In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
My Lord, oh my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel intercede for me.
We read in the Gospel, “Now, it came to pass as they were on their journey that Jesus entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him to her house.” Today is the feast of St. Martha. And we have this very memorable scene at her house, when Jesus is passing by, and He is welcomed there.
This is something, obviously, that happened historically. And we know that Jesus was a very good friend of Lazarus. He wept at his tomb and people remarked how much He loved him. And obviously, He loves every single one of us. But when He was here, historically, on Earth, He had friends like anybody else. And He loved everyone to the end. As St. John would say.
But there were people that probably He hung around with more, and the family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, was one of those families. St. Josemaria, was very fond of thinking of the tabernacle as Bethany; because that is the name of the town where Martha and Mary lived. And he says that the tabernacle for us, or the chapel, or the Church that you go to, should be like Bethany where Jesus feels very comfortable in visiting when He's passing by.
And in this case, as He's passing by, well, Martha is very hospitable so, she and her sister Mary, invite Him in. And the two sisters are very different in personality. As we read, “Martha welcomed Him to her house, and she had a sister called Mary, who seated herself at the Lord's feet, and listen to His word.”
But Martha was busy about much serving. And she came up and said, “Lord, is it no concern of yours that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her, therefore, to help me.”
At first sight, it seems that Our Lord should side with Martha, because it is almost out of a sense of justice, that Mary should help out and serve the table. Or actually, as I've been told, sometimes, it's not serving that people don't like doing; it's picking up the table that people don't like doing. And this is according to this person that got inspired, they told me, it's that Mary left Martha to pick up the table alone.
And because everybody likes serving, but no one likes to pick up. Well, that could be true. But regardless, it seems that whatever the chores that Martha had to do, should have been shared by Martha and Mary, and that Our Lord, being there, you know, should have said, Hey, Mary, why don't you help your sister Martha, she's right. She's doing all the work, and you're here just kind of listening and doing nothing.
And actually, surprisingly, Our Lord does not say any of that. He actually sides with Mary. And the Gospel continues, “But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, and yet only one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the best part and it will not be taken away from her.”
Wow, what a surprise ending to this episode in the Gospel. Our Lord sides with Mary. And he tells Martha in a very solemn way, Martha, Martha. When a Jew repeats somebody's name twice, it is a very solemn occasion. It's like, you know, Abraham, Abraham, you know, in Genesis we read when the angel is about to stop, you know, Abraham from killing Isaac, or Moses, Moses. And here we have Martha, Martha or Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me for St. Paul, you know.
This repetition of the name is the equivalent of saying, Martha pay attention, I'm going to tell you something very important. And this very important lesson is that Mary, who is listening to Our Lord's words at his feet, will not be interrupted. That, that is the best part. That, that is the best choice. It's better than serving actually; it's kind of interesting.
And why is that? Because what Mary is doing is, she is praying, she is contemplating our Lord. And that contemplation, that prayer, that inner dialogue with God is what is more important. And you know what? Basically, Our Lord is saying, Martha, who cares about whether the plates are falling and breaking and whether you are anxious or not? And all that doesn't matter? All that doesn't matter.
What really matters is that you and I talk, you know. In fact, whenever you talk to Our Lord or Lord talks to you, that's a kind of prayer, isn't it. And so, Martha is actually doing her prayer. And Our Lord is answering her. “You're worried about many things. And only one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Now, the thing is, Martha, in today's world, is a figure that many, many of us can identify with. Maybe not so much, Mary, because there's very few people who know how to pray and contemplate like Mary these days, it seems.
Because a lot of people seem to have been born with ear buds, already, designer ear buds. And they seem to seldom take them out. They don't take them out at all. They're listening to music all the time or something all the time. Seems that today's world is a world in which everyone needs to have their senses stimulated at all times. Otherwise, they get very anxious, and nervous, with silence, you know, just silence and contemplation.
And that's why Martha perhaps, is someone that we can identify with. And today on her feast, we actually want to turn to her because she is a saint. And obviously, she became a saint after Our Lord corrected her. In this passage of the Gospel in she learned how to pray because there's no saint without prayer. So, if she wasn't praying, well, she began to pray. And she, in fact, made it a rule of her life to pray since then. And that's why she's able to become a saint.
