Daily Reflections

2 Corinthians 6:14, 16

What do righteousness and iniquity have in common?
Is there a common ground between the temple of God and idols?
– You are the temple of the Living God.

Are you not aware that you are God’s temple,
and that His Spirit lives within you?
– You are the temple of the Living God.

Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

Saturday of the Bless Virgin Mary 

Saint Martha, Virgin (Traditional)

St Felix II, Simplicius, Faustinus, & Beatrice, Martyrs (Traditional)

Martha is remembered as the one who was fretting when Jesus came to dinner, in sharp contrast to her sister Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet. Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the “better part”. Martha clearly takes Jesus’ correction to heart. When he comes to Bethany again, this time because her brother Lazarus has died, Martha is still the active one, the doer. She runs out to greet Jesus while Mary stays at home. But now Martha’s anxiety has given way to Faith: “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the One who was to come into this world” (John 11: 19-27).

SAINT MARTHA, VIRGIN

The ways by which God leads men’s souls of varied; one way may be more perfect than another, but each soul must sanctify itself in its own fashion. Grace does not do violence to nature, but perfects it; thus, although Saint John tells us that Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, each of the sisters always retains her own individual character in the Gospel narrative. Mary feels more deeply, and, therefore, though she is habitually more recollected, yet she is also a woman of an eager and pleasing disposition, more courageous in her actions.

The virtues of Martha, the elder sister of Lazarus, on the other hand, are more commonplace and less exceptional and lived at Bethany a humble active life. She often gave hospitality to Our LORD.She is a good housekeeper, diligent, affectionate, and forbearing in undertaking the additional labour which Martha’s different nature puts upon her. In discharging her daily duties, she looks at life chiefly from the practical side. The Saviour loves her much, because, though Mary is eager to receive spiritual food from Him, Martha, on the contrary, shows a mother‘s tender care both for Him, and for His disciples, who were always received as members of the family in her home at Bethany.

According to one account they ended their days at Marseilles – seen Lazarus as Bishop, Saint Mary Magdalene as anchoress and St.  Martha as head of a small community of Holy women.

Sts. Felix II,  Simplicius, Faustinus & Beatrice, Martyrs

The martyr-Pope Saint Felix 11 governed, the church, during the exile of Pope Liberius, in the middle of the fourth century. Simplicius and Faustinuswere drowned in the Tiber, probably in 303, when the great persecution under Diocletian was at it’s height. Beatrice, their sister, with the aid of the priest Priscus, recovered their bodies, in order to give them burial; for which offence she was strangled in prison.

From a sermon by Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(Sermo 103, 1-2, 6: PL 38, 613, 615)

Blessed are they who deserved to receive Christ in their homes

Our LORD’s words teach us that though we labour among the many distractions of this world, we should have but one goal. For we are but travelers on a journey without as yet a fixed abode; we are on our way, not yet in our native land; we are in a state of longing, not yet of enjoyment. But let us continue on our way, and continue without sloth or respite, so that we may ultimately arrive at our destination.

Martha and Mary were sisters, related not only by blood but also by religious aspirations. They stayed close to Our LORD and both served Him harmoniously when He was among them. Martha welcomed Him as travelers are welcomed. But in her case, the maidservant received her LORD, the invalid her Saviour, the creature her Creator, to serve Him bodily food while she was to be fed by the Spirit. For the LORD willed to put on the form of a slave, and under this form to be fed by His own servants, out of condescension and not out of need. For this was indeed condescension, to present Himself to be fed; since He was in the flesh He would indeed be hungry and thirsty.

(Martha and Mary were sisters, related not only by blood but also by religious aspirations. They stayed close to our Lord and both served him harmoniously when he was among them. Martha welcomed him as travelers are welcomed. But in her case, the maidservant received her Lord, the invalid her Savior, the creature her Creator, to serve him bodily food while she was to be fed by the Spirit. For the Lord willed to put on the form of a slave, and under this form to be fed by his own servants, out of condescension and not out of need. For this was indeed condescension, to present himself to be fed; since he was in the flesh he would indeed be hungry and thirsty.)

