Our Gospel reading
today comes from the 10th chapter of Luke’s Gospel. And it is
interesting to see the trajectory of that chapter. This chapter starts
out with Jesus sending out his disciples to the world as missionaries and tells
the story of the Good Samaritan right before the reading we hear today. Those readings are
about the importance of action, of living out the values of our faith, and in
bringing Christ’s Gospel message to others. But, perhaps,
today’s reading is to show us the need to have balance in our lives. The story of Mary
and Martha shows how prayer and reflection and time with God are the foundation
of our lives as followers of Jesus. The action and the
living out of our faith should flow from that. Martha was so busy
doing and so focused on that, that she did not even have the prayer and
reflection on her radar. The Gospel says
that she approached Jesus “burdened with much serving.” And I can feel like
Martha so many days myself, checking to see why the air conditioner is not
working on the Knights of Columbus building, trying to come up with a budget
for the grass and landscaping in front of the parish offices, making sure I
make time for all the sick and shut-ins I have to visit today, trying to write
my homilies for the week. Is my prayer
life a priority in all of that? And do
we make time for ourselves, to get adequate rest and relaxation? Yes, rest and relaxation – what is that? Today, we celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary,
appropriate on this month that the Church dedicates to the Rosary. I made sure on the day I was writing this
homily, that I made time to pray the rosary and to spend time with our Blessed
Mother. But we need to make sure that we
do that every day.
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