The Better Part, A Contemplative Life

At Jesus's Feet by Nathan Greene

In today's Gospel reading we are introduced to two sisters. Martha and Mary. The two sisters represent "the two dimensions of the spiritual life." (Ignatius Study Bible). Martha represents the active life of Christian service, while Mary signifies the life of contemplation, of prayer. In the story, Martha is portrayed as hustling about serving the guests, while Mary remains at Christ's feet listening. Martha is agitated that Mary is not helping and complains to Jesus. He responds by saying. “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.” (Luke 10: 41-41)

I don't believe that Christ is telling Martha that service is bad, but instead he is telling her that the contemplative life is better. We would all do well to have a balance spiritual life of both contemplation and service.

For further reading on the "better part," I recommend reading the Catholic Spiritual Direction blog hosted by the author of the book The Better Part.

Here's a sample of today's reflections from The Better Part app:

The crucial sign that we may be following Martha’s footsteps a little
too closely is a waning life of prayer. When we skimp on our prayer
life, on that precious time that we spend, as Mary did, “at the Lord’s
feet listening to him speaking,” we need to stop and check our
spiritual vital signs. Maybe we have let ourselves become so
“distracted with all the serving” that we have forgotten why we should
be serving at all.