Today’s Gospel (Luke 10:38-42) where poor Martha. who is busy cooking dinner is told that Mary, by sitting and listening to Jesus, has “Chosen the better part” is one that many people find hard to take. You can see and hear me preaching this Homily on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DmlH4B9RvQ
Well let’s see if I can show you that Jesus was right about this, by giving you a few examples. The first comes from my own life as a busy parish priest before I retired. Yes, I was always at the door to greet people as they left the church after Mass, but too often I found myself busy with business. Checking with Mrs A that she was going to do the flowers this week, and telling Mr X where to find the Readings for next Sunday etc etc. On more than one occasion, I discovered later that someone had wanted to ask me about the faith, or had some worry about how to pray, or wanted to ask for prayers for a difficult situation; and I was told “I didn’t want to bother you Father, I could see you were busy.” Oh yes! Too busy to respond to people who had real needs, because I was concerned the Church organisation ran smoothly.
Another example is actually during Mass, where some of us priests can be so concerned that we say Mass properly, and that all the lay people involved as servers or readers or whatever do their bit right too, that we forget what is at the heart of the Mass, a prayerful offering of ourselves to Almighty God. Pope Francis is much concerned about this, and has said so in his latest letter to us all. He certainly wants the Mass to be said properly. He writes: “The art of celebration is not something that can be improvised. Like every art, it requires consistent application” But he then goes on to say. “For an artisan, technique is enough. But for an artist, in addition to technical knowledge, there has also to be inspiration, which is a positive form of possession. The true artist does not possess an art but rather is possessed by it.” This is so important isn’t it, but it is easy for lay people to confuse a good performance, with a prayerful one. I am a pretty good performer, but unless I pray the Mass, unless I realise in my heart who we are worshipping, then I am failing every one of you. Of course, God will still be present, for the failures of the priest never makes the Mass invalid, but it is so much better if the priest does not just perform but also prays. Every priest needs to remember regularly the words said to him when he was ordained “Understand what you will do, imitate what you will celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord’s Cross.”
But there are examples for ordinary life too. Great chefs always recommend that when you are entertaining people you choose a menu that you know well, and is fairly easy for you to cook ; because (they say) it is not enough just to cook a good meal, it is as important to talk to your guests. People who are so busy on their elaborate menu that they do not have time for the people they are entertaining, have missed the point of what they are doing.
Another example is from the world of nature. Now I am a keen gardener and have gradually got to know quite a lot about plants and how to care for them. When I go round someone else’s garden, it is easy for me to get so involved in identifying and naming the plants, of commenting on whether that one is doing well or not so well, or whether they have been placed in the right position, that I can forget to stop, to stand back, and look at the beauty of it all, and praise God for the wonderful co-operation he creates in which he and the gardener work together to produce so much beauty. In other words, I need to be a bit more like Mary; to sit quietly, and meditate on the glory of God.
Now I’m not a scientist but I do love to learn from scientists all sorts of facts about our fascinating Universe. At the moment, I am reading a book on DNA and how the scientists are now able to work out more and more accurately where we all originate from. We all know how important scientific advances are, not least in the field of medicine, which affects us all in our lives, at one time or another. But analysing something scientifically, like cooking a good dinner, or saying Mass correctly, or organising a Parish efficiently, is never enough. I love it when I hear of a great scientist who is also a Christian, and who will sometimes share how he or she wonders at the glory of God in the intricate patterns he or she is discovering in whatever they are studying.
And surely that is the point that Jesus is making to Martha here, and that we also hear in our 1st Reading (Genesis 18:1-10) when Abraham recognises the importance of the three men he is entertaining, or when St Paul in our 2nd Reading (Colossians 1:24-28) writes “The mystery is Christ among you, your hope of glory.” Jesus wants Martha to see that simply being obsessed with doing well the surface things, in her case preparing the meal, is not enough. He doesn’t say that what she’s doing is wrong: of course it’s not wrong, it’s very important! But he wants her to see that if she allows these surface things to dominate her thinking she’s missed the point of what she is doing, and so Mary has chosen the better part. He’s reminding us that whatever we do, wherever we look, all of us need to be able to see beyond the surface to that mystery that is God present in glory, in and through every part of our world.
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