Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

For several weeks now, we’ve been hearing about Christian discipleship:
+the call
+the formation
+the sending-forth
+the Apostolate of Charity

Today we learn a new dimension of discipleship, a sort of discipleship-at-home wherein we receive people into our lives (as well as our homes) in Christian hospitality. That which makes Christian hospitality specifically Christian is our willingness to welcome others as we would welcome Christ, not as in the hospitality industry, but by willingly sacrificing our time, energy, and personal space for the benefit of the visitor.

We have today two stories to illustrate this point: 1):Abraham and the Mysterious Visitors, and 2):Our Lord visiting Martha and Mary. While Abraham and Sarah entertain strangers, Martha and Mary welcome a friend. Both, however, are entertaining God without being aware of it. Ancient tradition suggests that the three mysterious men are an Old Testament pre-figuration of the Holy Trinity. Of course, Abraham and Sarah would not have known this, since the Holy Trinity would be truly manifested much later in time, at the Lord’s Baptism. And Martha and Mary are as yet unaware that their friend Jesus is the Incarnate Second Person of that Holy Trinity.

In both stories, one person remains in the front room while another works in the kitchen, but it is the combination of the two approaches that makes for a truly graced manifestation of discipleship. And then, for both pairs of hosts, a divine reward is in the offing, indeed a gift of life: 1):the eventual birth of son Isaac for Abraham and Sarah in their old age, and 2):the resurrection of brother Lazarus for Martha and Mary, in days to come.

Let’s take a closer look at the story of Martha and Mary, since it’s the more familiar one. Saint Luke tells us that Martha is “burdened” by the service she performs, (not an uncommon feeling). Then out of this fatigue she makes a faulty judgment about the efficacy of prayer, as in Mary’s sitting at the Lord’s feet, listening to Him.

Five hundred years later, Saint Benedict would take Martha’s complaint into consideration when compiling his Rule for the Benedictines. His motto for his monks, “Ora et Labora” (pray and work) reflects the realization that somebody has got to do the work. So, Benedict decided that everybody would both work and pray, knowing that, even for us, so many years later, some contemplative prayer would add a different dimension to the combination of the work we do to sustain our families, the charitable deeds which are the outward mark of the disciple, and the prayer time we would need to balance these and bring us rest from our labors.

In the end, charitable works are not the essence of Christian discipleship, as important as they are. The essence of discipleship is knowing Christ and sitting at His feet, listening to Him. This will bring calm to our worries and anxieties, lending greater efficacy to our apostolates as we go out to the world. Listening to the Word of the Lord leads to acts of service, but when the Lord speaks, we, like Mary, must first listen. The Lord’s words to Martha are not really a reproach, they are, instead, warm praise for Mary’s interest in listening to the Lord, a form of invitation to do the same, really.

In theological circles, Martha is sometimes identified as a living symbol of the active life, and Mary as a symbol of the contemplative life. There are different vocations within the Church, but action and contemplation are meant to be part of every Christian life. It is our real hope that we could all reach an integrated life in which a personal relationship with Christ merges harmoniously with our Christian responsibilities. 

Saint Josémaria Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei, an organization within the Church that seeks to help its members integrate the divine with daily living, wrote the two following articles about this approach:

“We Christians cannot resign ourselves to leading a double life. Our lives must contain a strong and simple unity in which our prayer and actions converge. It is there that Christ awaits us.” And in another place: “You must understand clearly that God is calling you to serve Him in and from the ordinary material and secular activities of human life. There is something holy, something divine hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each of you to discover it.”

So, while almost all of us live lives that are imbalanced in favor of work over prayer, each one must find the balance that works for him, unique and individual as each person here. To bring peace to our anxious souls, and the peace of Christ to others in Christian hospitality, it would be good to attempt to merge our inner Martha and Mary, remembering, as the Lord has said, that Mary has chosen the better part.