There are some who consider philanthropy (the love for humanity shown in works of kindness) to be their spirituality! St Paul, in writing to Timothy, cautions that if we begin to believe that it is our works of righteousness alone that save us, then we will be convinced that it is we who work out our own salvation. Rather, it is by the grace of God that we are saved. Paul explains that this is why even those who had strayed from their relationship with God are saved when they come to experience His love.

In the Gospel, the one leper (a Samaritan) who came back to give thanks to Jesus, seemed to be the only one to have understood this, or else the other nine lepers, too, would have returned to give thanks.

The saint we honour today, Martin of Tours, a young catechumen recruited to the imperial cavalry, reached out with kindness to the less fortunate, only because he had first experienced the grace of God. The famous painting of a cavalry man dividing his cloak to clothe a half-naked, shivering beggar is testimony to this.