Last week, from Luke’s Gospel we heard the parable of the
Good Samaritan—a powerful story in which Jesus teaches us to go beyond our
comfort zones to help others.
Immediately following the parable of the Good Samaritan Saint Luke gives
the account of our Lord’s visit to Martha and Mary which we heard this week.
It’s not a coincidence that Saint Luke puts these two
stories side by side. On the one hand we
are taught in the Good Samaritan Story followers of Jesus Christ are to go out
into the highways, and go and pick up and care for the wounded and those in
need.
On the other hand, what do we learn about discipleship from
Mary and Martha? Martha was busy with
all the details of hospitality, and Mary was sitting at the feet of Our Lord,
listening to his word. And it was Mary
who was praised by the Lord, He said, “Mary
has chosen the better part”.
Saint Luke is
emphasizing a very important lesson in discipleship, yes we have to care for
those in need, yes we have to lift up the wounded, but we cannot lose sight of
the one most necessary thing, we must remain grounded by sitting at the feet of
Christ.
Pope Benedict took up this lesson in his first encyclical
titled, Deus Caritas Est, God is
love. He teaches that no Christian can
be exempt from practicing charity—care for those in need is part of our very
identity. But, what makes Christian
service different from mere secular service agencies, is that our love of
neighbor flows from our love of God.
The Popes of the 20th century, even beginning
with Pope Leo XIII at the end of the 19th century, were very
prolific in developing the Church’s social teaching, teaching us to be engaged
in the social political and economic life of our respective nations, to work
for human development, and of course caring for those most in need.
In the 1960s Blessed Pope John XXIII gave us a great method
for charitable service, “See—Judge—Act”.
See a need, judge what can be done, and act. If you see a child fall on the play ground,
you judge that you can go over to help him, and you act, you lift him up. If you see a drunkard on the street begging
for money, you judge that it might be better to give him a sandwich or a
blanket rather than twenty bucks which he would spend on booze, and then you do
it. See—Judge—Act
Pope Benedict, saw the danger of the Church being reduced to
a mere social service institution. He reemphasized
that the primary task of the Church is to proclaim the Faith.
This makes the Church counter cultural. It is a hard job to
preaching the Christian Faith in a culture which has abandoned so many of the
commandments. Our “if it feels good do
it culture” doesn’t like to hear how abandoning God’s law leads to a crumbling
society. So where do we get the strength,
and courage to preaching the Christian faith in the face of such hostility?
So we remain grounded in the truth by following Mary’s
example in the Gospel today, sitting at the foot of Jesus, listening to his
word.
I’m reminded of a story, from the Missionary Sisters of
Charity, the order of sisters founded by Blessed Mother Theresa. I got to work with the Missionary Sister’s in
Rome at a homeless shelter, and also at an orphanage in Madagascar . One of the charisms of the Missionary Sisters
of Charity is to take care of the poorest of the poor. They would literally lift starving people out
of the gutter and give them food and shelter.
Every day, the Missionary Sisters of Charity make a holy hour, they pray
for an hour every day, usually around 6am, in front of the blessed
Sacrament.
One day, a young novice goes to Mother Theresa, and says how
she thinks the holy hour is a waste of time, there are people starving to death
on the streets while the sisters are in the chapel praying. “Sister, you seem very troubled” Mother
said. “I am, Mother, this holy hour is a
waste of time.” “Because you are so
troubled,” said mother Theresa to the young novice, “you need two hours.”
Martha was so troubled, so anxious because she thought Mary
was wasting her time sitting at the feet of Jesus. In rebuking Martha, Our Lord was not
criticizing hospitality. In fact,
hospitality is very important, taking care of the needs of your visitors,
making them comfortable, making them welcome is a good thing, it is loved by
God.
Our Lord doesn’t say, “Martha, Martha stop being so
hospitable” he says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried about Many Things”. Her heart is not focused on Christ, and her
work is not flowing out of her relationship with God. That’s the problem.
That can be a major problem for us too. Our lives can be divided into all these
different non-interacting dimensions.
There’s my home life, my social life, my private life, my political life, my medical decisions, my
leisure life, my faith life, my job. But
Our Christian faith is the compass meant to guide and direct and unify all of
these disparate dimensions of our human activity.
Anyone who has raised children involved in sports, or anyone
who works a number of jobs to support their family knows how hard it is to
juggle all these things. . Anyone who has had family over on Sunday
afternoon knows the temptation of skipping Mass in order to prepare for the
visit.
The danger for all of us is making Martha’s mistake, “I’m
too busy to pray, too busy to read scripture, too busy to go to mass, too busy
to rest on Sunday’s, too busy to make a holy hour, too busy to pray a
rosary.”
A priest was driving Mother Theresa to the airport. She sat quietly praying her rosary beads, and
the priest went on and on about all the new programs they’ve started at the
parish, all the places he’s been asked to give lectures, the articles he’s been
asked to write for these magazines.
Mother asked him, “when do make time to pray?” He said, “well….i’m really too busy to pray.”
She bluntly said, “Stop it father. You
are too busy, you must pray.”
Jesus teaches, Seek first the kingdom of God. If we are not putting God first, nothing else
will be in it’s proper place, which is why time set aside for daily prayer is
so important.
And by the way, Daily prayer for Christians means more than
rattling off an “our father” once a day if and when we remember. We must make time to sit at the feet of
Jesus. To gaze into his eyes, to
contemplate His wisdom.
The Bible is such an important part of this. Every Catholic should read and reflect on the
Bible every day. Parents can share a
bible story with their children before bed, you can read a little scripture on
your lunch break, you can read it as you fall asleep instead of watching
late-night television. Read a psalm a
day, reflectively, thinking about what it means for your life, in light of your
particular challenges. We must come to
value once again substance and spirituality over hype, busyness and
entertainment.
Every day we are faced with the choice to be more like
Martha or more like Mary— Busy about all of our worldly pursuits, or drawn
deeper into the life and love of God.
Let us renew our commitment today to daily prayer, to seeking the one thing
that really matters, Jesus Christ Our Lord, for the glory of God and salvation
of souls.
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