Gn. 18: 1-10a; Ps. 15: 2-5; Col. 1: 24-28; Lk. 10: 38-42
“It is Christ in you, the hope for glory.” Christ is our blessing but we must do justice and persevere “with a generous heart” to live in his presence. The world demands “what have you done for me lately?” Our response is “Christ’s justice” not as the world demands but in his glory.
We live in an age of constant stimuli demanding our attention. We look at it as a challenge to be good at multitasking and take pride in doing more at once and in less time. The expectation is that we will have greater productivity and more outcome of success. If this is true then there should be more time in our day for silence, contemplation, prayer, and God. The balance and rebalance of our lifestyle should produce a harvest of time between our commitments to family, work, church, and to our personal growth in Christ. Does it? Temperance is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be in balance with our humanity and spirituality living in Christ and serving in justice for his glory.
“He who does justice” must “think the truth in his heart”. Where is this truth to be found? In the movie the “Passion” Pontius Pilate seemed lost in asking what was “truth” as he is pressured to do “justice” before those who called for Jesus death and the truth in his heart knowing the innocence of Jesus. His choice was to crucify the holy one for his own self-preservation in maintaining control of the crowd. The truth was in his presence and he failed to do justice. As Christians the truth has been placed in our hearts, we have either to respond in the presence of Christ in justice or once again crucify him in our hearts.
Today’s readings we have a contrast between Abraham, Martha and Mary. Abraham was so ready to serve the Lord who appeared to him by offering the three men water to bathe their feet, food to be refreshed giving of his fine flour, choice steer, curds and milk and waited on them as a favor. This is a generous heart in action out of love of God and neighbor and it yields a harvest. The desire to serve others brought Abraham a blessing from God when the men promised him that Sarah “will have a son.” The Lord’s presence moves the hearts of the believers into acts of love and the rewards are greater than we can imagine.
Martha is “burdened” thus her heart is not in her “serving” Jesus it is in her self-preservation. It is all about her. Jesus reminds Martha who is “anxious and worried about many things” taking time to listen to Jesus is “the better part and it will not be taken from” Mary. In fairness to Martha she acted in many ways as Abraham in responding to having a guest show up in the home. The difference was she did not recognize the Lord in her presence acting out of her burden not her love.
Mary is moved in her heart to be still before the presence of Jesus. She is attentive to the truth she witnessing acting out of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit she was experiencing in the presence of Jesus. Prudence because she made a conscious choice to respond to the “need of only one thing…the better part” as Jesus states. Justice because the spirit called her to be a witness to Jesus teaching. Fortitude because she knew her sister wanted her help yet there are times when we must choose between several options of which there is no wrong but one is the better part and it takes courage to make that choice. Finally, temperance is finding that right balance in our lives to be still for God and to be active for God. The active contemplative seeks to do both by being mindful of God in all things for a greater good.
The lesson from Abraham is service is an opportunity to receive God’s blessing when we are generous in our giving of ourselves. From Martha we learn when we make service all about ourselves, we suffer our own burden and little is gained. In Mary we recognize the “better part” begins by being attentive to the Lord in our presence. We are all familiar with the expression “work is never done”. God’s work is never done either so whose work are we attentive to ours, the world’s or where God is calling us to serve?
I remember as a child visiting at my grandmother’s house in Mexico. She had dirt floors and in the winter season they used a tin basin to burn wood to keep warm. The morning routine was to water down the dirt floor to keep the dust down and pack the dirt. Today you buy a floor sweeper to run around the rooms. No sooner has it swept that dust begins to settle on the floor. The convenience of technology is not simplifying our lives unless we make a conscious decision to focus on our priorities. God is a priority in which we can be active through him, with him and in him.
Most of us live active if not overcommitted lives and the world is ready to push information overload and steal any time left. Even our vacations may be planned to fill every hour of the day and the downtime is for social media posting, likes, and following other peoples lives. In other words, we are continuously tempted to fill our minds and time with activities with little lasting value. The expression “what difference does it make?” is an important thought to ask ourselves. A better way to reframe the question is “what difference can I make in Christ?”
Christ will make a great difference in us if we allow him into our lives at every moment to be an instrument of his love, peace, justice, and wisdom. We will make a lasting difference for ourselves in heaven and an immediate difference in the lives of others. Christ in us is the difference for true justice. Invite him and you will be the difference he desires for this world.
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