St. Martin of Tours’ Feast Day occurs on the same day as our Veterans’ Day or Armistice Day in Europe commemorating the end of the First World War in 1918.  Let us consider that, in some ways, we are still fighting that war which began over 100 years ago. The geopolitical situation we find ourselves in today truly demonstrates that the Armistice was more a truce than true peace. The ‘war to end all wars’ did nothing of the sort. You see,  for this reason we must atone for the greats sins of the First World War: the sins of dusty gray men, who decided to sacrifice their wives’ babies on Flanders Field in their millions: 20 million, to be precise. We have a generation of people that simply do not exist because of those decisions, because of that great sin. So today, we gratefully mark the sacrifice of our servicemen and servicewomen. It’s an important day to remember that they were (and are) prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, because they cherish freedom itself. It is a mistake to assume that alll military personnel are somehow tough and cold: you cannot die for your country unless you are first able to dream for your country. Let us remember to atone for our sins too: the sins whereby we look inward, protecting our material interests in favor of some false idea of a security that really only God can give. The kind of sins that lead to wars fought on our behalf by men and women braver than us. On this St Martin’s Day, we ask for his intercession for our country, for our world, and for that peace we seek: not a counterfeit peace, not a cheap peace, but the true and lasting peace that only comes from conversion to Christ.