Homily: October 10, 2023, Tuesday of the Twenty seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Martha Mary).

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"Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her." 

Honestly, how many of you have had thoughts that probably Mary was lazy and chose the easier part so she could escape doing anything?

I had that thought too. Many of us can instead easily identify and empathize with Martha. We work hard, are focused on our responsibilities, and take pride in accomplishing our tasks and duties, sometimes overwhelming ourselves.

As a pastor, I often feel the weight of the parish on my shoulders and wish that more people would share this load with me. You might feel the same in your ministry, home or at work. And then we complain, like Martha. We not only complain to God, we also complain about God!

When Jesus says, "Mary has chosen the better part," I can imagine how Martha feels. If I were Martha, I might say in exasperation, "Alright Jesus, you can continue talking to her. No dinner will be served then."

And you know what? Jesus might even be happy about it, that Martha would stop fussing about dinner and join Mary instead, to sit and listen to Him!

Because that is what He wants, that is really most important to Him, not the dinner.

The Missionaries of Charity sisters, the religious order founded by Mother Teresa, have a practice where their daily prayer time must be the same length of time as their work, ministry or outreach programs etc. That means if they worked 5 hours, then they should have 5 hours of prayer.

Once, some of the younger nuns suggested to Mother Teresa that they could do more work for the poor. She responded, "Of course, we can do more hours of work, but we will increase our prayer time accordingly." Because to Mother Teresa, if they do not connect with God enough, their work will lose it’s purpose and meaning.

That is divine logic, the logic which all the saints lived by. The work we do is an outward expression of what we have received from the Lord internally. The input is prayer, the output is work. They must always balance.

Jesus says, "You can do nothing without me."

If we have more work to do, then we have to connect with Him more. The work we do should not be an extension of our pride, but an expression of God’s inspiration and grace.

So next time I complain to you about feeling burdened with much work and ministry, please remind me to stop being Martha and go sit at the Lord’s feet and to listen to Him like Mary did.

Amen.


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