If there’s something synonymous to being a Filipino, it’s food. Food is at the center of
every gathering, whether it’s just a causal meeting of friends to big occasions like birthdays, funerals, graduations, you name it. And, it’s not just one dish, but a normal simple gathering would have 5 or 6 different kinds to choose from. If you have been to a Filipino party, you know what I mean. It’s great, but you can only imagine the amount of time and effort that one puts into it, not excluding the time to prepare the house to make sure that it’s presentable and clean. And, since nowadays, diet is more complicated than ever where many follow a certain diet, one ends up stopping at three or four different stores because you can’t find all the ingredients in one store. By the time our guests arrive at our homes, we are sometimes super exhausted. Thus, at times, we lose the opportunity to really connect and celebrate life with our guests.
In the gospel today, we have a very familiar scenario in the story of Mary and Martha, hosts to the best guest that one could ever have, Jesus himself. I can’t blame Martha for being so busy and preoccupied. They had Jesus as their guest! Of course, you want to have the best for Jesus!
When Jesus arrived at their home, Martha was already overwhelmed. She was probably juggling tasks to be done in the house, prepping the appetizer, the spreads, the olives, the dips. You know the drill. Then, she had to put the salmon in the oven, set the table, etc. She was overwhelmed to the point that she already complained to Jesus: Lord, don’t you care that my sister just left me to do all the serving, please tell her to help me. To which Jesus said, “Martha has chosen the better part and it cannot be taken away from her.” Not that Jesus didn’t appreciate the efforts and hospitality of Martha, because he did. But, he wants to remind Martha that there’s something more important and essential than all the serving that she was doing. And, what is that more important thing? To be in conversation with him, where the relationship is nurtured in a real and deeper way.
I sometimes find myself working and working, running from one meeting to another, only to realize at the end of the day that I haven’t really found time for personal prayer and reflection. And, there’s always that temptation to justify it by saying “Well, I had 3 Masses today, I went to visit the sick, I met with a couple struggling in their marriage, this is all for you Lord. Ministry is prayer too.” But, there’s also the need to pause, to recollect, to reflect and to talk to the person whom we are offering these things in the first place. I know that if I don’t take care of my personal relationship with God, then I won’t be able to sustain the demands of the ministry. I would be reducing my priesthood to a mere occupation and not a way of life or vocation. It’s like a parent or a spouse who is working super hard to provide for the family to the point that one doesn’t have quality time to spend with one’s family. The relationship suffers; children are alienated; spouse feels undervalued. What’s the point of working so hard if in the process we will lose the very people we are working so hard for in the first place? In as much as “doing” is important, “being” is also necessary.
The two attitudes that we have today in the person of Mary and Martha aren’t meant to be in competition with one another. But, rather, these two attitudes must find a healthy balance in our life. Jesus wasn't at all minimizing the importance of what Martha was doing, but was focusing on how she was doing it. The last thing Jesus would want is for all of us to merely sit at his feet and allow everyone else to work to serve us. That's
certainly not the Christian way or the way Jesus adapted. Like Martha, we are called to work hard serving others, but we're supposed to do it with the spirit of Mary. That's what the sanctification of our work is all about, to have Martha's hands and Mary's contemplative heart, so that we won't be distracted by many other things, but so focused on Jesus in work, at school and in family life, that we're getting fed by him in action so that we might feed others, not just by our work, but with the “One” working within us. That's the vocation of every Christian.
One of the most important forms of service we can give to others is to help them form the true priorities that will bring them to happiness, holiness and heaven. Jesus wants to send us as missionaries to show them by our witness and words how to choose the “better part”, how happily to make God the true priority of one's life, in the midst of so many modern distractions and anxieties that leave people without a sure compass and spinning out of control. Each of us is called to work as hard as Martha, out of love for God and others, in setting an eloquent, attractive example like Mary, the example of a life with Jesus at the center.
Today, we, too, like Mary, have listened at Jesus' feet while he has fed us with his word. We ask him likewise to give us the courage to reorder the priorities of our life and to base our lives on what he has reminded us today. Jesus is the one thing necessary. Mary chose the better part. Now let us ask her to intercede for us from before Jesus' feet in heaven for the grace to make the same choice today, tomorrow and each day going forward.
Do the examples of Mary and Martha find a healthy balance in your life? –Fr. Cary