LUKE 10:38 - 42
SEVERAL YEARS AGO MY UNCLE PAUL CAME
TO VISIT. HE TRAVELED ALL THE WAY FROM MONTANA BY TRAIN AND BUS.
HE WAS ABOUT 75 WHEN THIS TOOK PLACE. AMONG A FAMILY WITH TEN
CHILDREN, HE AND MY MOTHER WERE VERY CLOSE, BEING THE FIFTH AND SIXTH
CHILDREN IN THE FAMILY, ABOUT A YEAR AND HALF APART. WHEN I WAS
GROWING UP, I SAW A LOT OF HIM, AND HE WAS THERE AT ALL THE BIG
MILESTONES IN MY GROWING UP. WHEN HE CAME TO VISIT, JOAN AND I WERE
VERY EXCITED, AND WE MADE PLANS TO SHOW HIM ALL THE SIGHTS AROUND
HERE – STURBRIDGE, STOCKBRIDGE, MAYBE EVEN BOSTON. AFTER ALL, THIS
WAS SORT OF A ONCE IN A LIFETIME EVENT, AND WE WANTED HIM TO REMEMBER
IT.
WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, I CAN REMEMBER
VISITING MY UNCLES AND AUNTS. MOST OF THE TIME WE WOULD BE GREETED
PLEASANTLY, AND THEN AFTER WE WERE COMFORTABLE, THE UNCLE OR AUNT
WOULD GO BACK TO WHATEVER THEY WERE DOING. MY MOTHER CAME FROM A
FAMILY WHO ALWAYS HAD TO BE DOING THINGS. BUT MY UNCLE PAUL WAS
DIFFERENT. HE WAS A FARMER, AND OF COURSE ALWAYS HAD SOMETHING TO
DO. BUT WHEN WE SHOWED UP, HE USUALLY WOULD DROP EVERYTHING AND GIVE
US HIS FULL ATTENTION.
WHEN HE CAME TO VISIT, IT WAS NO
DIFFERENT. HE MADE IT CLEAR THAT HE DIDN'T REALLY WANT TO RUN AROUND
AND SEE THE SIGHTS. HE WANTED TO SIT AND TALK WITH US, JUST SPEND
SOME TIME LEARNING ABOUT OUR LIVES AND FILLING US IN ON WHAT HAD GONE
ON BACK HOME SINCE WE WERE LAST THERE. WE RELAXED AND HAD A PLEASANT
TIME, BEFORE HE BOARDED A BUS AND WENT ON TO VISIT A NIECE UP IN
ELSWORTH, MAINE.
WHEN JOAN AND I WERE A LOT YOUNGER, WE
WOULD OFTEN HAVE PEOPLE VISIT, AND WE ALWAYS TRIED TO BE GOOD HOSTS,
AND MAKE SURE THAT THEIR VISIT WAS MEMORABLE. WHEN WE LIVED IN
CALIFORNIA WE ALWAYS TOOK THEM TO WINERIES AND TRIED TO SHOW THEM SAN
FRANCISCO. IN SAINT LOUIS A TOUR OF THE GATEWAY ARCH AND THE
BUDWEISER BREWERY WERE IN ORDER. IN BUFFALO WE VISITED NIAGARA FALLS
MORE TIMES THAN I CARE TO REMEMBER. BUT OF ALL THOSE VISITS FROM
FRIENDS AND RELATIVES FROM THE PAST, I DON'T REALLY REMEMBER MUCH
ABOUT THE FOOD WE ATE OR THE SIGHTS WE SAW. WHAT I DO REMEMBER ARE
THOSE TIMES AT THE END OF THE DAY WHEN WE SAT IN OUR LIVING ROOM AND
TALKED – REMINISCING OVER OLD TIMES, REMEMBERING MUTUAL FRIENDS, OR
SOLVING THE PROBLEMS OF THE WORLD.
THE STORY OF MARTHA AND MARY – IT'S
SO FAMILIAR IT'S ALMOST A CLICHÉ. IN FACT WE ALL KNOW WHAT WE MEAN
WHEN SOMEONE IS DESCRIBED AS A MARTHA. MY MOTHER REALLY DIDN'T LIKE
THIS GOSPEL. SHE COULD NEVER SIT STILL, AND ALWAYS HAD TO BE DOING
SOMETHING. SHE TOOK JESUS' REBUKE OF MARTHA PERSONALLY. SHE WOULD
MUTTER – IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE MARTHA'S, NOTHING WOULD EVER GET
DONE. I THINK ALL OF US PROBABLY HAVE A LITTLE OF THAT REACTION. IF
MARTHA HAD BEEN SITTING THERE LISTENING TO JESUS, NO ONE WOULD EVER
GET ANY SUPPER.
THE OTHER THING ABOUT THIS GOSPEL IS
THAT IT SEEMS TO IMPLY THAT THOSE WHO SIT AND CONTEMPLATE ARE SOMEHOW
BETTER THAN THOSE WHO ARE ACTIVE. I KNOW WHEN I WAS GROWING UP AND
THERE WERE ALL KINDS OF NUNS IN THE WORLD, WE ALL BELIEVED THAT THE
ONES WHO LIVED IN CLOISTERS AND PRAYED ALL THE TIME WERE DEFINITELY A
CUT ABOVE THE ONES WHO TAUGHT US IN SCHOOL, OR THE ONES WHO WORKED IN
THE HOSPITAL AS NURSES.