But why did she lose her cool? Why did Martha lose her cool? Well, think of today's world, today's world, a lot of people given to workaholism. Where they work, work, work. They think that work is the most important duty that they have been placed here on Earth to do; to carry out as a task. Basically, not living off of society, but actually contributing to society. And that is all true.
Work is actually the, the primordial vocation of mankind, you know, till the garden and keep it. Our Lord says in the garden to Adam and Eve. And that is what work is. It is to till the garden and to keep it. Transform the created world and give it an added value and, and finish creation. Really a beautiful, a beautiful act of participating in Our Lord's creative act by putting in our two cents worth of creativity.
Of course, we don't create out of nothing, but we certainly give what has been created out of nothing, a different kind of form. And that is basically the development of technology and the whole field of work and, and so on.
Today, it seems that we have fallen into an efficiency kind of ideology. The most important thing in the world is to be efficient, efficient, efficient, not waste time. And, you know, we can't just cannot stand waiting in line anymore. We cannot, I don't know, we cannot really take it when our colleagues at work, don't turn in their work, or their paper or their lab report, or something like that, on time, or when, you know, I don't know people waste time, online.
They're not being efficient. And that's almost like a crime against humanity right now not being efficient or wasting somebody's time just by saying hello to them?
Well, efficiency is a good thing as we know. But a more important thing is the people we have in front of us. And even more important than they, is God Himself. And that's why we need to put work in its place. First comes God, then the others, then perhaps, yes, work, you know.
And we have to know how to actually stop sometimes and ask how somebody is doing, and give him a smile. And as the Pope likes to say, waste time with people. He calls Jesus, the great time waster with people.
The only beings that we can waste time on are human beings. Why? Because they are worth it. And unto themselves, each one of us is an end unto ourselves. And that's why it doesn't matter, you know, that somebody else is in a hurry, or we're in a hurry.
We have to carry ourselves with dignity, and not simply give in to this ideology that says that the most important value is efficiency and not wasting time. Well, and obviously, we have to be respectful of others. And we have to try to get our reports in on time, try to be punctual, try to not waste time, obviously; because it gives glory to God.
But we also have to know how to stop, and rest, and exercise, and contemplate, and pray. Martha could have also lost her cool because of what can be called perfectionism. Maybe she wanted everything perfect. And she was kind of ashamed that, you know, things were not totally clean or totally perfect.
And Our Lord was there and she was kind of giving in to human respects. Whoa no. What is He going to think the tablecloth is stained, and I have to clean it right now right before He comes to the table. And you know, I can't do this and then all of a sudden, something in the oven gets burnt and then I don't know tragic scene at the kitchen happens you know, and she just loses her cool.
Well, perhaps she wants everything perfect. But you know, our I Lord did not create us, in this sense to be perfect. He said, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” But our heavenly Father is perfect in a different way than this. Our Father is perfect, because He knows what comes first and that is love. That is, you know, God comes first then the others and then everything else. Then myself. Lastly myself, you know.
So, this perfectionism could really entail a little bit of vanity and shame of not being perfect. And well, all that drives us to do so many things that we will even lose our cool and enter into a kind of panic because things are not perfectly set, right.
But we have to learn actually, in the presence of God, learn to prioritize things and their importance in our lives. And you know what, we won't be able to get to everything. That is the start. We just have to understand that, that we have limits. We have limits even though we are able to do many things well, that we won't be able to do all things, to the level of perfection that we can do it, if that's the only thing we have to do.
We have to find this balance in our responsibilities because we have a family, and therefore we have to stop working. We have friends, we have other responsibilities, we have, you know, to serve society and ultimately, to serve God. And in explicit times of prayer, like for instance, Mass on Sunday, which is the bare minimum, I would say, of giving praise and glory and thanksgiving to Him for everything that He has given us. And we have to make time for that.
So, we have to live with imperfection. We have to get used to being kind of dirty a little bit. I mean, not too dirty, but kind of wearing your dirty jeans or something like that; get used to the dirt. Because nothing's going to be perfect, you know.
And what we have to do is not lose our cool, but then try to do our best. According to, I would say the virtue of prudence, Prudence helps us to actually prioritize the different aspects of our lives, so that we know when to dedicate time to our family, when to work, when to rest, when to spend time with friends, when to dedicate some time to God in a norm of piety or some other obligation.
But that requires a lot of conscientious effort and prayer. And also thinking: Who am I serving? Who is the recipient of my work? Why am I doing this?
