Tuesday,
October 8, 2002
27th
Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Gal 1:13-24
Gospel:
Lk 10:38-42
Jesus
entered a village and a woman called Martha welcomed him to her house.
She had a sister named Mary who sat down at the Lord's feet to listen
to his words. Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving and finally
she said, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do
all the serving?"
But the
Lord answered, "Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about
many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better
part, and it will not be taken away from her."
Commentary
Like yesterday's Gospel passage, that of today is distinctively Lucan. Both women were doing a particular trait of basic Oriental, nay of human, hospitality. When a guest enters one's household, the host sees t it that someone entertains the guest with conversation while one prepares something to serve. Both are doing the ministry of hospitality. One or the other may not arrogate to oneself the perogative of being hospitable. Both were truly serving in their own way. But Mary is presented here more than simply doing the service of hospitality to Jesus. She sits at the feet of the Master like disciples attentively listening to his magisterial instructions. Jesus is not only ministered to by the sisters but is in the act of ministering the word to an attentive listener. This is the first duty of our ministry (diakonia). We let the Master minister to us with his life-giving word, which in due time bears fruit in our manifold ministries. Sometimes we have a mania to do all kinds of services. We claim to do the works of God. But we fail to let the God of work serve us in the silence of our hearts and lives. We lose the right sense of priorities, forgetting that we are simply ministers of the word and not masters of it. Is the Lord truly the portion of our life and ministry?