Memorial of Martha. She welcomed the Lord Jesus into her home. Read more
Memorial of Martha. She welcomed the Lord Jesus into her home.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Luke 10,38-42
In the course of their journey he came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, came to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.' But the Lord answered, 'Martha, Martha,' he said, 'you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.'
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Today the Church remembers Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus. By remembering her we understand the power of the Gospel, which leads people to change their hearts and lives. In fact, after having welcomed Jesus into her house, Martha lets herself be “consumed by her service”, by the things that she considered truly important. This “service,” this conviction of hers, makes her so stressed that she is not even aware of the Teacher’s presence. Martha’s concentration on her convictions not only keeps her far from listening to Jesus, but actually drove her to rebuke him because he did not care about what she was doing. In short, she wanted her guest to pay attention to her and not vice-versa, revealing that the true centre of her concern was herself and not Jesus. In the end she has the attitude of a servant, vindictive like those who do not think what they do is appreciated; in the end she is banally self-referential, and she does not want Mary, unlike her, to be a friend. She probably thinks it is wrong to do nothing for the guest and the Jesus is like the men of this world, who assert themselves and want to be served. In reality she was getting too agitated, even if her intention was to be welcoming to her guest. In truth, she was missing out on the essential thing. Whenever we focus on ourselves and our affairs, we flee from listening to the Lord (how often does our doing keep us from even finding time to listen to or read the Word of God!) and we no longer understand the meaning of our doing and of our living. In the end, we lose sight of our priorities: everything is important and so nothing is. The best part is the part that no one can take away: a bond with Jesus. Unlike Martha, Mary has understood what counts the most in life, and she sat before the Teacher attentively and listened to his words. Our entire life, our thoughts and our works, should flow from listening to the Gospel. Martha eventually learned the lesson Jesus had taught her, and later when she welcomed him into her house, she opened her heart to him. When Jesus came to visit the tomb of Lazarus, who had just died, she was the first to notice the Teacher and run to him. She had learned to run towards the Teacher who loved her, her sister, and Lazarus like no one else. Today, he asks us too to not let ourselves be wrapped up in our cares, but to go outside and run towards the Teacher who can save us from death.
Prayer is the heart of the life of the Community of Sant'Egidio and is its absolute priority. At the end of the day, every the Community of Sant'Egidio, large or small, gathers around the Lord to listen to his Word. The Word of God and the prayer are, in fact, the very basis of the whole life of the Community. The disciples cannot do other than remain at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany, to receive his love and learn his ways (Phil. 2:5).
So every evening, when the Community returns to the feet of the Lord, it repeats the words of the anonymous disciple: " Lord, teach us how to pray". Jesus, Master of prayer, continues to answer: "When you pray, say: Abba, Father". It is not a simple exhortation, it is much more. With these words Jesus lets the disciples participate in his own relationship with the Father. Therefore in prayer, the fact of being children of the Father who is in heaven, comes before the words we may say. So praying is above all a way of being! That is to say we are children who turn with faith to the Father, certain that they will be heard.
Jesus teaches us to call God "Our Father". And not simply "Father" or "My Father". Disciples, even when they pray on their own, are never isolated nor they are orphans; they are always members of the Lord's family.
In praying together, beside the mystery of being children of God, there is also the mystery of brotherhood, as the Father of the Church said: "You cannot have God as father without having the church as mother". When praying together, the Holy Spirit assembles the disciples in the upper room together with Mary, the Lord's mother, so that they may direct their gaze towards the Lord's face and learn from Him the secret of his Heart.
The Communities of Sant'Egidio all over the world gather in the various places of prayer and lay before the Lord the hopes and the sufferings of the tired, exhausted crowds of which the Gospel speaks ( Mat. 9: 3-7 ), In these ancient crowds we can see the huge masses of the modern cities, the millions of refugees who continue to flee their countries, the poor, relegated to the very fringe of life and all those who are waiting for someone to take care of them. Praying together includes the cry, the invocation, the aspiration, the desire for peace, the healing and salvation of the men and women of this world. Prayer is never in vain; it rises ceaselessly to the Lord so that anguish is turned into hope, tears into joy, despair into happiness, and solitude into communion. May the Kingdom of God come soon among people!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
