ESTABLISH
BALANCE IN LIFE
Jesus loved to visit the home of Martha
and Mary and enjoyed their gracious hospitality. In this brief encounter we see
two very different temperaments in Martha and Mary. Martha loved to serve, but
in her anxious manner of waiting, Jesus brought her unrest. Mary, in her simple
and trusting manner, waited on Jesus by sitting attentively at His feet. It was
their attentive, hospitable presence that Jesus desired most from them. How
often does anxiety and preoccupation keep us from listening and from giving the
Lord our attention?
Jesus Christ desires that we make a
place for Him, not only in our hearts, but in our homes and in the daily
circumstances of our lives as well. We honor Jesus when we offer Him everything
we have and everything we do. After all, everything we have is an outright gift
from our heavenly Father.
When St. Luke recorded this in his
Gospel, his intention was to establish a balance in the lives of Christians;
between the need for practical charity and the importance of hearing the Word
of God. This Word is nourishment for our spiritual lives and more important
than the food that sustains our natural lives. St. Paul
tells us that after his conversion he went off to the deserts of Arabia to dedicate himself to communion with God in prayer.
His mission was to be a very active one, but he realized his own need to digest
and assimilate God's Word.
The point of the Gospel story is that
Martha and Mary, together, form the ideal disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple
must hear the Word of God and put It into practice. Since we lead very busy
lives and are tempted to give so little time directly to God in prayer, Jesus
emphasized the example of Mary - an example of prayer and listening. This
emphasis on prayer and listening is one which is probably needed in the lives
of most of us?
May we listen deeply to the words in
today's Responsorial Psalm, "Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting
way" (Ps 139:24b). "O Lord, You have probed me and You know me...You
knit me in my mother's womb...how wonderful are Your works. My soul also You
knew full well...when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth" (Ps
139:1, 13 - 15).