OT XVI [C] Gn 18:1-10a; Col 1:24-28; Lk 10:38-42

 

A true story is told by an advertising executive at Reader’s Digest, who found her emptiness filled in by prayer, listening to God, as Mary did in today’s Gospel.  In spite of her successful career, she had felt emptiness in her life. One morning, during a breakfast meeting with her marketing consultant, she mentioned that emptiness. “Do you want to fill it?” her colleague asked. “Of course, I do,” she said. He looked at her and replied, “Then start each day with an hour of prayer.” She looked at him and said, “Don, you’ve got to be kidding. If I tried that, I’d go off my rocker.” Don smiled and said, “That’s exactly what I did 20 years ago.” The woman left the restaurant in turmoil. Begin each morning with prayer? Begin each morning with an hour of prayer? Absolutely out of the question! Yet, the next morning she found herself doing exactly that. And she’s been doing it ever since.  This woman is the first to admit that it has not always been easy. There have been mornings when she was filled with great peace and joy. But there have been other mornings when she was filled with nothing but weariness. And it was on these weary mornings that she remembered something else that her marketing consultant said. “There will be times when your mind just won’t go into God’s sanctuary. That’s when you spend your hour in God’s waiting room. Still, you’re there, and God appreciates your struggle to stay there.” 

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is offered hospitality by two women. It is said of Martha that she welcomed Jesus to her house. Martha’s way of showing hospitality was to roll up her sleeves and to prepare an elaborate meal, apparently in a rather anxious frame of mind. Her anxious activity seems to have left her rather angry with her sister, Mary, whom she perceived not to be carrying her weight sufficiently. She comes across as angry with Jesus too, for not giving Mary a telling off, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please, tell her to help me.’

I think many of us find it easy to identify with Martha. We can all feel a bit put upon from time to time. We sense that if only so-and-so would pull his or her weight a bit more, our life would be a lot easier.

 Mary was showing Jesus a different kind of hospitality from Martha. She was sitting at his feet, listening to what Jesus had to say. She wanted to hear what he had to say. Rather than being overly anxious about nourishing Jesus, she was trying to nourish herself on his word.

 

Jesus validated the kind of hospitality that Mary was showing him, the hospitality of attentive listening, the hospitality of presence, rather than of anxious activity. On this occasion, it seems that this was the kind of hospitality that Jesus actually desired, ‘Mary has chosen the better part’.

Martha may have felt that she was the only one to be serving Jesus, but Jesus wanted Martha to see that Mary was serving him in a different way, just by sitting at his feet and listening to him. We can serve people in different ways. There is the service of speech and the service of silence. There is the service of activity and the service of listening quietly. There is great value in both forms of service.

There are times when the best way to express our love for someone is to offer them the service of quiet listening. It seems that when Jesus entered the house of Martha and her sister Mary, this was the form of service that he needed. He had something to say, there was a word he needed to speak, and he needed and wanted someone to listen, and it was Mary who recognized that. What Jesus wanted on this occasion was the hospitality of presence more than the hospitality of anxious activity. When Martha criticized her sister to Jesus, Jesus suggested that Martha may have something to learn from her sister.

 

 We all need the wisdom to recognize what time it is when it comes to our relationship with others. What is love asking of me at this time?

It is a well-known fact that those who are in the caring professions, like doctors, nurses, pastors, social workers, and even parents, often suffer from burnout and terminal exhaustion as Martha did.  People suffering from burnout often end up angry, anxious, and worried. Hence, occasionally we need to put aside the work we do for the Lord in serving others and just spend some time being with Him, talking to Him and listening to Him, fully aware of His holy presence in our souls. We may do the recharging of our spiritual energy also by our personal and family prayers, by meditative reading of the Bible and by participating in the celebration of the Holy Mass. Christian husbands and wives should develop “couple spirituality” and seek more opportunities to pray together. The Martha and Mary episode teaches us the need for balance between service and prayer and the need for spending time with the Lord, learning from Him and recharging our spiritual batteries with the power of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who received Martha’s serving and Mary’s attentive presence, give us the grace to serve the Lord and be served by him at this Mass by precious body and blood.