Hospitality is one of the most fundamental human needs. To receive one’s friends and family members into your home and life is a natural response to those we love and care for.
In a formal dinner setting, the host may indicate where each person is to be seated. Wedding receptions or other such occasions may have numbers on a table or name tags before each place setting. Everyone has a designated place to be seated while the more relaxed summer barbeques or picnics simply allow people to be seated anywhere they like around the table or on the ground as they prefer. We welcome the presence of one another and such an experience marks our unity as a family or parish. To welcome the stranger into our midst is sometimes a bit more awkward but after a short time, that stranger may well become a friend.
Benedictine hospitality is legendary. St. Benedict himself urged his monks to, “welcome as Christ” all visitors. Here in Oregon we have a Benedictine Monastery which has been in existence for more than 100 years. The main apostolate of the Monks is the Seminary but their hospitality is well known to all who come for prayer and retreat. In his Rule for the monks, St. Benedict wrote: “Guests who arrive at the monastery are to be welcomed as Christ . . . When a guest is announced, the superior and the brothers will go to welcome him in charity . . . A particular welcome will be reserved for the poor and pilgrims, for it is especially in them that one receives Christ . . .” Shouldn’t that also be a “rule” for family life in homes and in our parishes? Isn’t that a good general attitude towards any who come to visit us?
In our first reading this Sunday from Genesis 18: 1-10, Abraham welcomes three men who appear as strangers on the road. For Abraham this visit of three men provokes the greatest respect. He and his wife Sarah go about the necessary details of food and drink, and then welcome them into his tent. But, it is more than angels who come. While Abraham sees and welcomes three men, he speaks to only one and only one respond to him. In a sense, one speaks for all three. The Christian vision sees the Trinity at work here. In fact, the author of Genesis states, “The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre . . . .” Abraham welcomes God to his tent and in response, a blessing comes to them: Sarah, well beyond child bearing years, will give birth to a son, her first child. Such hospitality is reflected in the rule of St. Benedict.
The Gospel from Luke 10: 38-42, have two women friends of Jesus, the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary who welcome him into their home. Maybe it was an unexpected visit. Jesus may have just dropped in. Martha honors the importance of this visit and begins to tidy up about the many things of housekeeping and preparing the environment, serving a meal. Mary, her sister, sits at the feet of Jesus to contemplate his words. Both welcome Jesus into their home and both respond to his presence in varied ways. Both see him as a valued guest and both are called to lay aside the distractions that keep them from knowing the Lord more deeply. Is Martha just too busy to focus on her guest? Is Mary just looking for an excuse to avoid the more mundane tasks of housekeeping? It seems to be a perpetual question about this well known passage.
Let’s go a little easy on Martha. She was following Middle Eastern custom where hospitality and food must be offered to the guest. Martha honored Jesus by preparing a meal, offering him a moment of rest and relaxation. And, I think it is important to hear that Jesus does not condemn Martha for what she is doing. Rather he remarks on her concerns, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.” Does this sound familiar? In others parts, Jesus warns his followers about being too overwhelmed by the tasks of life. “Do not worry about your life and what you will eat, or about your body and what you will wear . . . (Lk 12: 22-23). “Look at the birds of the sky and the lilies of the field – God cares for them,” we are reminded. It was not Martha’s household tasks that were wrong but rather her anxiety about distractions and unnecessary details.
Who knows really what was in Mary’s mind other than she was eager to sit at the feet of Jesus and honor him with her attention to his words. Mary apparently had it right. When we recognize the presence of Christ in our midst, we must be attentive to that presence.
The most common interpretation of this scene is that, in the words of the second century writer Origen: “Martha symbolized action. Mary contemplation . . . for action and contemplation do not exist the one without the other . . .”
Action and contemplation are not opposing viewpoints. We cannot just sit around all day and contemplate our navels! We can’t just be a total Mary. At the same time, to be busy or almost obsessive about work and activity is both unrealistic and unhealthy. Yet, in our modern society which equates work and ones accomplishments with our self-worth, it is hard to find a balance between a tangible sign that I am productive and not lazy – the outer life – and the inner life of prayer and reflection. It is a constant struggle for me to distinguish between the busy life of a parish priest and the importance of plugging in to time in quiet and prayer. Yet, the two are not opposing forces. The two blend together well in a healthy balance of body and spirit.
Every disciple of the Lord must be both active and reflective of how we are called to love and serve. Prayer in our life demands a certain sedentary posture. I’ve tried to pray the Rosary while taking a walk or driving a car. The one is a battle between listening to the response of my body and concentrating on prayer, the other is an exercise in avoiding a certain drowsiness while I stare at the road, concentrate on the wheel and other drivers, hear the hum of the traffic, and repeat the Hail Mary’s while trying to respect the value of proper reflection on the mysteries. Too much multi-tasking! We even think that talking on our cell phones is too much of a distraction while driving. It is.
Time for prayer, to rest at the feet of Our Lord as Mary did, to contemplate his Word among us whether it be in devotional prayer, in Eucharistic adoration, in “lectio divina,” the reading of sacred scripture, or simply quiet contemplation is a necessary food for our soul. But we can’t just stay there forever. The goal for us is to know the Lord – the one we are called to represent and to serve. To love in his name, to serve by his example takes a certain self discipline of time at his feet and service in his name.
It is good to be busy about many things. The saints time and again prove to us that true prayer and building a relationship with God, then to act upon that experience in lives of productive service is the best of both Martha and Mary within each of us.
Our Eucharistic celebrations reflect what we are called to do: hear the Word of God, reflect on what is said to us, then to feed on the Lord who sends us out to love and serve in his name. Do not worry but let us do our part and God will certainly honor our efforts and the best of our intentions. It is true Christian hospitality at work here: to welcome Christ and to welcome the Christ we see in others.
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