17: Mary and Martha

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.”

This was the Gospel reading for today and it struck me in a particular way. I have always related to Mary in this Gospel. There have been many times where I have neglected doing other things because I simply wanted to sit at Jesus' feet and listen to Him. I've gone to Holy Hours instead of other activities, and I would always be very defensive of Mary when people would reprimand her for not doing her duties. I knew how much her heart longed for Christ, so everything else seemed trivial and not important. 

This time when I heard the Gospel though, something changed. I knew that I had turned into Martha. Not that Martha is a bad person, but she has just lost sight of what is truly important. She became too worried about making everything perfect and getting things done that she neglected to give Jesus what He really wanted: her time and affection. And that is what she really needed as well: to sit at His feet and be filled. When He lovingly says: "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing.",  I feel as though He is speaking right to my soul. I know it seems that I keep writing about the same things over and over, but I am just having a hard time getting out of this rut of being 'anxious and worried about many things'. But I know that He is purifying me and teaching me even in this time.

Lord, help me to be more like Mary and sit at Your feet.


My jukebox today: