16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
In today’s gospel reading, we hear the story of Jesus’s visit to Mary and Martha’s home; and how Martha complained to Jesus about Mary not helping her out with serving them. Jesus with his response to Martha saying, “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,” teaches us that though service and stewardship in answer to our call to discipleship is essential, having a true relationship or being in a true relationship with God, listening attentively to His word and living out His message like Mary did, is of greater importance in our lives as Christians. Jesus here teaches us that we must not let the affairs of this life or of this world, prevent us from truly answering our call to discipleship and living out our faith.
As Christians, it is a well known fact that all our worldly occupations and duties are supposed to be performed with the right intention, because they give us the opportunity to put into practice our call to true disciples of Christ which entails being charitable, loving and serving others, practicing mortification, sharing God’s joy with others, being optimistic, being understanding, being friendly, being confident etc. We can indeed sanctify ourselves through our work and find God in the midst of our daily concerns, work and duties.
Take a moment now to think about what happens in our families today, how husbands and wives spend so much time working hard everyday at their jobs and workplaces to make ends meet, to raise money to take care of their children, to maintain their home and to be great parents. But often times while doing so, they lose sight of their relationship with each other, with God and even with their children. Remember, though providing for the earthly necessities of ourselves and our dependents are essential, storing up treasures and merits for ourselves in heaven is more important. Look at our young people today, our children who are full of energy, hopes, ideas and aspirations barely have time to actively spend time with their families and listen to good mentors who will help guide them on the right path to success in life.
Let’s talk about our parish associations, groups and ministries. We concentrate so much on doing our duties and fulfilling our ministries here in the church, but we fail to have a good relationship with God. Even in the sacraments we participate in especially the Eucharist, where serve and assist others well in our various ministries, but we sometimes fail to participate actively in prayer at mass.
Jesus teaches us today that we can be both Martha and Mary by sitting at His feet like Mary did, listening to His word, accepting His word and striving to live out His word. Or be like Martha in serving others, but paying more attention to God by striving to know Him better and deepen our relationship with Him. So no matter what our duties are in life, we must remember that we are obliged to come closer to God, spend more time in prayer with Him, praise Him always, and be thankful to Him for all He has done for us.
My brothers and sisters, today’s story of Martha and Mary reminds us that though stewardship and service to God are essential in our lives as Christians, having a deeper relationship with God, hearing His word and living out His message is more important and more precious than our works. So let us combine the love of God shown us by Mary in today’s gospel reading with the diligence and work ethic of Martha as we continue to grow in our faith in God and come closer to Him.
