Navarre Bible Commentary:Tuesday, 27th Week in Ordinary Time

At Jesus's Feet, Nathan Greene

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

27th Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 10:38-42

Martha and Mary Welcome Our Lord

[38] Now as they went on their way, He (Jesus) entered a village; and a woman named Martha received Him into her house. [39] And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching. [40] But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to Him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." [41] But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; [42] one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good position, which shall not be taken away from her."

Cited in the Catechism:  In declaring the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are not cited in the Catechism,  however we recommend reading this passage in light of the Catechism's teaching on contemplative prayer found in paragraphs 2709-2724.

Commentary:

38-42. Our Lord was heading for Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) and His journey took Him through Bethany, the village where Lazarus, Martha and Mary lived -- a family for whom He had a special affection, as we see in other passages of the Gospel (cf. John 11:1-14; 12:1-9).

St. Augustine comments on this scene as follows: "Martha, who was arranging and preparing the Lord's meal, was busy doing many things, whereas Mary preferred to find her meal in what the Lord was saying. In a way she deserted her sister, who was very busy, and sat herself down at Jesus' feet and just listened to His words. She was faithfully obeying what the Psalm said: 'Be still and know that I am God' (Psalm 46:10). Martha was getting annoyed, Mary was feasting; the former coping with many things, the latter concentrating on one. Both occupations were good" (Sermon, 103).

Martha has come to be, as it were, the symbol of the active life, and Mary that of the contemplative life. However, for most Christians, called as they are to sanctify themselves in the middle of the world, action and contemplation cannot be regarded as two opposite ways of practising the Christian faith: an active life forgetful of union with God is useless and barren; but an apparent life of prayer which shows no concern for apostolate and the sanctification of ordinary things also fails to please God. The key lies in being able to combine these two lives, without either harming the other. Close union between action and contemplation can be achieved in very different ways, depending on the specific vocation each person is given by God.

Far from being an obstacle, work should be a means and an occasion for a close relationship with our Lord, which is the most important thing in our life.

Following this teaching of the Lord, the ordinary Christian should strive to attain an integrated life -- an intense life of piety and external activity, orientated towards God, practised out of love for Him and with an upright intention, which expresses itself in apostolate, in everyday work, in doing the duties of one's state in life. "You must understand now more clearly that God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, material and secular activities of human life. He waits for us every day, in the laboratory, in the operating room, in the army bar- racks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work. Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each of you to discover it [...]. There is no other way. Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday life, or else we shall never find Him. That is why I can tell you that our age needs to give back to matter and to the most trivial occurrences and situations their noble and original meaning. It needs to restore them to the service of the Kingdom of God, to spiritualize them, turning them into a means and an occasion for a continuous meeting with Jesus Christ" (St. J. Escriva, Conversations, 114).

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome

Martha, Mary and the Better Part

Source: At Jesus' Feet, Nathan Greene

Two Dimensions
Today's Gospel reading from Luke, tells the account of Jesus' encounter with Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus and close friends of our Lord who lived in Bethany. 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: 41-42)

Balanced Spiritual Life
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. According to St. Josemaria:

Martha has come to be, as it were, the symbol of the active life, and Mary that of the contemplative life. However, for most Christians, called as they are to sanctify themselves in the middle of the world, action and contemplation cannot be regarded as two opposite ways of practising the Christian faith: an active life forgetful of union with God is useless and barren; but an apparent life of prayer which shows no concern for apostolate and the sanctification of ordinary things also fails to please God. The key lies in being able to combine these two lives, without either harming the other. Close union between action and contemplation can be achieved in very different ways, depending on the specific vocation each person is given by God. 

Far from being an obstacle, work should be a means and an occasion for a close relationship with our Lord, which is the most important thing in our life. 

