephew, so that your response to the evils of this sinful world will always be motivated by humility, faith, and love for God.\u00a0 Always remember that the foundation of every fault against justice is our injustice towards God.\u00a0 Real social progress, therefore, can come only from acknowledging the primacy of God\u2019s rights. Sincerely your uncle, Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Martin, Still suffering from racial slurs, eh?\u00a0 It pains me to hear it, but I have to say that it doesn\u2019t surprise me.\u00a0 Racism is not dead, and, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n