29 JULY 2022 – Memorial of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus – Friday of the 17th week in Ordinary Time – John 11:19-27

    You may recall that traditionally, we celebrated the feast day of St Martha in the liturgical calendar on July 29, primarily since the identity of her sister Mary was a bit confusing in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church.  However, last year, the CONGREGATION FOR DIVINE WORSHIP AND THE DISCIPLINE OF THE SACRAMENTS in the Church announced that the siblings Martha, Mary, and Lazarus would all be celebrated together on that day in the Church’s liturgical calendar.  

      Last Friday, we celebrated the Feast day of St Mary Magdalene, an important disciple and evangelizer from the Early Church.  In fact, the great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas called Mary Magdalene “the apostle of the apostles” for the way she announced Christ’s resurrection to the apostles and to the world.  Today, we celebrate these three siblings who were beloved friends of Jesus.  

       The Gospel we hear today is from John’s account of the raising of Lazarus, in which Martha, in a daring leap of faith, declares her belief in Jesus as the Messiah, the long-awaited one:  “I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” There have been a lot of different interpretations and reflections on the Gospel readings concerning Mary and Martha.  In fact, you already heard a reflection on them a couple of weeks ago when we had the reading from the 10th chapter of Luke’s Gospel on the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time.  What we can say is that Martha has a very practical, lived reality aspect of her faith.  Martha definitely is faith put into action.  When her brother dies, she is able to say that she believes that her brother will rise again because she knows who Jesus really is: the Son of God.  The Church needs both Marys and Marthas.  The Church needs priests of different stripes and colors as well – theologians, canon lawyers, missionaries, theologians, Diocesan priests in the small towns in the Delta, rectors at the cathedrals, intellectual Jesuits, and contemplative Benedictines.  The Church always has had people of action and people of prayer, people of the establishment and the prophetic voices of the poor.  As we celebrate Mary, Martha, and Lazarus today, let us learn from their experiences, and may we look for balance in our lives. May we all be beloved friends of Jesus just as these three siblings were.