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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2010 July 16 and 17, 2010 Luke 10: 38-42 We begin with a journey. All through the summer Luke recounts the long journey of Jesus and his disciples to Jerusalem, where Jesus will fulfill his earthly mission: his passion, death and resurrection. During this long journey, Jesus will educate his disciples, in varied ways, so they may continue his mission after his stay on earth. For this Sunday, we look at dinner given by Martha, which is the occasion chosen for the training which is given to the disciples, their training and ours. Two sisters, Mary and Martha, and their brother, Lazarus, were friends of Jesus who lived in a town close to Jerusalem. Jesus liked to stop to spend a couple hours of privacy and rest there. The apostles Luke and John, present the sisters very differently. One sister was an active woman and a good housekeeper; the other one was somewhat detached from daily chores. The differences presented in both gospels have caused later Christians to contrast the two attitudes and two states of life for Christians: the active life and the contemplative life. This is a fairly simplistic opposition; we need to realize that all of us here are both Martha and Mary. We contain within ourselves two different religious attitudes.
This may shock us. Faith is not something passive: it doesn’t consist only in quietly receiving instruction, even though it may be divine. It is an active step. Faith is translated into action. But first it is a gift of God, and the acts which result from it are also a gift. Martha is worried and agitated, says the Gospel, and that is because she believes that everything depends on her. For Mary, on the contrary, what matters is not the meal that we prepare and offer for the guest, but the meal he offers for us. Martha has chosen the wrong part of the menu because she chose what she has given. Mary has chosen another meal, another "portion": the one Christ brings. Martha’s attitude is often like our attitude. Martha’ attitude can be used to make a religion that uses the words, the themes, and the language of faith, but where God has been excluded. With this attitude, the activities undertaken for God become more important than God himself. The work you are doing becomes an idol. Jesus warns Martha: "You are anxious and worried about many things.” And agitation and worry are not faith. Mary’s attitude is different. She is not searching anymore: she has found. What she has chosen, it is "to listen to the word" another way of saying faith. Jesus became for her more important than anything, and much more important than anything she could do for him. What Mary has understood is that it is more important to receive than to do. For Mary, to welcome Jesus, was to host the free gift of God to humanity.
Today, we have the impression that Jesus blames the one who is doing everything and praises the one who is not doing anything; and who is merely monopolizing the visitor. And yet, the first reading praised Abraham who ran to offer “three star hospitality” to the three strangers passing by. His hospitality is so exemplary that it will be rewarded, says the story. During the same year, Abraham will have a son. Jesus Makes of that Jewish story the background to the truth he teaches today: to receive the stranger is to receive God himself. The author of the letter to the Hebrews writes: "Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels." But here also is a lesson that reminds us of the primacy of the Word: When the Lord speaks, what is more urgent to do but listen? Why does Jesus reproach Martha? The warning he gives her does not concern the service she wants to give, but about her anxiety and agitation. Instead of serving with modesty and discretion, and therefore with a real exemption from payment, she attracts attention to her performance. She complains: "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me!” Jesus' answer comes right away, recalling the stakes of a full hospitality, and inviting to the spiritual beyond the material: "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.” What lesson for the two sisters and for all of us! It is addressed to the activists who are constantly under pressure and engaged in a perpetual race against the clock without being able to have a minute to listen and ponder the Word. It is also addressed to the pious believers who are so absorbed by prayers, devotions and revelations that they forget to listen to the Word in order to put it into practice.
Sunday 17th in Ordinary Time C Luke 11, 1-13 During a party at a waterfront, a famous Hollywood actor fell into the water. They quickly recovered under the greedy eyes of television cameras, and the victim said: “Everything is fine, but one thing worries me. Initially, we received the blessing of the archbishop. Obviously, his prayer has not been heard.” In India, a minister of communications said: “The Indian Railways are the responsibility of God, Vishwakarma, it also applies to passenger safety. It is his duty, not mine.” Two examples of ordinary life which reflect a certain conception of prayer found among the believers of all religions. There are obviously those who doubt the usefulness and effectiveness of prayer. They are wrong. Others find it boring and difficult. It is not. A certain number of people assign to it magical virtues, and even the effectiveness of blackmail. This is a mistake. We pray with conviction for the recovery of a sick. We will perhaps have only his death as an answer. One prays and makes people pray in order to keep his job, and at the end someone is fired. There are prayers that end in disappointment, and even revolts. Jesus, however, and all the prophets before him and after him, repeated: "Ask and it will be given to you. Who asks receives". So? Very often, we beseech God to spare us suffering and failures. And we think that his omnipotence should result in satisfying our immediate desires, including succeed an exam, get a good weather for "our" vacation. Listen to this dialogue between God and someone praying.
So you can realize that when Jesus speaks of prayer it means something else. What he taught his disciples to pray, it was not a formula for prayer’s, but an art of praying, which is also the art of life. To pray is to first establish a relationship of trust. To open the door of our heart, to allow God to somehow come and dwell in us and let ourselves be transformed by him. The best school of prayer is of course the one Jesus offers us through his example and his teaching. It is a filial prayer, "Our Father". We are not an only child. We have brothers and sisters of this great human family, to whom we are united with, and we are also a kind of spokesperson for them during our prayer. We stand in the gap for them. Jesus chooses to place himself in the perspective of a society to build a kingdom of love, of justice and of peace. And it is in this light of the fulfillment of His divine project that he looked at and judges everything, including the risk of opposition and condemnation. Therefore, the true prayer guides our steps, and therefore our requests to the essential, in the logic of a world renewed. Thus, prayer brings us to listen to the Word of God so that we can shape our lives by following His model. Besides, the prayer that Jesus left us is less a formula to recite than a program of life to live. It is less to obtain what we ask than to become another person and learn to see people, the world, and the events, otherwise. To listen to him is to let oneself be transformed. To be in communion with his love means taking the risk of loving like him. To participate in his divine projects is to dramatically change our ambitions and become more human. Thus, by discovering the forgiveness of God toward me, I should understand that I myself have to forgive too. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us".
We
too are conscious of the gap that exists between our prayer and the reality of
our daily life. We are like the apostles who are considering a human, political,
economical salvation. Look at yourselves, and ask yourselves what you've asked
God, during these last few months. |