The One Thing Necessary

Do not think of God’s action as something extraordinary. On the contrary, it makes itself felt in the tiny practical inspirations of every day: do this, give up that, and so on. Live thus, knowing that you are not alone; examine yourself in His presence, under His gaze, and be assured that He will not fail you in the least of the day’s happenings. Does a woman forget her baby at the breast…Yet even if these forget, I will never forget you. (Is 49:15).

Examine yourself as regards generosity. Do you do things by half measures? Do you give yourself only halfway—with God in prayer; with your neighbour in charity? Nature does its hardest to prevent us and keep us back repeatedly, and that in two ways. First, by introducing the natural spirit into all we do—by vanity, self-love—and then, negatively, by keeping back a part of the whole which of right belongs to God.

Seek God in your acts, since He is behind them all, and we are sanctified by the acts He wants from us. Do not seek Him in your ideas, by an effort of the head, but only where He is—for you. We so often seek Him where He is not, and naturally we do not find Him. Thus, when you are tired, for example, do not try to think things out, by abstracting from the present moment. Seek Him in the tiredness itself, by accepting whole-heartedly the situation as it is. God is there; He wants just that, and that is enough. It is the same with difficulties, with feelings of helplessness and the like…. Thus everything becomes an occasion for progress: everything becomes living—and lived—a full, inner life.

Dom Augustin Guillerand, O. Cart.

Dom Augustin Guillerand († 1945) was a French Carthusian monk and a revered spiritual author. [From Where Silence Is Praise: From the writings of Dom Augustin Guillerand, o. cart., A Monk of Parkminster, Tr.

DAILY MEDITATION 

Saint John tells us that “Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus“ [John 11:15], and yet, but few glimpses are vouchsafed us of them. First, the sisters were set before us with a word. Martha received Jesus into her house, and was busy in outward, loving, and lavish service, while Mary sat in silence at the feet she had bathed with her tears. Then, their brother is ill, and they send to Jesus, “LORD, he who Thou lovest is sick” [John 11:3]. And in His own time the LORD came, and they go out to meet Him; and then follows that scene of an unutterable tenderness and of sublimity unsurpassed: the silent waiting of Mary; Martha strong in Faith, but realizing so vividly, with her practical turn of mind, the fact of death, and hesitating: “Canst Thou show Thy wonders in the grave?“ [John 11:39]. And then, once again, on the eve of his passion, we see Jesus at Bethany. Martha, truth to her character, is soothing; Mary, as at first, pours the precious ornament, and adoration and love, on his divine head.

And then we find the tomb of Saint Martha, at Tarascon, in Provence. When the storm of persecution came, the family of Bethany, with a few companions, were put into a boat, without oars, or sail, and borne to the coast of France. Saint Mary’s tomb is that St. Baume; Saint Lazarus is venerated as the founder of the Church of Marseille; and the memory of the virtues and labours of Saint Martha is still fragrant at Avignon and Tarascon.

Reflection: when Martha received Jesus into her house, she was naturally busy in preparations for such a Guest. Mary sat at His feet, intent alone, on listening to His gracious words. Her sister so much that the time required of the service than this, and asked Our LORD to bid Mary help in serving. Once again, Jesus spoke in defence of Mary. “Martha, Martha,“ He said, “thou art lovingly anxious about many things; be not overeager; do thy choosen work with recollectedness. Just not Mary. Hers is the good part, the one only thing really necessary. Thine will be taken away, that something better be given thee” [Luke 10:41–42] spirit, the life of action ceases when the body is laid down; but the life of contemplation endures and is perfected in Heaven.

John Gilmary Shea [d.1892] – American author and celebrated historian, regarded as the father of American Catholic history.

“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” – Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen