Word to the Wise
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 - Tuesday in the 27th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jonah 3:1-10 and Luke 10:38-42]"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." [Luke]
This incident seems to contrast sharply with the parable of the Good Samaritan which immediately precedes it. Jesus tells the lawyer to stop playing casuistry with who is his neighbor and reach out to anyone who needs help. He (the lawyer) is to follow the example of the Good Samaritan: Go and DO likewise! So, is Mary doing "nothing" as Martha claims? Hospitality is a cardinal value in the Middle East (despite its many conflicts). Shouldn't hospitality and its associated chores take precedence over just sitting and listening? What are the priorities here?
The story has been used traditionally to compare various forms of religious vocations, i.e. "contemplative v. active v. 'mixed'. But that is not its purpose. In my pastoral experience, especially with college students, I have found that sitting and listening is a powerful form of hospitality in and of itself. This is not to downgrade Martha's efforts! I am chaplain at a monastery of cloistered contemplative Dominican nuns, and there is a "Martha" side to their vocation that the monastery needs in order to function at all! What ultimately makes that "Martha" side work is the "Mary" side. The best form of hospitality is the gift of one's own presence to another. The Lord shows his appreciation of that hospitality. But we might bear in mind that the story includes BOTH Mary AND Martha. Getting those two sides to "work" together can make us more responsive to our neighbor! AMEN