The Better Part

Today we heard the gospel of Martha and Mary.  It is a story we all know well.  We know that Mary sits at the feet of our Lord and listens while Martha works to prepare the dinner, and that Martha complains to Jesus that Mary is not helping her.  We know that Martha is chastised by the Lord.

I think that priests must get a little nervous when it is time to preach on this gospel.  So many well intentioned, hard working mothers are offended at the notion that Jesus prefers the contemplative Mary to the active Martha.  To lighten this blow, they tell us that it is not Martha’s service that upsets Jesus, it is her attitude of resentment towards her sister.  She must have a more gracious heart and put love into her service.

Easy for you to say, I always think.  Jesus says something very specific.  You are anxious about many things, and Mary has chosen the better part.  While I  agree with the pastors who tell us that the Lord is not implying that all women should go into contemplative orders,  but in order to do this service gracefully and make it an offering to God we must carve out some time of contemplation and quiet prayer in the presence of God each and every day.

This is the tool that will relieve us of our anxiety and will allow us to be gracious about the work that must be done.  We can seek out God’s presence in the tabernacle, we can find it in the Word with just five minutes of reading each day, we can begin each day with a morning offering giving over all that we will do to the Lord.  Perhaps we can make time for an annual retreat or a monthly evening of recollection.   If our Sunday masses are spent trying to keep the children quiet, we can ask our husbands to load them into the car at the end while we spend just a few minutes in quiet prayer.  Then, we will surely be just as busy, but we can go about our week without being anxious about many things.  When we need help, we can ask for it nicely, as Martha might have done if she were not so overwhelmed.  When our children and husbands and guests need our time and attention we can put aside our work and see the face of God in them.

All of our work can be a prayer, but we mothers and wives really need contemplative prayer time, too, so that we do not wind up cranky and anxious like poor Martha, with whom we all sympathize deeply!