Today’s homily is a story of two sisters.
Mary and Martha were close friends with and followers of Jesus.
Together with their brother Lazarus, they hosted Jesus in their home on more than one occasion.
Yet, on one such visit from Jesus, they chose two very different actions, and the way that Jesus reacted to their choices is a very valuable lesson for us today.
Let us take a closer look at the details of the story.
Martha was rushing around, serving and doing her best to make everything good for their beloved guest.
And where was Mary when Martha needed a hand?
She chose to sit at Jesus’ feet, listening as He spoke.
It’s pretty easy to imagine how that made Martha feel.
Irritated, frustrated, and resentful.
Why should she be doing all the work?
Wasn’t it only right for Mary to be helping out?
In fact, Martha felt so justified in her indignation that she went and talked to Jesus about it.
She said to Him “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.”
But, instead of backing her up in her demand, Jesus rebuked her!
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” This must have felt like a slap in the face for Martha.
Here she was, doing everything in her power to be hospitable, and Mary just sat there.
And to make it worse, that was the right thing to do? (pause)
It can become so easy for us to get wrapped up in all the things we need to do and the things that need to be accomplished that we lose sight of what the most important thing is.
Jesus is asking that we center our day around him, not just squeeze him into our day after we are done with our work.
Jesus wants to be part of our entire day from morning until night.
When you live your entire day centered around Jesus, even when you have to step into Martha’s kitchen to do some work, you are already experiencing some little bit of heaven here on earth.
If you live your entire day from morning until night centered around Jesus, when you die it is the continuation and expansion of what you were already living here on earth.
So how do we sit at the feet of Jesus every day?
The first thing is obviously to leave Martha’s kitchen, whatever is keeping us too busy to spend some time every day with Jesus.
• Turn off the TV,
• Put away the phone,
• Get off the internet,
• Pray together as a family or if you can’t,
• go to your room to pray or to the church?
If you want to listen to Jesus, you have to create space in your day for Jesus.
A few short, hurried prayers in the morning and at night, and grace before meals, are not really centering our life around Jesus.
Jesus is asking that we center our day around him, not just squeeze him into our day after we are done with our work.
Of course, you can say prayers, but you can also pray with your heart, sharing your life with the Lord and above all allowing the Lord to speak with you.
Receive the love the Lord wants to give you.
• It might help to read a paragraph from the Bible, especially one of the four Gospels. You could imagine yourself sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him and conversing with him just like Mary in the Gospel today.
• Praying for the intercession of Our Lady is also very helpful; she is your mother too.
• Many have adopted the routine of praying the Angelus at dawn, noon, and dusk to stay connected to God and spiritual world.
• Praying the rosary in the car instead of listening to the radio.
• Praying the divine mercy chaplet daily at 3pm.
• Participating in Novenas
• Imagining that Jesus is sitting next to you while driving or at home and having a conversation with him about life.
• Taking a walk with Christ in nature and seeing the beauty that He created.
• Ending each day with a prayerful examination of conscience, looking for all the ways God has touched your life that day.
• And routinely using the Sacrament of Reconciliation are all ways that can help use stay connected to Christ.
Even if your prayer is distracted, the important thing is to give the time to Jesus; he will understand and appreciate your love for him and the time you give him.
He said to the apostles in the garden, “Stay here and keep watch with me.”
He would also like us to keep watch with Him and sit at his feet listening to Him.
(pause)
Last Sunday in the Gospel (Luke 10:25-37) we heard that to inherit eternal life we have to love God with all our heart, being, strength, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
We also learned in the Parable of the Good Samaritan what loving our neighbor as ourselves means.
Today when Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary, we get Jesus’ teaching on loving God (Luke 10:38-42).
But Jesus has not yet finished his teaching on loving God, so next Sunday, He will give us further teaching, specifically on prayer (Luke 11:1-13).
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 (Luke 10:41-42).
In closing, I have for us a simple yet profound challenge:
Let us all learn from Mary,
keep our Martha in check,
and to choose the better part of life, a life centered on Christ.
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