Can you imagine welcoming Jesus into your home? Actually we ought to do so each day though not as described in the Gospel reading. Having guests in our homes though can be nerve wracking. When I was a pastor and the bishop was coming, we would all be stirred up. Now I stir others up. Of course all of us want such visits to go well, to be hospitable and to be fitting.
Each of us approaches such situations in our own ways. Some are well organized and have it all together. Others, no matter how much we plan, these events seem to be on the brink of disaster. In part it is temperament or expectations or priorities. Mary and Martha, sisters, likely had different temperaments, expectations and priorities which is how they responded to Jesus in their home. We need to be sensitive to our differences especially within families. Our way is not everyone’s way.
This gospel reading reminds us that to be good disciples we need balance. We need to serve which Martha represents and we need to pray, which includes listening to our Lord, which Mary does. Last week we heard about the Good Samaritan and the challenge of living our Christian discipleship even at personal risk by reaching out to others in need. Today’s reading is about the challenge of insuring our active discipleship is nourished spiritually, the importance of listening for God’s voice to guide us in what we do. To be good disciples we need to be people of both action and prayer. We need to serve and we need to listen to God.
St. Benedict in his wise rule established the principle: ora et labora, prayer and work. A young monk questioned his abbot about this. He had come to the monastery to pray but it seemed like he was asked to work a lot. The abbot took him out in a row boat and began to row using only one oar. They just turned in circles. “You need to use both oars,” advised the young monk. “That is true,” said the abbot. “And you need to pray and to work, or you will just go around in circles.” Our culture tends to emphasize the work, 24/7, all day every day. With modern day technology we need never be away from work. But does that hyper activity bring happiness and peace or anxiety and division?
Martha bluntly stated, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” Imagine telling Jesus what to do. Jesus responded with compassion, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.” Martha had expressed being upset about only one thing, that her sister was not helping her. Jesus knew there was much more to her anxiety than her sister’s lack of help. That is often true of us. Little things can suddenly result in a blow up or harsh words. Those on the receiving end wonder what brought that on. We can use activity to hide our internal struggles that we ought to take to the Lord in prayer.
We need to ponder what is making us react in the way we do and discover if we have become so busy that we have stopped listening for God and therefore feel overwhelmed and hassled about what is of lesser importance. Are we so caught up in details of action that they take on a life of their own and control us? Are we expecting unrealistic perfection in an imperfect world filled with imperfect people including us? Are we so frightened of failure or rejection that we miss the actuality of the moment? If so, we need to take that to Jesus, to listen for Jesus, and to pray for perspective.
Jesus said to Martha in her anxiety, “There is need of only one thing.” He did not say only one thing is worthwhile or worthy, but one thing is especially required. That one thing is a relationship with Him. Mary was seeking that one thing, sitting at his feet listening. Dwelling on lesser things, however worthy, even hospitality which Jesus praises elsewhere in the Gospels as does our first reading, can create a barrier between us and Christ, and lead to pressure and stress. When Jesus is regularly part of our lives, our necessary work can be kept in perspective and our anxieties lessened.
Jesus also said to Martha, “Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” St. John Vianney wrote, “All the misfortunes which oppress us on this earth are caused by the fact that we do not pray or that we pray badly. “ Real prayer, sincere prayer gives us the means to cope with loneliness, loss, unexpected guests whether people or sickness or events. Mary chose to take advantage of the opportunity to listen to and learn from Christ while she could, a lesson in effective prayer.
There are many ways to listen to God, to pray: Holy Mass, adoration, Scripture study, spiritual reading, the rosary, devotions, sacred music and art, and silence. To avoid being worried about many things we need to take the time away from our busyness to be with Our Lord. St. Francis de Sales wrote, “Each person needs half an hour of prayer each day, except when we are busy, then we need an hour.”
Catholic Digest some years ago told of a young man with cerebral palsy. He had heard about the rosary and that it gave people great consolation. He did not however know how to pray it, so he made up his own form of the rosary. He thought there must be a mystery for each day of the week so his mental rosary had seven mysteries. His dream was to join the Air Force. He dedicated his nightly self-defined rosary to that goal. But because of his condition he was rejected. A school assignment was to write a letter of application for a job. He wrote to then President Eisenhower explaining his situation and his dream and requesting a job in the Air Force. According to the Digest story he became the first person with cerebral palsy to be accepted into military service. When he bought his first rosary he learned from the instructions that there were five mysteries each day, not seven. But when he took his new rosary out of the box, it had seven sets of beads. He was assured that this was a mistake of the maker. He believed it was a sign from his creator that prayer works.
God does not always respond to our prayers in the way we want or when we want, but God always gives us what we need if we remain faithful and trustful and listen at his feet.
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” We too can choose the better part, to take some quiet time away from the hubbub of our active lives and to listen to him. Jesus can be a guest in our house every day, if we invite him.