SO IS JESUS BEING UNFAIR? OR DO WE
JUST HAVE TO SAY, “LORD, I DON'T UNDERSTAND, AS USUAL,” AND GO ON
DOING THE BEST WE CAN, TRYING TO SQUEEZE A MOMENT HERE AND THERE TO
SIT AT HIS FEET AND JUST LISTEN?
MAYBE JESUS MEANS SOMETHING A LITTLE
DIFFERENT.
MAYBE THAT'S WHAT JESUS IS TALKING
ABOUT. HE CAME TO VISIT; THAT PROBABLY DIDN'T HAPPEN THAT OFTEN.
MARTHA WANTED TO MAKE SURE HE HAD A GOOD TIME; EVERYTHING HAD TO BE
JUST SO. MARY WANTED TO JUST ENJOY HIS PRESENCE AND BE PRESENT TO
HIM AS WELL.
MANY OF THE GREAT SAINTS SEEMED TO
HAVE THE GIFT OF PRESENCE. THAT'S WHY THEY ATTRACTED FOLLOWERS,
THAT'S WHY THEY FOUNDED RELIGIOUS ORDERS. WHEN THEY MET PEOPLE, THEY
GAVE THEM THEIR FULL ATTENTION, AND VERY OFTEN, THAT PERSON BECAME A
SUPPORTER, OR EVEN A FOLLOWER AS A RESULT. JESUS HIMSELF SEEMED TO
HAVE THIS. I LOVE THE STORY OF WHEN HE WAS RUSHING ALONG TO SAVE THE
LITTLE DAUGHTER OF THE TEMPLE OFFICIAL; A WOMAN CLUTCHED AT HIS
GARMENT, HOPING TO BE HEALED. HE STOPPED IN HIS TRACKS AND SPOKE TO
HER, EXCHANGED A FEW WORDS, TOLD HER THAT HER FAITH HAD HEALED HER,
AND THEN WENT ON. OR HOW A BOUT THE TIME THE BLIND MAN CALLED OUT TO
HIM AND THE APOSTLES TOLD THE MAN TO BE QUIET. BUT JESUS STOPPED
WHAT HE WAS DOING, TALKED TO THE MAN, AND HEALED HIS BLINDNESS. BEING
PRESENT TO SOMEONE, FULLY PRESENT, NOT DISTRACTED OR IN A RUSH, IS A
GREAT GIFT – NOT ONLY TO THE PERSON, BUT TO THE ONE WHO IS BEING
PRESENT. I THINK MY UNCLE PAUL LEARNED THAT EARLY IN LIFE, AND I
HOPE I AM LEARNING IT AS WELL.
WHEN JESUS TELLS MARTHA THAT MARY HAS
CHOSEN THE BETTER PART AND IT WON'T BE TAKEN FROM HER, MAYBE THAT'S
WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT. IN MOST SITUATIONS WHEN WE ENCOUNTER OTHER
PEOPLE, WE CAN CHOOSE TO BE MARTHAS OR MARYS; WE ALWAYS HAVE THE
OPTION OF CHOOSING THE BETTER PART, BEING PRESENT TO THE OTHER
PERSON, WHO, AFTER ALL, IS MADE IN THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD, AND
WHO IS A BROTHER OR SISTER TO US. WHEN WE GIVE THAT PERSON OUR FULL
ATTENTION, WE ARE HONORING HIS OR HER GREAT DIGNITY.
BUT SOMETHING ELSE TO REMEMBER IS THAT
JESUS MAKES HIMSELF AVAILABLE TO US IN THE EUCHARIST. THIS CHURCH,
LIKE MOST OF THEM, STANDS EMPTY MOST OF THE TIME. A FEW RARE
INDIVIDUALS COME IN TO THE QUIET AND PUT THEMSELVES IN THE PRESENCE
OF CHRIST, FOR A FEW MINUTES OR MAYBE LONGER. WE HAVE THE EXAMPLE OF
JOHN PAUL II, WHO DESPITE RUNNING THE CHURCH, WRITING ENCYCLICALS,
AND TRAVELING ALL OVER THE WORLD, WOULD SPEND TWO HOURS A DAY IN THE
PRESENCE OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. WE KNOW MOTHER THERESA MADE IT A
RULE FOR HER ORDER TO SPEND AN HOUR IN SILENT PRAYER BEFORE THE
TABERNACLE EVERY DAY, IN ADDITION TO EVERYTHING ELSE. WE CATHOLICS
ARE SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE IN THE REAL PRESENCE – THAT WHAT LOOKS LIKE
BREAD IS REALLY THE LIVING LORD, THE SAME ONE WHO WALKED THE ROADS OF
PALESTINE AND DIED ON THE CROSS FOR US. IF WE BELIEVE, WE NEED TO
ACT, AND HONOR HIS PRESENCE IN THE SAME WAY WE WOULD HONOR SOMEONE WE
DEEPLY LOVE WHO COMES TO VISIT.
MARY CHOSE THE BETTER PART; SHE KNEW
WHERE SHE COULD BENEFIT THE MOST WITH HER TIME. YOU AND I CAN DO
THIS AS WELL, WHETHER IT IS THE WAY WE DEAL WITH EACH OTHER, OR THE
WAY WE TREAT OUR LORD WHO CHOOSES TO LIVE AMONG US IN THE BLESSED
SACRAMENT.