The intention is very important, because once we think of the intention, and ultimately, hopefully, everything we do is for God, and we give all the glory to God, as St. Josemaria has said many times, to give all the glory to God, that was the end that he prescribed for himself and for his spiritual children; in and through the ordinary. Well, when we do that, then we have peace, then we don't give into this anxiety.
I don't know if you've seen the movie, The Matrix. There's a scene in the subway down below where, well, it's a shooting scene. And somehow, I don't know how they do this, but the camera work is extraordinary in that scene, because they have like 360 degrees worth of, of angles, and everything turns into slow motion, like all the bullets that are shot, are going through the air as if they're going through jello or something like that.
And, and the protagonists are able to kind of duck the bullets, and, you know, do backflips and do all sorts of things very easily, because everything is kind of in slow motion. And then they're not fazed at all by the situation.
Well, I like to think of prayer that way, you know. That when we actually are praying when we spend time in prayer and developing a relationship with Our Lord, that everything actually slows down and all the bullets out there that would otherwise hit us. You know. We’re just walking right by them and ducking them and doing backflips.
And totally at peace, totally happy while everybody else is kind of losing it with anxiety and with I don't know what. But we know exactly what to do because time slows down for the people who pray, you know. People who pray, learn how to eventually see the hand of God behind everything.
And if it is the will of God, the accept right away. Because even though it's not perfect even though it's not according to their plan, they don't get upset because they have one thing that they do well, they let go and let God.
And Martha actually finds that a little difficult. But why? Because she's a woman of hard work. And she's a woman of reason. She's a woman who uses her reason a lot. And in fact, we see that, we see how brainy she is in the episode with the resurrection of her brother Lazarus. How when Jesus comes out to greet Her, there are no tears, it's kind of a very intellectual conversation.
Jesus says to her, “Your brother shall rise,” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise at the Resurrection on the last day.” It's almost like a theology class.
And then Jesus says, “I am the Resurrection and the life he who believes in me, even if he dies shall live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
She said, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who have come into the world.”
And so, it's kind of like, Wow! What an incredible theologian she is. But she's very kind of, you know, rational. There's a lot of thinking, you know, she's not a woman, who gives into emotion as much. She's very thoughtful. And, and maybe that's why she got upset the other time, you know, because she was maybe even having bad thoughts about her sister who was not as thoughtful as she thought herself to be.
But Martha needs to let go. Let go of what? Of her rational ideas of the things that she thinks of logically. Yes it's true, we need to think things through and we need to think things logically. But at the same time, we have to know that no matter how much we think things through, that we are limited.
That a better way, actually, would be to pray to the Holy Spirit, and then think things through. But knowing that the most important thing is the prayer to the Holy Spirit, asking Him for inspiration, so that we can make the right choice. That is what Martha learns to do. And she obviously struggles, right?
Mary has a very different temperament and character. And Jesus even weeps, just at seeing her weep. And why? Because Mary was a big heart, you know. She's very passionate, and emotional. And it moves Jesus even to cry with her. And so, they're very different. But they're both saints, and they're both very holy people.
Now, up to now, we might say, we have kind of not been very nice to Martha, because we have criticized how anxious she got when she was serving at table. And how brainy she was, and how that she was not that emotional at the death of her brother, and so on. That's not a criticism. That's just the way she was. But it may sound like a criticism, and it's her feast day, why don't we praise her on something?
Well, actually, the important thing is that Martha welcomed Jesus into her home, and that we can take not only physically, in the physical sense of the word, you know, welcoming, you know, letting Him through the door and cooking a good meal for Him. But most importantly, she welcomed Him on the inside; in her heart. And that may have taken a while to, to actually process things on the inside.
But what really, Martha did in her offering hospitality was what Jesus actually gave us as the final exam. You may be asking what final exam? I didn't know that there was a final exam. Yes, there's gonna be a final exam called The Last Judgement. That's the final, final exam. Right? So, that's the one we got to really pass. You thought that at a certain age, you have no more exams, but no, you have this one, we all have this one.
And we're going to be judged according to our actions, and our omissions, and our thoughts, everything we've done, everything we failed to do, as we say in the Confiteor. And, what is the final exam? Well, you know, unlike many teachers, Jesus actually gives us the final exam before the exam, you know.
If you know that I don't think a lot of teachers do that. They don't like to give away their final exam. And not only will they not give away the final exam before the exam, but Jesus actually gives us the answers; the answer sheet. Before the final exam, so we know exactly what to do. And that's incredible.
