Gospel  LK 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.”
Reflection:
Today’s gospel is not an “either or thing.”
I think people have some of both Martha and Mary in them.
Many years ago, I asked a Catholic nun who worked tirelessly serving the poor about her prayer life.
She answered, “My work is my prayer.”
That was in the early days of My Brother’s Keeper.
Filled with zeal and excitement at the birth of My Brother’s Keeper, the nun’s answer resonated with me: Yes, I thought! That makes sense to me: “my work is my prayer.”
Now, twenty-eight years later, I have come to feel differently.
Prayer, taking time to be alone with God, is the “gas in my tank.” Prayer keeps me going and enables me to do God’s work.
I have also come to see how others, particularly those whom we serve, rely on prayer. Most especially, my heroes, single parents. I don’t know anyone who works harder or sacrifices more than single parents.
Inevitably, when I bring a bed or a box of food to a single mom, her response has some reference to prayer, such as, “God bless you for what you do,” or at the presentation of the crucifix, “God’s the one who gets me through.”
Such replies remind me of the words of Saint Paul in his letter to the Philippians (4:13); “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Certainly, Christ does not expect us to “lay around heaven” or earth all day. We are here to bring His love and hope into the world.
But, it is “His” love and hope that we spread, and it must be to Him we turn for guidance, strength, and peace of mind and heart.
Ask yourself: “Is prayer your steering wheel, or your spare tire?”
– – Corrie Ten Boom