Last Sunday’s readings remind us that contemplation and hospitality go hand in hand. It is like love and service, they go together and enrich one another. We know from St Paul in today’s second reading that whether in a moment of contemplation or hospitality (love or service) we benefit the Church.
In the first reading Abraham has a unique encounter with God through three visitors. He had been told of the Promised Land and to numerous descendants like the stars of Heaven. Now he and Sarah had been promised a son despite Sarah being well beyond child-bearing age. After showing great hospitality to the visitors he is rewarded with the news that Sarah will hold a son in her arms within twelve months.
In the second reading St Paul speaks of making up for what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for the sake of His Mystical Body the Church. We can also benefit and help build up the Church through our prayers, sufferings and service.
In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus and his disciples arrive at the house of friends Martha, Mary and Lazarus in Bethany. This was located 3.2 kilometres from Jerusalem. Jesus would often stop here to rest before entering the city of Jerusalem. The atmosphere in this household was casual and friendly. However, Martha was in the kitchen, very busy preparing food for fifteen people, whilst Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to His teaching. Martha actually tries to boss Jesus and tell Him what to do: Lord, tell my sister to help me…. But Jesus corrects Martha and says that:
..Mary has chosen the better part, and this won’t be taken from her.
Sitting at someone’s feet was the traditional position a student would take in listening to the teacher. So, Jesus was teaching Mary, and she was His student. Martha on the other hand is far too preoccupied with serving and she loses her peace.
Mary exemplifies the way of contemplation, the life of union with God, but Martha personifies the active life of service. However, we can’t all be in a cloistered Convent or Monastery. We are in the world, but we must not be possessed by the world. What we need is both aspects in our daily lives, that is, contemplation and service.
Prayer and listening to God is the oxygen of the soul and prayer draws down upon us the Holy Spirit. In fact, without prayer we die spiritually. Examples of contemplative prayer include: The Holy Rosary, Eucharistic Adoration, Christian Meditation, Lectio Divina etc. Lectio Divina for example, means say reading a paragraph of the Gospel, prayerfully reflecting on it and then applying it to one’s life. We decide to really live up to the word of God. In a sense we incarnate the words of God. So, I encourage everyone to stop watching television, turn off your phone and pray in the family or alone and consider if duties permit, coming to the Divine Mercy Shrine to do a Holy Hour. There is a huge crisis of Faith in the Church because people don’t pray as they should. This crisis has been accentuated by the sexual revolution where there has been a separation of sexuality from morality and now gender ideology. It is time of great confusion and the spirit of lust.
The Psalm says:
The just will live in the presence of the Lord.
Unless we pray our Faith will become ever weaker and eventually be extinguished. Instead we should all be prayer of prayer and desire holiness because we become what we desire. It is important to depend more on God than on oneself.
St Paul was a great example of someone who was completely united to Christ. He was a great contemplative but also lived a very active life. She states that he worked harder than all the other Apostles to spread the Kingdom of God. St Paul suffered rejection, slander, being mocked, imprisoned and in fact, five times he received the thirty-nine lashes from the Jews. Three times he was beaten with sticks, once was stoned and left for dead. Three times he was shipwrecked and once adrift in the open sea for a night and a day. He was constantly in danger from brigands, Jews and gentiles, in danger in the country, at sea and from false brethren. He often went hungry, thirsty and sleepless.
We can’t all be like St Paul, but we do need a balanced life of prayer and action. Prayer should spill naturally into service. Let’s aim to be contemplatives in action. Get involved in Eucharistic Adoration for example, sitting at the feet of Jesus, like Mary, and being generous in serving like Martha. If we begin our activities with prayer all we do will have a supernatural value and become a prayer. Let’s also love the Sacrament of Confession and come to weekday Mass to grow in sanctifying grace which will help us to produce a harvest of good works. Saints Martha and Mary pray for us!