“And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled
about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken from her’” (Luke 10:41)
Most of us can identify with Martha. We are worried and troubled about so many things not only every day, but also all the daylong. If we are employed, we worry about job security and all the tasks that are assigned to us during our working hours. If we are at home, there’s never an end to what needs doing. If we are school children, we can always study more, lest we fall behind in our class work. Our days are filled with challenges. When we finally set up a routine, surprises, accidents and traumas upset us and cause more frustration.
As if we had not enough to deal with, we watch the news on television or hear it on the radio. Of course we cannot start the day without reading the newspaper. All of this captures our interest and traps us into thinking about troubles elsewhere that have little to do with us directly and for which we have no way of alleviating. Our lives go on like this, and we forget if we ever knew that an alternative is possible: The Mary way.
The Church encourages us to observe the four fast periods of the ecclesiastical year, and to set aside part of each day for prayer, reflection and meditation. Those times belong to the Lord. Serious Christians take them seriously. They are not meant as ways to please the Lord, but rather for our spiritual enrichment.
Most of us understand periods of lent and days of fasting to be times when we modify our eating habits. No meat or dairy products, and in America the land of gluttony, eating less—half portions of what is normal for a person or family. But I think that to reap a spiritual reward closer to what Mary enjoyed, we should fast from watching television and listening to the radio, as well as to stop reading the newspapers. Do what the monastics do without leaving our homes. Take the Lord’s advice and go into your closet. He didn’t mean that literally, but rather that we shut ourselves off from the outside world and go into the quiet space of our hearts. He wants us to shut out the noise and confusion that captures our attention and demands that we forego paying attention to any and everything that is considered news.
Just a while ago throughout eastern USA and parts of Canada we experienced a power failure. We learned that we survived without all of the wonders that come through electric energy. What we cannot do without is spiritual energy, and the source of that power is God Himself. We were created for everlasting life in the Kingdom of heaven. Mary realized that Jesus Christ was nourishing her with the Spirit of God, Who was firing up her soul with the union with the heavenly Father. “That good part” transcended all else, and so she was unable to get up and help her sister set the table and prepare the meal for the guests. How unfortunate that so many people go through life and die, never having experienced that overwhelming blessing that Christ wants to share with us all. Nothing on earth is as precious as the time spent in deep contemplation, reflection and union with the Holy Trinity. Prayer is the means by which we communicate with the Lord. The Lord offers us the gift of Himself—look into your heart and find it. All the jewels of the world are not worth that precious pearl, and it’s worth spending a lifetime in search of it (Matthew 13:45).