The Better Part

 

  Luke 10:38-42

At the Home of Martha and Mary

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

We often take this incident as a lesson that spending time with Jesus is superior to getting tied up with work, contemplation vs. action, but there may be room for another interpretation. Yes,we need to eat, so someone needs to do the cooking, but we also need to feed our souls by spending time listening to Jesus. We must admit that our days are given more to action than to contemplation, but is a combo of the two possible?  We hear of "active contemplatives" and our own Founder, St. Marcellin Champagnat, introduced the practice of "the prayer of the hour", when a bell would ring, work would stop, and a prayer be said. At least once an hour the brothers would "touch base" with God in prayer. Taking a cue from this, might we not make a conscious effort to offer a  little prayer frequently,  such as, "Lord, God, Jesus, I'm doing this for you;  Help me to do it well."? Simple and easy.  Let's try it today.

Bro. Rene

Dear God help me to work consciously side by side with you as I go about my daily tasks. Amen.