Replies

Saint Martha - Memorial

Commentary of the day
Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 103,1,2; PL 38, 613

“A woman named Martha welcomed him to her home.”

Martha and Mary were sisters; they were close not only through ties of blood, but also through piety. Both of them were attached to the Lord, and with one heart they served him during the time of his life here below. Martha welcomed him as one normally welcomes a traveler. But it was a servant welcoming her Master, someone who is ill welcoming her Savior, a creature welcoming her Creator… For the Lord wanted to take the form of a servant so that it would be possible for servants to nourish him…

So here we have the Lord being welcomed like a guest. “To his own he came, yet his own did not accept him. Any who did accept him he empowered to become children of God.” (Jn 1:11-12) The servants who had been adopted in this way became his brothers, the captives who had been delivered in this way became his co-heirs. But let no one among you say: Blest are they who had the good fortune of welcoming Christ in their own house! Don’t feel pain, don’t lament for having been born during a period when you can no longer see the Lord in flesh and blood. He has not withdrawn his favor from you, he who said: “As often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.” (Mt 25:40)

'The worthy priest is an angel of purity in mind and body, a cherub of light and knowledge, a seraph of love and Charity, an apostle of zeal in work and sanctity, a little god on earth in power and authority, in patience and benignity. He is the living image of Christ in this world, of Christ watching, praying, preaching, catechizing, working, weeping, going from town to town, from village to village, suffering, agonizing, sacrificing Himself and dying for the souls created to His image and likeness. . . He is the light of those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He is the destroyer of error, schisms and heresies, the converter of sinners, the sanctifier of the just, the strength of the weak, the consolation of the afflicted, the treasure of the poor. He is the confusion of hell, the glory of heaven, the terror of demons, the joy of angels, the ruin of Satan's kingdom, the establishment of Christ's empire, the ornament of the Church. . .'

St. Jean Eudes