So, this is a final exam that we need to study for it. But we have the answers so we can go there, we can approach the Last Judgment, the final judgment with confidence, because we know what the exam is, and we know what the answers are. Or we know what we should do in order to reply to those answers.
And it's this. But when the Son of Man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and before Him, will be gathered all the nations and He will separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will set the sheep on His right, but the goats on His left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the world, For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you covered me; sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.” (Mt 25) That's the final exam.
And here's the answer sheet, “Then the just will answer him saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you thirsty, and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and take you in? Or naked and clothed? You? Are when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’
And answering the King will say to them, “Amen. I say to you, as long as you did it for one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it for me.”
That's what Martha eventually did. She not only did it for others, but she did it for Jesus directly. I cannot emphasize how pleasing this act of hospitality is. And we could still do that. We could still do that. How? Well, for instance, taking care of the things that refer to Our Lord.
The Eucharist. Adoration, for instance? Do I spend some time in adoration, maybe every day, in front of the blessed Sacrament? Because, you know, I think I'm making a sacrifice. No, it's Jesus, who is the only victim who is sacrificing Himself for us. You know.
This is how we ought to take care of Our Lord, we take Him in, and He takes us in. If we take Him into our home, and we do this not only in the Blessed Sacrament, but also with others, the least of my brethren. Right? If you did it to one of these, you did it to me, He says.
Then we will, we will be able to pass this great final exam, which will be really an act of love.
Look at a testimonial of St. Josemaria, by a woman that was close to him during the period from 1927 to 1931. And she was an Apostolic Sister by the name of Mercedes Segues. And she testified in August of 1975, when the founder Opus Dei died.
She says, “He was always in a hurry, except when celebrating Holy Mass. He would always celebrate Holy Mass slowly, and I well remember that he would stop at some word at special parts of the sacrifice, for example, the creed as of savoring it.
If I lead my life of prayer, in slow motion, like we said before, and I savor the things of Our Lord, and I welcome Him into my heart, and really, He's welcoming us into His heart, then I will be able to recognize Our Lord in the least of my brethren.
I will not be like the wicked who are not invited to Heaven. Because, you know, they said, well, when did we see you hungry? When did we see You thirsty? When did we see you a stranger and did not welcome you? I mean, I never saw you or I didn't recognize you. Well, why didn't you recognize Him?
Our Lord says, basically, because you should have been able to recognize Me in the others. But you didn't, because you were running around, you were not focused. And what we have to do is, we have to take life with a heavier dose of prayer. That should be our goal. That should be our goal.
And perhaps this is the one lesson that Martha, who did become a saint actually learned. And she could actually teach us today to Yes, keep welcoming Jesus and others, or Jesus in the others in her house. But if she's at prayer, if we are at prayer, we will do so with this supernatural sense of life that we are not only serving our neighbor, but we're serving Jesus in our neighbor.
And therefore, we're not going to lose it when things go bad. you know, when the plates start breaking, when things get burnt down, or whatever, no, it doesn't matter. If we're doing it with the right intention. If we're doing it out of love, then that's what matters.
And that's what Jesus sees, then everything else is okay. And yes, we'll have to pick up the pieces and glue them back together and all that stuff and improve next time. But at the end of the day, our peace was not taken away.
Let us turn to Our Lady, what did she do? Well, she was she acted in slow motion, we could say, at the foot of the Cross. Everybody was running around after Gethsemane. You know, After Jesus was arrested, everybody was panicking, giving into anxiety, whatever it was, because they thought they were going to be killed.
But Jesus is calm and serene, gives them permission to arrest Him. Basically, has to open His mouth at the judgment so that they could actually have an excuse to say that He was blaspheming. If He hadn't talked, they wouldn't have been able to condemn Him. He basically does it for them.
He kind of says, “Well, look, I'm fulfilling the will of my Father here so, if you can't figure it out, I'll tell you who I am. You know. And anyway, they condemn Him. But Jesus is at peace. And so is Mary, His mother. And that is why she's able to be at the foot of the Cross, co-redeeming all of mankind.
We want to do that. Because that is where Martha eventually got to, you know, she got to that level of contemplation and prayer that allowed her to be with Jesus all the time.
I thank you, my God for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations which you have communicated to me in this meditation. I ask your help to put them into effect. My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel intercede for me.