"There is need of only one thing . . ."
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Luke 10: 38-42
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072025.cfm
Show favor, O Lord, to your servants
and mercifully increase the gifts of your grace,
that, made fervent in hop, faith and charity,
they may be ever watchful in keeping your commands.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who live and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
Amen
(Collect of Sunday)
Hospitality, the welcome of friends, family and even strangers, into our homes and our lives is a valued and important virtue. I think we are programed to naturally gather with others in groups of various size whether in mere casual conversation or more formal and ritualized occasions that mark the passages of our lives. In our Catholic faith we view the sacramental moments of baptism, first communion, weddings, funerals and such to be moments when we come together with family and friends, often with some we have not seen in quite a while. We are social creatures by God's design.
Ultimately, it is our gathering for holy Mass each
weekend or daily when we break open God’s Word and share in Christ’s Body and
Blood that we see ourselves as a communion of persons, a body of believers,
called to announce the Gospel of the Lord in word and sacrament and we find
ourselves, in all the beauty of diversity as the Church of God in prayer.
Our familiar Gospel story this Sunday where Jesus
visits the home of his friends: Martha and Mary who are the sisters of Lazarus
whom he restored to life, have always been seen as a model both of hospitality
and an illustration of the contemplative life vs the active life. Mary is seated before Jesus, contemplating
his words and indeed offering him her full attention. Meanwhile, Martha seems to be fussing around
the kitchen, cooking, and setting the table for their esteemed visitor. Both are focused on Jesus but in markedly
different ways.
Be that as it may, looking at our first reading may
offer another insight. In our first
reading we find Abraham seated by an ancient grove of trees (terebinth) on a
hot desert day. In the distance he sees three men and recognized them as
visitors along the way. Though three men, he addresses them with the singular
“Sir.” Who are these three? More than
mere passersby, they become a divine revelation of the Lord to Abraham so is
his singular “Sir” an early illusion to the Trinity; three as one? May well be.
The whole of Abraham’s attention is now given to his
unexpected visitor. He honors them by
busily engaging his wife Sarah and himself in the preparation of food and drink
and then rests with them. Showing
gratitude, the visitor, the Lord himself, offers Abraham the fulfillment of the
early Covenant promises that from his progeny descend countless people of
faith.
Abraham welcomed the Lord into his life – he made room
for this divine presence and in the end was rewarded greatly: “Sarah will have
a son.” God will not be outdone by our hospitality for he offers more than we
can ever give. Abraham offers the visitor food, drink and rest – God offers
Abraham the promise of countless descendants.
In similar vein, Luke’s Gospel assures his community
and us by association, that the welcome of Jesus into our lives is primary
above other things. Christ is not just an ordinary man and his presence with
Martha and Mary not only emphasizes Jesus own invitation to those on the fringe
of society, to hear his word and to learn from it to follow the good news of
the Gospel. It is God they welcome in Christ himself.
Yet, it is the behavior of the two women that catches
Jesus’ attention. Martha is distracted,
so preoccupied with details and concerns. She is more focused on the tasks
before her rather than to be truly attentive to their visitor.
Meanwhile Mary’s behavior reveals the true place our
central attention should lie – on the Lord. Both are well intentioned but our
lives must be centered not on all the tasks before us but rather on welcoming
God as the center of our lives. Set some
priorities in life, for example, for not everything is equally important and
not everything needs our immediate attention.
Some things can and should wait until another time for the "better
part" of things to receive our care. But if the whole orientation of our
life remains centered on God then the meaning and purpose of all the rest falls
into its more proper place. Does this mean we must pray all day? That we simply leave aside our
responsibilities with job, family, faith, etc.?
For example, have you ever found yourself near a
Church, in conversation with a friend, standing before a beautiful sunset or sunrise,
taking a walk in natural surroundings, or even in idle traffic and felt the
call of pray? Did you or did you find
yourself like Martha, still busy about many things or did you respond, even
briefly, to that momentary call of God.
God can break into our lives at any moment if he so chooses. My spiritual director once advised me that
the desire to pray is a prayer in itself as we respond in trust.
Still, what of Jesus’ own call to be active in our
faith; the corporal works of mercy for example?
To feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty and
those many ways in which we engage in social service – don’t they have value
too or must we just spend our day sitting at the feet of the Lord and
contemplate? Parish life is busy and my life as a priest in parish work is
extremely taken up with many things.
Who will serve in the soup kitchens, the local food
banks, our outreach to the homeless, and those who are economically
disadvantaged? What about the numerous
hospitals and schools all of which make our Catholic lives very busy about many
things like Martha? Let’s not be too hard on this well intentioned woman.
We are called to carry on the mission of Christ
entrusted to us; if we don’t we may well become nothing but secular social
workers whose lives are centered no farther than the people we serve. That’s a
start but as a Christian, we see God in them. With God as the central focus of
our lives, we see the tasks before us as a living out of Christ’s mission. We will see God present in those we serve, we
will find a joy that is more fulfilling as we serve the Christ in others. Our
daily prayer, focused on the Lord will be the essential motivation to serve him
in others.
Likely the best contemporary example we have of this
is St. Teresa of Calcutta, Mother Teresa.
As a woman of prayer and service, she saw the face of Christ in
everyone. Her Sisters, as she always did, begin the day with Eucharistic adoration. Before they hit the streets and serve the
poorest of the poor, they come to the Lord as their central focus. Both Martha
and Mary live well together.
While we may not be called to the same heroic
Christianity of Mother Teresa, we are called nonetheless to sit at the feet of
the Lord and arrange our lives accordingly. We do good after the example of
Christ himself. We draw strength from
those moments of quiet prayer, sharing in the Word and Eucharist each week, and
the conscious effort we make to see Christ in others, especially in the less
fortunate among us.
Contemplation and action both have value. As busy priests
we here of the importance of “balance” in our lives between God and service. I
can only do the work of one priest. I can’t
clone myself.
When the two are blended together - when we find the
Lord among us in our liturgy, our prayer, the call for assistance to those in
need, and the many other ways God comes to visit us - let's take heart from the
example of Mary and her well-meaning and generous sister Martha.
Let’s not be “. . . anxious and worried about many things.” But live with God as our center and our strength.
As St. Pope John
XXIII once famously said, “Lord, it’s your Church, not mine, good night!”
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