Saturday, July 17, 2010

Only One Thing

July 18, 2010

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

“Sir, if I may ask you this favor, please do not go on past your servant. Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest yourselves under the tree. Now that you have come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food, that you may refresh yourselves; and afterward you may go on your way.” “Very well,” they replied, “do as you have said.” Genesis 18:3-5

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church, of which I am a minister in accordance with God's stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the word of God, the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory. Colossians 1:24-28

Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Luke 10:40-42

Piety
Friendship is a many splendid gift offered or received. Abraham offers his gift of a meal to the three strangers passing by. Sharing a meal is an important opening on friendship. The Christ of another might pass us by before a meal is offered. We can never be sure if we do not offer to share what we have to a perceived need in another that we are not letting Christ pass us by. The invitation to a meal is a powerful opening of our heart to God’s gift that he has waiting for us in his desire to be our friend. Christ comes when we least expect him. It is Christ that we receive in every meal we invite a stranger to share with us. When we welcome a guest, we welcome Christ. When we do good for another, it is possible to live in the presence of the Lord. Wherever there is love, God is there.

Study
It is the joy in doing good that makes sacrifice for the sake of others a gift to ourselves. That is what Paul is talking about in Colossians 1:24 when he says he rejoices in his suffering for the sake of another. The good we do by the sacrifices we make of our time and resources fills up what is wanting to the sufferings of Christ’s body, the Church. Doing good for others is not always comfortable or easy. In our gospel, Martha welcomes Christ by preparing a meal for him. She feels ripped off by her sister who is not doing what she Martha thinks is her fair share of the work. It does not take much recall of our own attitudes when we are getting ready for a party. We can run away from our share of the work by preferring not to have the party or claiming our work as the reason we cannot help. We need to do an honest examine of how we offer ourselves to the needs of the community.

Action
Meaningful time spent with a guest is not just good listening. We have to study and plan how to make a visit of friends special to them. How graciously we accompany those guests we welcome is important. How to show pleasure at the chance to serve them is the special gift of women and sometimes even men. Glad to be with another is a wonderful attitude to show. We all need a good worrier in our lives. But we do not have to be the worrier about whether we can get it all done. It is the privilege of friendship to be the Mary when a friend comes. Many things can be prepared ahead of time. It might even be true that Mary had learned to always be ready for a friend by getting her work done early. Some friendships are ready-made by common interests in life. Friendship has many forms of intimacy. Spiritual intimacy is part of all the intimacies of life because it is not what we are doing that matters. It is how much love we do what we do for the sake of others that reveals the truth of friendship with Christ in every friendship. Do unto others what you would have them do for you. That is one type of an action. Do unto others what you would have Christ do for you is a Christ action and makes a friendship a Christ friendship. If we act that way every friend will be Christ to us and we will be Christ to them.