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.

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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!

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Happy Solemnity of the Sacred Heart!

The readings for Mass this year (Year C) were all related to the image of Our Lord as Good Shepherd. The readings really spoke to me today- an important reminder in these crazy times that God always takes care of his people!

The first reading from Ezekial 34:11-16 was very profound: "Thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. . . . I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark . . . I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal." Awesome!

The Gospel (Luke 15:3-7) was also very rich today. It was the parable regarding the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep behind in search of the one lost sheep and greatly rejoices at finding that one lost lamb. Our Lord sums it up, "I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance."

As I was reflecting on these passages, I realized that each one of us, in some way, is the one lost sheep; and, just like in the Gospel parable, our Good Shepherd, Christ, intently seeks us. We are uniquely loved and uniquely precious to our dear Lord, who longs to hold each one of us in his Sacred Heart! Never forget that!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation, have mercy on us!

Hitting the Links

Today, I added links to three of my favorite websites over on the right hand side of the web page. Each of them has been helpful to me in my journey to the Lord and I am hopeful that they will prove helpful to the people that visit this site.

They are:

1. The Mother of God Forum- a lovely place for faith-filled discussion on a myriad of topics related to the Blessed Mother, the Catholic Faith and our strange times.

2. The Pelianito Blog- a blessed and inspiring site from a Canadian "mystic" who hears Our Lord speaking to her through the words of Scripture and shares her inspired thoughts/messages with the world.

3. Mark Mallett's Blog- a true prophet of our times, Mark is a talented musician, a husband and a father. He writes periodically about a variety of subjects related to the faith, but most often about these unique times in which we find ourselves. Mark also has a webcast, Embracing Hope, that is beautiful and inspired.

I would encourage anyone reading this to check out those websites! Again, you can find the links in the right hand column of this web page, just under the picture and profile information.

Praise God!