Following this teaching of the Lord, the ordinary Christian should strive to attain an integrated life--an intense life of piety and external activity, orientated towards God, practised out of love for Him and with an upright intention, which expresses itself in apostolate, in everyday work, in doing the duties of one's state in life. "You must understand now more clearly that God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary, material and secular activities of human life. He waits for us every day, in the laboratory, in the operating room, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work. Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each of you to discover it [...]. There is no other way. Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday life, or else we shall never find Him. That is why I can tell you that our age needs to give back to matter and to the most trivial occurrences and situations their noble and original meaning. It needs to restore them to the service of the Kingdom of God, to spiritualize them, turning them into a means and an occasion for a continuous meeting with Jesus Christ (St. J. Escriva, Conversations, 114).

The Better Part
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 which explains how we can tell when our spiritual lives are out of balance:

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. (The Better Part, 188)

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.

Martha & Mary: A Woman's Perspective

At Jesus's Feet by Nathan Greene

Despite what the secular media want to portray, the Catholic Church is not an anti-woman, misogynistic institution. Instead, the Church esteems the equal dignity of all people. If any of these critics, would actually attend Mass, they would see how vital women are to the Church. It is in this light that I have asked Sandy Leners to write a guest post each week. This weekly contribution will be called Martha and Mary. Sandy will give us a woman's perspective on Catholicism. I have asked her to simply write about topics that interest her. 


Sandy, along with her husband Lindon (a founding member of Joe Catholic), heads up our RCIA team at St. Catherine of Siena. Additionally, Sandy is involved in a number of other ministries, including a new women's group called the Ladies of the Knights, a auxiliary women's group who support their family members who are Knights of Columbus.

Mary and Martha could learn from St. Joseph. Yesterday [Editor's note: this was submitted Wednesday, but I wasn't able to edit it until today.] was the Solemnity of St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus and faithful chaste husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus. Scripture tells us that Joseph was a righteous man, a just man. Additionally, we can glean from the Gospel accounts that Joseph had guts...well he had much more than that. He possessed virtues that all of us should strive to receive. While silent throughout scripture, Joseph exemplifies all of the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. As a result of these virtues, Joseph BELIEVED. He was a man of faith and it was his faith that brought him through the toughest times of all.

He raised Jesus and he taught him a craft. St. Joseph is often portrayed in art lovingly holding the child, Jesus. He was the first man to hold Christ in his hands, much like the priest at the consecration. He was indeed the man closest to Christ. He had to have loved Jesus with his whole heart. Additionally, he also had to love Mary with his whole heart. His faith and open heart saved his life, and the life of Jesus and Mary at least twice, and he just kept listening. We say "Praise God"...well Joseph did praise God in each and every "yes" to what he was asked to do. That steady "being-there-for-them" man that he was...well it doesn't get any better than that.

Can we measure up to that? Yes, we can. It doesn't have to be all at once. Remember the account in St. John's Gospel (today's Gospel reading, one of the scrutinies) about Jesus' friend Lazarus having died. Both Mary and Martha said to Jesus, "If you had been here our brother would not have died!" Despite their grief, they both had faith that Jesus would raise their brother on the last day. They knew Jesus was the Messiah. Even though they believed, they still didn't quite get what that meant.

The raising of Lazarus is a touching account because it displays the complete humanity of Christ. First, he became perturbed at the people for their lack of belief (the commentators of the Ignatius study bible point out that he may have been angry at the presence of evil). Next, we see that he wept at the loss of His friend. Jesus also had pity on those who STILL did not understand who he was or why he came. Therefore, Jesus demonstrated His full divinity by calling a four-day old dead man out of his tomb and bringing him back to life! Was it at that moment they all finally got it? We will learn next week that sadly the answer to that is no.

Nevertheless, we can measure up. We can come to believe. We are called to a New Evangelization. This means loving more, talking more (or listening), being kinder, raising ourselves to a better understanding of just how much Jesus does love us. Yes! We can measure up! We can reflect on this during this Lenten Season, and we can pray for guidance to persevere in finding God's will for us each and every day. Like Martha, we can be busy in practicing virtues (works) and like Mary we can listen to what God is saying to us (contemplative). Each of us, in our hearts, has the capacity to hear and feel the goodness of the Lord.