Saint Martha!

The Church celebrates the feast of Saint Martha. There are two gospels for our consideration on this day, John 11:19-27 and Luke 10:38-42. Both show that Martha is not afraid to confront our Lord. In John's gospel, the brother of Martha and Mary, Lazarus, had died and Jesus came to be with them. Martha met our Lord and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." Then, in Luke's gospel, Martha says, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." These are bold statements, but there is a message to gain from them. With John's gospel, Martha confirmed her faith in Jesus who says I am the resurrection and the life. With Luke, we realize that work and prayer go hand in hand and we need to separate the two. It is easy to say that my work is my prayer but to work effectively we need to spend the time in prayer. Mary was doing that in Luke's gospel, she was sitting at the feet of our Lord listening to him. We ask Saint Martha to intercede for us today. May we grow in our call to service and hospitality, but first, let us take the time to spend at the feet of our Lord listening to him and conversing with him in prayer! Blessings to you!!!