Fr Peter Helman

Dear friends,

Today we celebrate the Feast of Mary and Martha of Bethany, sisters who lived with their brother Lazarus in a village near Jerusalem.

Mary and Martha a familiar from a handful of gospel accounts.

Once, when Jesus and his disciples were guests in their home, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to him teach, and Martha was busy preparing dinner and waiting upon their guests. Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping, but Jesus said Mary had chosen the better part and that she had chosen would not be taken from her.

Later, when Lazarus died, Jesus came to Bethany to visit Mary and Martha and mourn the passing of his close friend. As Jesus still approached the village, Martha rushed to meet Jesus on the road. Mary remained at home with the bereaved. Finding Jesus, Martha implored him, saying, “Lord, if you had been here our brother would not have died.” Jesus replied with the words of greatest consolation, saying, “Your brother will rise again. [...] I am the Resurrection and the Life."

On another occasion, a week before Jesus' arrest, trial, and crucifixion, Jesus shared supper with his disciples and friends. Mary drew close to Jesus where he reclined at table and gathering from the folds of her garment a flask of costly perfume anointed Jesus' feet. The disciples criticized Mary’s devotion as a waste of what might otherwise have been sold to raise alms for the poor. But Jesus spoke on Mary’s behalf and extolled her adoration.

Over the centuries many Christians have come to see Mary and Martha as two disciples whose lives typify two integral facets of Christian faith: the charisms of contemplation and action. The faith of Mary made manifest through contemplative prayer and adoration of Jesus, a heart practicing the presence of God through stillness and quiet longing for the gifts of grace. And the faith of Martha made manifest through an active tireless pursuit of love’s embodiment in the world, her hands and feet becoming the very hands and feet of Jesus.

Take a few minutes and read the gospel appointed for the feast. What are your thoughts? Do you identify with Mary and Martha? Maybe more with one sister than the other? How do you take Jesus' response to Martha? What is the relationship of prayer to service, of contemplation to action, of love of God to love of neighbor?

On this day we offer the following collect:

O God, heavenly Father, whose Son Jesus Christ enjoyed rest and refreshment in the home of Mary and Martha of Bethany: Give us the will to love thee, open our hearts to hear thee, and strengthen our hands to serve thee in others for his sake; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Yours in Christ,
Peter+