Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmidt, and this is Ascension Presents. You know
I was thinking a bit about you know the story of Mary and Martha whenever we
come back around in the in the Church year to the the feast or the memorial day of Saint Martha
I think a lot of times I talked to people who, they feel like, they say, "Oh, I'm such a Martha,
I'm such a Martha," as if that's a bad thing.
Now it's important for us to understand that Jesus said to - the Mary Martha, this whole sisters thing - that He said that Mary has chosen the
better part.
But He didn't say that Martha was doing something wrong. Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that
that Jesus is saying that Martha was doing the wrong thing. He didn't say that. Martha was doing a very, very good thing.
There's a saint who once said - he pointed out - that the reality - that when God became one of us,
He humbled himself to the point where He was hungry,
and he was tired. That He got thirsty. And so here's the question: if Jesus showed up to your house
and he showed up hungry, and He showed up tired, and He showed up thirsty, what would you do?
Well, you'd probably do what Martha would do. I mean, how many of us would would jump for joy at the opportunity to
give God Himself - if He humbles Himself and He makes Himself weak -
to give Himself something to drink or to let Him sleep on your couch or wherever, you know, to give Him food.
I mean, how many of us would say that that is a great thing, and that would be a great thing.
Jesus was pointing out that Mary's chosen the better portion, not because Martha was doing the wrong thing,
But because there will come a day when we can no longer serve God.
I mean, in the sense of this: in Matthew 25
Jesus said, "whatever you did to the least of these brethren - those who are hungry, those who are poor, those in prison,
those were in hospitals - as often as you did something for them, you're doing it to me." You know the day is gonna come when
we die and we will no longer be able to serve Jesus in the poor. When that day comes,
God willing, we'll be in Heaven, and what we'll do forever is
we'll be able to just adore Him, worship Him, get to love Christ in this kind of contemplation.
So when Jesus says, "Mary has chosen the better part," what He ultimately is saying is that,
"Mary has chosen the part that you're going to get to do for eternity."
But He's not saying that Martha was doing something wrong, because that's what we get to do while we're on this earth.
I think it's not an either/or. It's not like Mary's the "good sister" and Martha is the "bad sister."
We keep falling into that trap. You know, we have Cinderella. She's the "good sister," and there's
her wicked, you know, stepsisters and they are the "bad sisters." That's not this case.
If there's someone who embodied this in the in recent years, just so well, perfectly almost, it is
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. I mean,
you could never accuse Mother Teresa of being someone who ignored the poor.
I mean, she served when there were people hungry and dying, she cared for them.
But she also spent hours a day, every day of her life in
quiet adoration of Jesus. Sitting, kneeling at His feet, just like Mary. Here's someone who said, "I'm both Martha and Mary.
I'm serving Jesus while I can on this earth in the poor, but I'm also adoring Him and worshipping Him,
I mean, being loved by Him in front of the Eucharist." So here's my question,
maybe it's the task for us today, is two questions:
"Where today can I serve Jesus and the people near me?"
If you're a mom, or dad or if you have anybody in your life, who has any kind of need, like,
"Where, today, can I serve Jesus by serving them?" but also,
"Where, today, am I going to take time away, and just kneel or sit at the feet of Jesus - especially in the Eucharist,
but anywhere - to kneel or sit at the feet of Jesus and to just adore Him to just love Him, and also,
to just be loved by Him?"
That's the question. That's the challenge, "Where today can I serve Jesus? Before I die,
I want to serve him as much as I can in the people around me,
but also, where can I love Jesus and just let myself be loved by Jesus in quiet prayer?"
Because that's what we're made for in eternity.