Homily: Feast of St. Martha
Feast of St. Martha (Luke 10:38-42) “Act and then Reflect”
Martha is one of the Gospel characters who always gets a bad rap. She is looked upon as a shallow busy body while Mary, her sister, is considered deep and spiritual. Martha is worried about how much water is in the soup while Mary does not concern herself with mundane matters.
Jesus criticizes Martha while he seems to give Mary a pass. Is that the overall message of this story? Prayer time is preferable to any charitable activities. This is probably too simple of a conclusion to draw.
Richard Rohr founded the Center for Action and Contemplation. When we hear those two words together, they seem like opposites, but he would say that we are at our best when we balance these two activities in our lives.
What happens when we act without praying? Very often we make decisions that are not well thought out. When we act in haste, we tend to make mistakes. We often find afterwards that we would have liked to have said and done things differently.
On the other hand, what is prayer worth that is not followed up by action? We have people that seem like they are always off to their next retreat, or they are always seeking out the newest spiritual guru. But they never seem to help others grow in any way or they are too busy to help those who need a hand. What good is that?
We take for our model, the person of Jesus. He blended action and contemplation. When he had a busy day in ministry, he seemed to retreat to solitude to unpack that day and find the meaning of it all. When he came down from the mountain after he prayed, he did some of his best ministry.
My first spiritual director put it well when he said, “Our ministry can become a ceaseless round of un-reflected activity.” If that is the case, then things as profound as leading prayer can become as burdensome as digging a ditch. We need to pray, and we need to act on that prayer.
Reflection Questions:
- What do I prefer to do: pray or act? What can I do to balance these two activities?
- Has my prayer become another task to do each day? What might I do about that?
Dear Parishioners,
I went to see a man the other day in the hospital who had been having many health issues. His kidneys were failing. He was struggling with his dialysis regime and was having more and more complications. He asked me if it was alright to want to give up. Was it a sin to be tired of living? This was a tough question. I had seen the man through the years struggle in so many ways. He was tenacious as he fought for life. I assured him that it was not wrong to want to leave his suffering behind. I told him he was a brave man and that he could let go. He seemed to relax at that moment.
I was fortunate a few days later to visit the hospital again and this time the man’s family was around him. We prayed together and a few minutes later he died. For some reason, I felt I needed to go to the hospital Tuesday morning, and I was able to see one of our parishioners slip into eternity. Please pray for all those who are dying today that they may find peace with others, within themselves and with God.
May Our Lady and all the Angels and Saints watch over you today.
Fr. Mark