The Catholic Calendar for Sunday, July 18, 2004
The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Scripture from Sunday’s Liturgy of the Word:
Genesis 18:1-10
Psalm 15:2-15
Colossians 1:24-28
Luke 10:38-42

A reflection on today’s Sacred Scripture:

Today is the very familiar Gospel reading about Martha and Mary - the prototype for the tension between the active and contemplative lives. Because it “seems” that Jesus has endorsed the latter over the former, many fail to realize the importance of “good works” in addition to prayer. To do so, would be to take just a few words from one Gospel while completely ignoring all the other words and examples that Jesus gave us regarding being responsive to the needs of others.

If we look carefully at what Jesus said without first expecting that this is going to be a comparison between active and contemplative activity we will see that Jesus says a very important thing that is often overlooked. That is, that the better portion that Mary has chosen will not be denied her. That doesn’t mean that the “better portion” is the “only” portion. It doesn’t mean she is exempted altogether from being helpful, but that she will not be deprived of her heart’s desire to seek the Lord in prayer; and indeed, she wasn’t.

So we shouldn’t worry if conversation with the Lord is our best portion of life. God will provide us with ample time and opportunities to encounter Him. He is, after all, the Lord of time. If we place our hearts in their rightful spot - seated like Mary at the foot of Jesus, He will give us the time to do it all - pray and perform good works.

Who knows, maybe Mary did all the “dishes” at the end of meal and Martha had her time at the Lord’s feet.

- Donna Raye Nelson, ocds
(drn3rd at hotmail dot com)

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posted by joachim at 4:24 AM