[Catholic Caucus Devotional] My Catholic Life! Catholic Daily Reflections: Distraction vs. Contemplation

Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” Luke 10:38–40

Why was Martha burdened with much serving? The Greek word translated as “burdened” literally suggests being dragged around or pulled in every direction. Though her actions were inspired by love, they were tainted by anxiety and comparison. Her frustrated complaint reveals a divided heart: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?”

Martha’s work was essential. Her difficulty was not that her service was unimportant. She and her siblings, Mary and Lazarus, were close friends of Jesus, and He visited them frequently—most notably just prior to the first Holy Week.

Jesus’ gentle response shows His love and respect for Martha, but it also corrects her as a way of helping her with her anxiety: “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).

What was that “better part?” Was it that Mary chose not to serve? Certainly not. After this somewhat embarrassing interaction, it’s possible that Mary did get up and assist with the serving. The “better part” of which Jesus speaks points more to the interior disposition than the outward activity.

Mary’s heart was not anxious, worried, or burdened. She was attentive and contemplative. Traditionally, Mary’s act of sitting at Jesus’ feet has been interpreted as a symbol of the contemplative life to which each of us is called.

Jesus’ gentleness invites Martha—and each of us—to identify that which burdens us most. For Martha, it was that she was more focused on comparing herself with her sister than on her loving service. Jesus was inviting Martha to embrace her act of service with a contemplative heart. She could have silently worked, prepared the meal, and interiorly rejoiced over Mary’s adoration of Jesus. She could have pondered the great privilege of having Jesus in her home and marveled at the opportunity to serve the Son of God a meal she prepared. Like Mary, the “better part” was within her grasp.

Martha was clearly a good woman. In John’s Gospel, when Lazarus died and Jesus arrived days later, it was Martha who ran out to meet Him and professed her faith in Him. Perhaps it was today’s gentle correction that helped her become more contemplative and prepared her to trust in Jesus when the time came for Lazarus to die.

Reflect today on the interior burdens that weigh you down and rob you of your peace. Ask yourself whether your heart is recollected and attentive to the Lord throughout your day, especially amid your duties and responsibilities. Strive to imitate Mary by sitting at the feet of Jesus in prayer, and imitate Martha by serving with love—but do both with a contemplative spirit. Choose the better part each day by letting your heart remain fixed on Christ, so that whether you pray or work, your soul rests in Him.

Lord Jesus, You desire my heart more than my labor. Help me to sit at Your feet each day with the attentive spirit of Mary. May I also serve You, like Martha, with love and dedication, but never at the expense of my peace or in comparison to others. Teach me to unite my work with prayer, my action with contemplation. Free me from distractions, anxieties, and judgments, and draw me into that interior stillness where I encounter Your voice. May I always choose the better part, and may it never be taken from me. Jesus, I trust in You.

NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY(RSV)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

Today’s First Reading

From: Galatians 1:13-24

God's Call (Continuation)
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[13] For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it; [14] and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. [15] But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, [16] was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, [17] nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus.

[18] Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. [19] But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. [20] (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) [21] Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. [22] And I was still not known by sight to the churches of Christ in Judea; [23] they only heard it said, "He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy; [24] And they glorified God because of me.

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Commentary:

13-14. The Acts of the Apostles tell us about Paul's religious zeal; a Pharisee, he had studied under Gamaliel (cf. Acts 22:3; Phil 3:5) and had consented to and been present at the martyrdom of Stephen (cf. Acts 7:58; 8:1). Saul had stood out as a persecutor of Christians, so keen was he to seek them out and imprison them, even going beyond Judea to do so (cf. Acts 9:1-2). Clearly he had been a man convinced of his Jewish faith, a zealous keeper of the Law, and proud to be a Jew (cf. Rom 11:1 ; 2 Cor 11:22). Such was the fear the early Christians had of him that they could not bring themselves to believe in his conversion (cf. Acts 9:26). However, this same fervor and passion, to use St Augustine's comparison (cf. "Contra Faustum", XXII, 70) was like a dense jungle--a serious obstacle and yet an indication of immensely fertile soil. Our Lord sowed the seed of the Gospel in that soil and it produced a very rich crop.

