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My Brothers and Sisters,

 Today’s short Gospel has always puzzled me a little.  One of the primary virtues of the ancient Middle East was hospitality. Jesus was the guest of Martha and Mary.  Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus while Martha did all the work. When Martha became frustrated and asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her, Jesus seemed to rebuke Martha.

 A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had the privilege of celebrating the funeral liturgy for Sr. Rosita, my eighth grade teacher and principal here at Little Flower from 1958-1964.  Sr. Rosita was very much a Martha.  She was definitely a doer.  For example, when she was here, she was principal of a school with 967 students, superior of sixteen nuns, and taught full time, yet there never was a morning that she did not come bounding into school with a smile on her face.

 However, over the years, we talked many times about how she did not feel that she was holy enough, religious enough, spiritual enough.  She always compared herself unfavorably to Sr. Mary Mootz, whom she described as very religious and contemplative.  From her description, Sr. Mary Mootz was definitely a Mary.

 My response was always the same.  People are different. The Church needs both kinds of people.  We need both Marthas and Marys. We need people who are reflective, and we need doers. One is not better than the other.  At the same time, it seems to me that most people are a mixture of both, tending toward one or the other.  Ideally, we would all strive for some balance of contemplation and action in our faith lives.  The Roman poet Horace wrote, “In medio stat virtus”--“virtue stands in balance.”  Just as we need balance among our relationships, we need balance in our faith life, balance between prayer and action. 

 As I looked at commentaries on this passage, I found a couple of different additional interpretations. One suggested that perhaps Jesus was just looking for a little peace and quiet conversation.  Sometimes we all need that. Sometimes we fail to recognize that need in others.  Second, the Gospel tells us that Mary was sitting beside Jesus “at his feet listening to him.” Perhaps this passage is telling us that when we pray, i.e., in our intimate conversations with God, we need to do less talking and more listening.  In our society, it is hard to listen, it is hard to be reflective.

 My brothers and sisters, at the beginning of the second reading, Paul wrote, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church...” This, too, is a puzzling verse.  What does it mean to make up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ?  What could be missing in Christ’s sufferings?  Nothing is missing in Christ’s sufferings. However, as Martin Luther King said in his “I have a Dream” speech, “Unearned suffering is redemptive.” Andy Jacobs, Jr., paraphrased it this way, “Unmerited suffering borne in love is salvific.” Whenever we bear unmerited suffering in love, we extend Christ’s presence, power, and activity in the world.  For those of us who are older, we were often told to offer up our sufferings.  When we offer up our sufferings, we join our sufferings to the sufferings of Christ offered to the Father for the salvation of the world.