St. Martha, July 29
1 John 4:7-16 / John 11:19-27 or Luke 10:38-42
Martha was born of noble and wealthy parents, but she is still more illustrious for the hospitality she gave to Christ our Lord.
After His Ascension into heaven, she was seized by the Jews, together with her brother and sister, Marcella her handmaid, and Maximin, one of the seventy-two disciples of our Lord, who had baptized the whole family, and many other Christians. They were put on board a ship without sails or oars, and left helpless on the open sea, exposed to certain shipwreck. But God guided the ship, and they all arrived safely at Marseilles.This miracle, together with their preaching, brought
the people of Marseilles, of Aix, and of the neighborhood to believe in Christ.
Lazarus was made Bishop of Marseilles and Maximin of Aix. Magdalen, who was
accustomed to devote herself to prayer and to sit at our Lord's feet, in order
to enjoy the better part which she had chosen, that is, contemplation of the
joys of heaven, retired into a deserted cave on a very high mountain. There she
lived for thirty years, separated from all human intercourse; and every day she
was carried to heaven by the angels to hear their songs of praise.
But Martha, after having won the love and admiration of the people of
Marseilles by the sanctity of her life and her wonderful charity, withdrew in
the company of several virtuous women to a spot remote from men, where she
lived for a long time, greatly renowned for her piety and prudence. She
foretold her death long before it occurred; and at length, famous for miracles,
she passed to our Lord on the fourth of the Kalends of August. Her body which
lies at Tarascon is held in great veneration.
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Jesus liked to stay at the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, his
friends at Bethany, when he was in Judea. One of these visits has ever remained
dear to Christian memory. On that occasion Martha, busily serving the Master,
asked Him to persuade Mary to help her. Without in any way reproaching Martha,
Jesus explained to her that certain souls, called by God, should choose a
better part still — the primary duty of listening to Him and contemplating
Him.
***
If cooks and chefs are ever in need of a patron saint, they need not
look further. And not just cooks and chefs, but also homemakers and those in
the hospitality industry. Because St. Martha would be the first and obvious
saint for those in these professions. Indeed, her name means "The
mistress" or "the lady", from the feminine of
"master", and in many obvious ways, she lived up to her name.
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Whenever we talk about St. Martha, the image of an active and work-oriented as
well as task-oriented person comes to mind. That may be because of that
occasion (Luke 10 : 38-42) when she invited Jesus to her home and she was
caught up with all the serving. And then she complained to Jesus about getting
her sister Mary to help her with the work. But Jesus told her that she worried
and fret about so many things and yet only one was important, and Mary had
chosen the better part. Martha must have remembered what Jesus said to her, and
so despite the sadness and grief over her brother's death, she knew that only
Jesus could comfort her.
And true to her personality, she made the move to go out and meet Jesus
and to express her faith in Jesus. But on this occasion, she also made a
profound proclamation. Martha proclaimed Jesus to be Christ, the Son of God. Only
St. Peter had made that similar proclamation.
Hence, St. Martha, despite her active and work-oriented and
task-oriented personality, came to slowly recognize who Jesus is. St. Martha is
an example for us of someone who is active and busy but yet took the time to
reflect and to discover who Jesus is. Like St. Martha we may also have very
active lives and busy with a lot of things. But let us not forget the one
important thing - prayer! It is in prayer that we will attain the peace to know
that Jesus is truly the Son of God, our Saviour.
***
In the gospel of Luke, she was caught up with all the serving and got
distracted and complained. And Jesus gently chided her that she worries and
frets about so many things but only one was needed. In the gospel of John,
Martha was again seen to be complaining and even blaming Jesus for not coming
earlier, otherwise her brother Lazarus would not have died. But it was she who
made that profound faith statement: Yes Lord, I believe that you are the
Christ, the Son of God, the one who has to come into this world. St. Martha was
of great service to others, yet she was also a woman who put her faith into her
service and her life.
So she is not just Martha but St. Martha. May we learn from her to serve with
faith, so that in all people and in all things, it is Christ whom we are
serving.
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THE BURIED TREASURE
Martha. To serve without being asked, to be ready for others. To be given little publicity but to work backstage. Not to ask for honors and pass on the shoulder but to do one’s work quietly. This is how she followed the Lord. And her faith was deep and strong in Christ as the Son of God who could raise the dead back to life.
A little beyond the end of today’s reading there is the shortest verse in the
Bible. It is Jn 11:35, and it says simply, “Jesus wept.” It shows sensitivity
in the people who first divided the Scriptures into chapters and verses. They
could easily have put these words with the following verse; it would even have
been logical: the following verse is, “So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved
him!’” When someone weeps you just have to give them time to weep. Weeping may
be saying a lot, but it is not language, and it doesn’t require an answer or an
explanation. There are two occasions in the gospel when Jesus told people not
to weep (Lk 7:13; 8:52). On both occasions, there was an error of fact: the
persons being mourned were not dead. But in today’s story there is no doubt
about Lazarus being dead. So, Jesus wept; he did not take death lightly. He is
sometimes made to seem a sort of magician who “leaped up on the third day.” If
we make little of death, we make little of the resurrection.
Nor can we to make little of Martha. She is not playing second fiddle to Mary
(especially not in this passage). With Peter’s, hers is the most explicit
confession of Jesus as Messiah—which is the whole purpose for which the gospel
was written (Jn 20:30,31). A scholar says that this points to the prominent
women like Martha played in the early Church.
Prayer
We honor today Saint Martha as a woman of faith and an unobtrusive servant of
people Give us her faith in Christ as the Lord of life and the first fruits of
the resurrection. Make us willing servants of one another who attend to others
in their need. We ask your this through Christ our Lord. Amen
