Saint Martha

St. Martha was the sister of Lazarus and a good friend of Jesus. It was her feast day last Thursday (July 29th). At Mass that day, I noticed that there are two possible Gospel readings on her feast day.

The first option, which is perhaps the more well-known passage, is from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 10:38-42), and relates the story of Jesus' visit to Martha's home in Bethany. This passage contains the memorable response from Jesus to Martha after Martha came to Jesus "complaining" that her sister, Mary, was not helping to serve the guests, but rather was sitting at the feet of the Lord, listening to him speak. In response to Martha's "gripe", Jesus says:

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.

To me, Jesus' response is an important reminder that, although one must be active and tend to the necessary tasks of daily life, there is also a need to simply sit at the feet of the Lord -- in prayer, at Mass, at Eucharistic Adoration -- and listen. We must find time to sit and let Jesus speak to our hearts and hang on his every word. In fact, our Lord suggests that this contemplative sort of activity is "the better part." Interesting.

* * * * *

The second passage is from the Gospel of John (Jn 11:19-27) and occurs just after Martha's brother, Lazarus, has died. Jesus has been summoned to Bethany because of the death of his friend and Martha meets him on the way. This is their conversation:

Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you."

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise."

Martha said to him, "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day."

Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world."

This exchange between Jesus and Martha, particularly Martha's inspired insight that Jesus is the Christ, suggests that although Martha was a whirlwind of activity when we met her in Luke's Gospel, she also learned a thing or two at the feet of Jesus!

Putting these two Gospel passages together, I come up with the following conclusion: Contemplative prayer, or a contemplative life, which is represented by Martha's sister, Mary, sitting at Jesus' feet in the Gospel of Luke, is an important and perhaps even "better" way of life for a Christian. However, as we see in the passage from John's Gospel, just because one has chosen a more "active" part in life does not mean that the fruit of contemplation is wholly lost. Martha's insight that Jesus is "the Christ" suggests that she, too, has come to an understanding of the deep truths of our faith. In that regard, I think that St. Martha represents many of us who find our way to Jesus through the activities of our lives, who meet Jesus in our "doing" before we meet him in contemplation.

Either way, I think it is safe to say that Jesus wants each of us to come to know him as the Christ and whether we follow a path of action or contemplation, or perhaps a combination of both, as long as our path leads us to the truth about Jesus, it will be a path worth travelling.

Praise God!