July 21^st 2019.  Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 10:38-42

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   Luke 10:38-42

Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"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."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the first reading on Sunday, Abraham generously receives three guests. But they end up doing much more for him than he does for them. They bless him with fruitfulness. In the Gospel, we have a similar story of a guest who offers much more than he can receive. Marta and Mary welcome Jesus in their house. Marta is frantically busy doing things for Jesus, while Mary sits still and receives what Jesus has to offer. Marta complains that Mary is doing nothing. She does not comprehend that her guest has much more to offer her than she can offer him. The problem with Marta is not that she serves. The problem is that she has made her own activity the primary thing. It is all about what she is doing. In saying to Jesus, “Tell my sister to help me”, she is really saying, “I am not so interested in what you have to say, Jesus. What is important here is my work, and everyone should be helping me”. Mary, by contrast, remains still and receives every word that comes from Jesus. In the spiritual life, there are different levels of reception of the Lord, as this story illustrates. Marta and Mary both receive Jesus into their home, but Mary goes to the next level, the level that is most difficult for all of us! And this is to welcome Jesus for who he is, and not according to our own personal schemes!

In the spiritual life, we must receive the Lord into our lives. But there are different levels of reception, as Marta and Mary demonstrate.

In the Gospel reading for Sunday, Marta hosts the Lord Jesus, an event that is anything but trivial. In the various stages of spiritual life, the phase of acceptance/reception is decisive. The Lord - paraphrasing the Apocalypse - enters our existence by knocking on our door - and it is a question of letting him enter. By doing so, the relationship with Him becomes a true relationship and one becomes intimate with him. Marta does this and it is no little thing. But once the door is open to the Lord Jesus, there is a further leap in quality to be made, and many find this next step very difficult. Often the most gifted people are the ones who find it most challenging. What is this next step? To not only to welcome the Lord, but to welcome him for who he is and not according to our schemes. This issue is perfectly illustrated by our Gospel reading for Sunday.

Abraham shows hospitality and receives in return a much greater gift from his three guests. Marta, too, has a guest who can give her more than she can offer him. But she is too busy to appreciate what he can offer! Mary, by contrast, remains still and receives every word that Jesus has to say.

Marta welcomes Jesus. She is a capable woman who knows how to manage and organise. The Master has arrived, and everyone is talking about him, and we are in a Jewish village, where hospitality is sacred. The first reading on Sunday prepares the theme with the story of the generous welcome that Abraham offers to three men. A nomad like Abraham knows that welcoming or not welcoming a traveller could be a matter of life or death. But to Abraham - as to Marta - something happens that goes beyond the usual scheme of receiving a guest: those who arrive have more to offer than the host! Abraham prepares everything for these three pilgrims, but they in turn will change his life, leaving him the fruitfulness he longed for. Marta, for her part, is frantically doing all that she is able for her guest. She is anxious and becomes aggressive with her sister who does not help her. And just what is Mary doing? She remains still, intent on receiving what this pilgrim has to give her. For Mary, no word of this Master should be lost.

Marta is preoccupied with her own activity. She does not realise that someone has entered her house who can do infinitely more for her than she can do for him. If our lives are to be of heaven, then we must receive from Him who has come down from heaven. And then, when I see what He is doing for me, I will serve others with joy, not with bitterness, checking to see if they are working as hard as me!

For Marta her action is the central thing, what she produces. What she does not comprehend is that today, in her house, an Other has entered, someone who is completely different. He has little to receive and an awful lot to give! In fact, he wishes to give her "the best part" that no one can ever take away. Serving is important, but it is a consequence of our relationship with God; it is not the starting point. We are never the ones to love first; we do not start from ourselves but from Him. If we give what we are able to give, however good we are, it will always be something that comes to an end, something that will be taken away, sooner or later. To enter into an existence that is related to Heaven, that smacks of eternity, we must receive it from the One who comes from the Father. Only He knows how to give what will not be taken from me in joy and in pain, in abundance and poverty, in sickness or in rejection. Only He can give me that which no thief will be able to steal from me and which will be more important than everything else. When I discover what the Lord does for me, what I do for others will seems little in comparison and I will do it with joy. It won’t occur to me to check to see if my sister is doing less or more than me. I will have better things to think about.