Dear friends,
St. Augustine said, “my soul is restless until it rests in the Lord.” In today’s readings we are given the example of that hunger the Lord that should always fill our hearts and souls. In the first reading Abraham pleads with the Lord to not to remain with him. He knows that being with the Lord is the most important thing one can get it life. In the gospel, Martha’s busyness makes her miss the important thing: hosting the Lord and listening to Him.
However, as important as this can be, being with the Lord is not something one should desire for the sake of just fulfilling a desire. To be with the Lord means for each one of these people and for us to rely on the Lord and to strive to fulfill his will in our daily life. That is what makes St. Paul insist on the goal of the God’s stewardship that is given to him: “to bring to completion for you the word of God,” and to make known the riches of the glory of the mystery.”
This shows us the relationship between contemplation and action in the life of a disciple. The action of a disciple should stem from his or her relationship with the source, which is Jesus. Contemplation leads to action and action gives proof to sane contemplation. At the feast of the Ascension, we see the desire to remain only contemplation mode when the disciples are looking in amazement the Lord ascending to heaven. It took the angels to remind them that they were missing the point. They have to go and proclaim the kingdom. Likewise at the Transfiguration, Simon Peter and his peers want to stay in the mountain to contemplate the glory of the Lord, but He reminds them that they should descend from the mountain and undertake the journey of proclamation and discipleship.
On another hand, today’s readings remind us that our actions should always have their source from and end in Jesus. Sometimes, we keep ourselves too busy that we miss the meaning of what we are doing. Even when we mean well, we are called to pay attention to the motive which make us get super busy as to forget about our need for resourcement. We are invited to take time to find the reason for our commitment in our deep relationship with the Lord. This is because if we listen to him carefully and attentively we will find the reason for our action and this will even make us more committed.
As we gather today around Jesus Christ at the Eucharistic celebration, let us open our hearts to listen to him, for he gives us the opportunity to contemplate Him and His love for us. Then, we can embrace the commission he offers us as we leave this place to put what we receive for him into action. That way we will be in our daily life the combination of Mary and Martha, rather choosing to be one at the expense of the other. And let us continue to pray for one another and for our parish family.
Fr. Emery