There is a story about a Catholic missionary who worked very hard to bring Catholicism to Africa. He built a church and rectory, he built a school, he built a clinic, he built a parish center where old people could gather and young people could play. Soon he had a very successful congregation coming to church every Sunday and on holy days of obligation. The priest never took time off, never went on retreat, never rested. Soon his health gave out and he had to return home for treatment and rest.
When he returned to his mission work several months later, he was shocked and saddened to see his parish compound completely abandoned. All his old parishioners were attending the new evangelical church across town. He asked them what had happened. One woman told him, "Father, you did a lot of good while you were here. You gave clothing to the children and food to the hungry and medicine to the sick. We thank you for this. We learned a lot about Jesus but we never really knew Jesus."
If people do not see Jesus in our actions, maybe it's because they don't see him in our hearts, or reflected in our eyes, our through or words. Maybe they don't realize he is in us because we never took the time to realize he is in us. We were so busy doing the work of the Lord, we neglected to get to know the Lord of the work.
Getting to know someone takes time. We have to spend time talking and listening to know one another. This is no less true of our relationship with the Lord than with our friends and family.
In today's gospel (Luke 10:38-42), Martha was the perfect host: cooking, cleaning, serving. But Mary was the perfect disciple: sitting, listening, learning. While no doubt appreciative of Martha's hard work, Jesus praises Mary for knowing what really matters. Sitting at the feet of the Lord is better than washing the feet of the Lord.
Jesus probably wouldn't have said anything had Martha not complained. By complaining she showed she wasn't really serving out of love but because it was her duty as a woman. She resented that Mary got to do what men got to do: be and act like a disciple.
I suppose if this gospel were to be written today by the men in the Vatican, Jesus would tell Mary to get up and go help her sister in the kitchen.
Luckily, Luke shows Jesus welcoming women as disciples. We are all called to be disciples by sitting at Jesus' feet.
Sitting at the feet of the Lord means we are attentive and open. We nurture a personal relationship with Jesus. Only then can we go out and do as Jesus did and as he commands. Some people think this gospel means prayer and contemplation are better than sacrifice and service. That misses the point. It's not either/or; it's both/and.
Without prayer our service is so much busyness, no matter how well-intentioned. But without service our prayer is incomplete because we fail to fulfill the Lord's commandments. Our prayer makes Jesus present to us; our service makes Jesus visible to others.
As in the first reading, when we extend hospitality, even to foreigners, we receive God into our homes. In the second reading, when we take our sufferings to the foot of the cross and add our sufferings to those of Jesus, we show how God is present today, even in our particular situation. And in the gospel, when we combine the attentiveness of Mary with the activities of Martha, people get to know Jesus because we know Jesus.
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