The One Thing We Need Most

Today in the Church calendar is the Feast of St. Martha. Thus, the Gospel lectionary for today is from Luke 10:38-42....

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

We live in a very busy world where we are often judged by others, and judge the value of our own lives, by the level of our activity, productivity, and busyness. This is true even in the Church. As some Christian wag once said, "Jesus could be returning at any moment, so look busy!"

This little story from Luke's Gospel cuts against the grain of all that. This is not to say that the Marthas of the world aren't important. They are. Without them, we would not have meals, or clean clothes, or pleasant surroundings in which to live our lives. But as important as attending to the basics of life are, like food, shelter, and clothing, Jesus says there is actually one thing that is more important. And Mary in this story has chosen that one thing: to sit at Jesus' feet and learn from him.

This poses the question for us: do we take time to sit at Jesus' feet and learn from him? Do we make that a priority in our everyday lives?

I am going to try to be a little less like Martha and a little more like Mary for the next few days as I go on vacation with my family. I hope you too will find some time this summer to check out from the busyness of the world and check in with your loved ones and with the Lord.

I hope to return to blogging a week from now. Till then, go under the mercy....

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