The Better Portion

October 9, 2018

The message in today’s gospel is as simple as it gets. Simple does not mean easy. Simple does not mean it comes naturally. Simple does not mean automatic. Simple does not mean that we don’t have to work at it. “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.” Raise your hand if you have ever been anxious or worried about many things (or should I just say, raise your hand if you are breathing right now!). Anxiety has become a major theme/symptom for so many of us especially here in America. We are bombarded with 8 million things with which to worry and that is just on the evening news let alone the actual happenings of our daily lives. I know people of all ages beginning with the very young to the very old that suffer from anxiety. Martha is a character that we can all relate to and probably understand more than we’d like to admit. She is a goals-oriented, hard-working, driven, task-centered woman that gets things done, and she is stressed out people! Raise your hand if…

Here’s the simple message: Mary is not stressed out because she is soaking in the presence of Christ! Shall I say it again? Mary is not stressed out because she is soaking in the presence of Christ! That’s it. She is simply soaking in Jesus through adoration, in quietly listening to him talk, in sitting at his feet, in just being near him. Guess what? We can begin every single day choosing this better portion. It is my deep hunch that when we choose this better portion and practice it until it comes as naturally as being stressed out, then our productivity in work, home, and extracurriculars will also increase. Our Mary time will increase our Martha-ness minus the anxiety and worry. How great is that? Not that productivity should be the goal, just that when Jesus is our first priority, the rest of our lives fall into their proper order as well. Mary teaches us about piety today and it is not some complicated theological, study-driven routine; sit at His feet and listen. Sit at His feet and gaze. Sit at His feet and let Him love you. Sit at His feet before you do anything else. Sit at His feet and soak in the peace that surpasses all understanding and it is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 GAL 1:13-24

Brothers and sisters:
You heard of my former way of life in Judaism,
how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure
and tried to destroy it, 
and progressed in Judaism
beyond many of my contemporaries among my race,
since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.
But when he, who from my mother's womb had set me apart
and called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were Apostles before me;
rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas
and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the Apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.
(As to what I am writing to you, behold,
before God, I am not lying.)
Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea
that are in Christ;
they only kept hearing that "the one who once was persecuting us
is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."
So they glorified God because of me.

Responsorial Psalm PS 139:1B-3, 13-14AB, 14C-15

R. (24b) Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother's womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

Alleluia LK 11:28

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are those who hear the word of God
and observe it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 10:38-42

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." 
The Lord said to her in reply,
"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."