Everyone, no matter how irregular his life may have been, can produce good results like this--with the help of grace, which does not displace nature but heals and purifies it, and then raises and perfects it: Courage! You...can! Don't you see what God's grace did with sleepy-headed Peter, the coward who had denied him..., and with Paul, his fierce and relentless persecutor?" (St J. Escriva, "The Way", 483).

15-16. More than once in Scripture we read about God choosing certain people for special missions even when they were still in their mother's womb (cf. Jer 1:5; Is 49:1-5; Lk 1:15; etc.). This emphasizes the fact that God makes a gratuitous choice: there is no question of the person's previous merits contributing to God's decision. Vocation is a supernatural divine gift, which God has planned from all eternity. When God made his will known on the road to Damascus (cf. Acts 9:3-6), St Paul "did not confer with flesh and blood", that is, did not seek advice from anyone, because he was absolutely sure that God himself had called him. Nor did he consent to the prudence of the flesh, seeking to "play safe": his self-surrender was immediate, total and unconditional. When the Apostles heard Jesus inviting them to follow him, they "immediately left their nets" (Mt 4:20, 22; Mk 1:18) and followed the Master, leaving everything behind (cf. Lk 5:11). We see the same thing happening in Saul's case: he responds immediately. If he makes his way to Ananias, he does so on the explicit instructions of Jesus--in order to receive instruction and Baptism and to discover what his mission is to be (Acts 9:15-16).

God's call, therefore, should receive an immediate response. "Consider the faith and obedience of the Apostles", St John Chrysostom says. "They are in the midst of their work (and you know how attractive fishing is!). When they hear his command, they do not vacillate or lose any time: they do not say, 'Let's go home and say goodbye to our parents.' No, they leave everything and follow him [...]. That is the kind of obedience Christ asks of us - not to delay even a minute, no matter how important the things that might keep us" ("Hom. on St Matthew", 14, 2). And St Cyril of Alexandria comments: "For Jesus also said, 'No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God', and he looked back who asked permission to return home and speak to his parents. But we see that the holy Apostles did not act in that way; rather they followed Jesus, immediately leaving the boat and their parents behind. Paul also acted immediately. He 'did not confer with flesh and blood'. That is how those who want to follow Christ must act" ("Commentarium in Lucam", 9).

A person has a duty to follow Christ even if his relatives are opposed to his doing so or want him to delay making a final decision, perhaps because they feel that would be the more (humanly) prudent course: "A person should honor his parents, but God he should obey. We should love the one who has begotten us, but the first place should be given to him who created us", St Augustine says, not mincing words ("Sermon 100").

Even if we are unsure as to whether we are strong enough to persevere, this should not delay us or concern us: it should simply lead us to pray confidently for God's help, because, as Vatican II teaches, when God calls a person, he "must reply without taking counsel with flesh and blood and must give himself fully to the work of the Gospel. However, such an answer can only be given with the encouragement and help of the Holy Spirit [...]. Therefore, he must be prepared to remain faithful to his vocation for life, to renounce himself and everything that up to this he possessed as his own, and to make himself 'all things to all men' (1 Cor 9:22)" ("Ad Gentes", 24).

17-20. After a period of time devoted to penance and prayer, St Paul made his way to Jerusalem (cf. Acts 9:26-30) to see Cephas, that is, Peter. His stay of two weeks is an important indication of Paul's recognition of and veneration for Peter, chosen as he had been as the foundation stone of the Church.

In subsequent generations, right down the centuries, Christians have shown their love for Peter and his successors, traveling to Rome often at great personal effort and sometimes, even, risk. "Catholic, apostolic, "Roman"! I want you to be very Roman. And to be anxious to make your 'path to Rome', "videre Petrum"--to see Peter (J. Escriva, "The Way", 520). Solidarity with and veneration for the Pope is, then, a clear, practical sign of good Christian spirit.

"James the Lord's brother" (cf. notes on Mt 12:46-47 and 13:55) is, most commentators think, James the Less (cf. Mk 15:40), also called the son of Alphaeus (cf. Lk 6:15) and author of the letter which bears his name (cf. Jas 1:1).

Today’s Gospel Reading

From: Luke 10:38-42

Martha and Mary Welcome Our Lord
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[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."

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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 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).

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