My pastor and priest, Father Mike Joly, with thoughts related to today's gospel lesson:
If there’s one characteristic which defines Americans at our core, it’s having the freedom to choose, being free to exercise choice. What and how we choose reveals what’s truly important to someone,
what he/she values. Some choices reflect what Blessed John Paul II and his successors, Pope Emeritus Benedict and Pope Francis have properly called, The Culture of Life”. Other choices reflect what is opposite; these choices reflect and contain a “Culture of Death”. It is really important to have a spiritual heart which can tell the difference. It is very important to have the lights on at home, in our heart and mind.
If a man or woman or youth is spiritually capable of identifying choices as belonging to a Culture of Life or a Culture of Death, chances are that individual would choose the former. Seeing Light or Dark for what they are, the human being will choose Light. So why do so many Americans these days choose darkness, choose to act in the realm of a culture of death?
The answer is found in today’s Gospel passage from Luke. Two women, Mary and Martha, serve as teachers to anyone who is willing to be taught. The fundamental question in anyone’s soul is, “Will I be taught by God?” Any decent society becomes decent sitting at the feet of those with wisdom, those who possess the Truth and who have light within them. Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, is one such woman who chooses to be enlightened rather than to remain spinning in the tornado of worldly thinking and endeavor.
Jesus reminds Martha, quite upset that Mary is not helping her with the work of hospitality: “MARTHA, Martha there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10: 42). So according to God, it is BETTER to come before eternal wisdom and love and holiness FIRST, before any hospitality is attempted. It is BETTER to receive from that fountain of Truth and Life before stepping into any human encounter, work or play. If there is any tragic development which is pervasive in our modern times, it’s that we are giving value to false sources of wisdom, drinking up from a fountain of broken thinking, emotional interpretation and self-enlightenment. These are poisons with which people attempt to quench their thirst. And it appears clear that the more and more BUSY we permit ourselves to be FIRST, the more likely it is that we will accept the tragic consequence of forfeiting what is far, far better, the depth and love of Christ Jesus poured into us.
Poisons with which people attempt to quench their thirst.
I am convinced that left on my own, absent the influence and guidance offered by the Church and her teachings, all of which point us to Christ, I would be quenching my thirst on poisonous substances.
Father Mike has, in my view, made the strong argument for our need to frequently and consistently seek something nutritious, something that truly quenches, something that serves as that poison's antidote.
That something of course is Someone.
Carry on.
