OT XVI [C] Gn 18:1-10a; Col 1:24-28; Lk 10:38-42

Today’s reading from the Gospel reminds us of keeping priorities. Jesus visited the house of Martha and Mary.  Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.' But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.' " [Lk. 10:38-42]

There was once a master lion tamer in a famous circus who was a couple of years from retirement. So the circus management and the master lion tamer decided to start training his successor as it would take a lot of hard work and focus for the young tamer to be able to control the lion. From hundreds of candidates, a young student was chosen and the training began.

As the first lesson, the master explained to the student that most courageous lion tamers use only two tools to control the fierce beasts prowling around the cage. A whip and a chair. The young student, surprised, looked at his mentor. The mentor noticed the surprised look of his young apprentice and asked him “Which of the two is the most valuable to the tamer?” The student answered, “Surely the whip.” To which, the master replied, “No. The most important tool is the chair, and more specifically, the four legs of the stool!”

The student just stood there baffled. “A chair,” said the student “that’s odd! But why a chair? And why the four legs?” The master lion tamer replied “A lion can easily overpower, maul and kill a person. However, it’s only easy for the lion to do so if it can focus on a singular object or one person. The lion tamer uses the stool as a method of distraction. The lion, when faced with the legs of the stool, tries to focus on all four at once. Confused, and unable to focus, it stands there, frozen!  The lion tamer remains relatively safe behind the stool.”

When we miss our priorities in life we get distracted. When we get distracted from Him, we are likely to miss His guidance.

If Jesus Christ truly is the one Lord of life and history, the one Savior, the one Way, Truth, and Life (which he is), then, it is certain that "only one" thing is needed for a fulfilling, meaningful, and fruitful life: to stay as close to him as possible at all times. Much more important than what we can do for Christ is what we can be for him, and what he can be for us.

Martha was doing all kinds of tasks, and that was good. But Mary was listening to him, letting him serve her, being his close, intimate friend, and that was even better, "the better part". Friendship with Christ is the one thing needed. Therefore, our task here on earth is to make a conscious choice to shape our lives accordingly, to keep Christ first, to live from his love and for his love. 

Jesus doesn't congratulate Mary because she won the spiritual lottery or had received a particularly beautiful soul from God. He praises her because she has "chosen the better part." She chooses it. She chooses to submit to the Lord, to let him be for her what he in truth already is for everyone - the one needed thing.

Martha, on the other hand, has a divided heart. She loves Christ, but she still depends on her own strength to earn his love in return. She hasn't learned that what matters is not so much what we can do for Christ as what he has done and wants to do for us.

Jesus kindly teaches her in this encounter that the greatest thing she can do for him, the "one needed thing", is to let him rule completely over her heart, to take her place at his feet and listen to his words. 

Every day we are faced with the choice to be more like Martha or more like Mary. This is one of the most amazing things about Christianity. God respects our freedom so much that, in a sense, he leaves our destiny in our own hands. We can freely choose our priorities in life. We can make our own achievements our highest priority, like Martha, or we can make knowing, loving, and imitating Christ our highest priority. Every single time we choose to give Christ and his will priority in our lives, we allow his sanctifying, healing grace to seep deeper into our lives.

Keeping Christ first, keeping his friendship as our highest priority and his will as our greatest desire - that's "the better part". But it is not always easy to do. After sitting at the Lord's feet and listening to his words, we have to go off and live them out. This means living by his standards, standards very different than those of the world around us. It means being honest when everybody else is cheating or cooking the books. It means speaking well of others when everybody around us is gossiping and criticizing. It means staying faithful to our duties and relationships, always giving our best at home, at school, and at the office, even when we get tired, even when no one notices. But above all, it means doing all things because we love Christ and want to follow him.

 

During this Mass, Christ has something to say to each one of us. That's why he comes to us individually in Holy Communion. Spend some time each time you receive Jesus. Like Mary, let's choose the better part and listen carefully.

And let's promise that we will live accordingly during the coming week, having confidence not in our own strength, as Martha did, but in the power of God's grace at work within us.