1. -- Lanie LeBlanc OP
2. -- Dennis Keller
3. -- Brian Gleeson CP
4. --
5. --(Your reflection can be here!)
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Sun. 16C 2022
Our Gospel reading this Sunday highlights a personal
discernment question. Martha welcomes Jesus into her home
with great hospitality while Mary sits at Jesus's feet
soaking up his every word. Jesus tells Martha that Mary
"has chosen the better part".
Well, ironically here I am, juggling two unexpected new
commitments while sitting with my suddenly swollen foot
propped up with ice. I am trying to discern then balance
what I can do, what I should do, what I want to do... and
what I REALLY want to do! Maybe it is because I lived so
long in Atlanta where all roads (even perhaps those to
heaven and hell) seem to cross but everything in my
household streams by me, like it or not, want it or not,
needed or not. What I usually do is not technically
"hospitality", but in a way, it prepares for the happenings
of our family activities. For me, being temporarily
immobile is both a terrible frustration and a needed
introspection.
Listening to Jesus is by far the "best" activity ever.
Hospitality and work, shown by Abraham and Sarah to
strangers in our first reading, are also praised and
rewarded. We know that all of these things are necessary
for a balanced spiritual life.
The quiet and reflection of prayer and Scripture/listening
to Jesus often decrease when life gets really complicated.
They also can fade gradually when life just unfolds. I
think that our readings today are a good reminder that
introspection of our time management should be a more
regular occurrence. You know yourself whether that means
you actually need to put it on a calendar or just let the
rhythm of your life dictate it. In either case, I can
attest to the fact that the respite it provides is
refreshing!
Blessings,
Dr. Lanie LeBlanc OP
Southern Dominican Laity
lanie@leblanc.one
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Sixteenth Sunday of Ordered Time July 17 2022
Genesis 18:1-10; Responsorial Psalm 15;Colossians 1:24-28;
Gospel Acclamation Luke 8:15; Luke 10:38-42
This Sunday’s reading from Genesis and from Luke’s gospel
have a common threat of hospitality. Abraham sees the Lord
and two others passing by his tent and invites them to wash
their feet, rest, have some food, and conversation. In
Luke’s gospel, Jesus on his final journey to Jerusalem stops
by a house for some rest, some food, and some conversation.
There is that in common. Both stories begin with a stopping
off on a way somewhere. The Abraham story has these three,
obviously messengers form God with the Lord, on their way to
Sodom for its destruction. In Luke’s gospel Jesus is on his
way to Jerusalem where certain death, a cruel and shameful
death awaits him because of his witness to God’s revelation.
In the Abraham story, Abraham’s wife is directed by Abraham
to bake some rolls – well an awfully lot of rolls as the
amount of fine wheat flour is about sixty pounds. Abraham
goes out and selects a steer from his herd and hands it over
to a servant to slaughter and to prepare for a meal. A steer
would be thought to render down into several hundred pounds
of consumable meat. So, there is an abundance of food to
fulfill Abraham’s cultural obligation of hospitality. In
Luke’s gospel, Martha is the sole preparer of food. It seems
she was planning and working on what we might consider to be
a seven course meal for Jesus. She complains to Jesus that
her sister has found a seat at his feet as he expounds his
message of God’s love and compassion and the solidarity of
humanity. That is all wrong from a couple of perspectives.
First there is no male head of the household directing
hospitality. It’s a woman, Martha, who is in charge.
Secondly, Mary has taken a seat at the feet of Jesus. This
was culturally unlikely as such a position was always
reserved for men. In the end of the Abraham story, as a
reward for wonderful hospitality, the Lord promises Abraham
and Sara listening from inside the tent that when he, the
Lord passes by the next time, Abraham will have a son. In
the tent Sara laughs since she is well past child bearing
age. When the promised son arrives, they call him Isaac
which means “she laughed.” What a name for a child! In
Luke’s gospel the story doesn’t have a reward for
hospitality. That story in Luke’s gospel is a continuation
of the teaching of Jesus about discipleship. By the way,
only Luke has this story. The end of that story has Jesus
telling Martha to step back from grandiose ideas for a huge
meal. Just one thing, maybe a couple of all beef hot dogs
would be enough. She worked herself up into a tizzy when all
that Jesus required and wanted was something to satisfy his
hunger. If Martha had thought about something simple, she
would have had time to join Mary at the feet of Jesus. In
that way both women would have had a sharing in the “better
part.”
Jesus is teaching, through Luke’s gospel, two messages. The
obvious one is to keep hospitality simple. Look to the need
of those being served and satisfy what the need is. Know who
you are serving and serve their needs, not your ideas of
what would be magnificent. In that way we serve the persons
in need and not our ego. The second lesson is one we
Christians continually struggle to achieve. We note quickly
there is only Jesus as a male presence in Luke’s story. If
disciples were present they are ignored as non-essential to
this story. Martha and Mary are given the status so often
reserved to males in Jewish culture. Martha’s service is
identified as that of a deacon. The verb in Greek for
service to others is diakoneo which is translated in the
noun form as deacon. In the time of Luke’s writing of his
gospel, there was apparently some discussion in the
community about the role of women. This story would have
been understood as emphasizing the equality of women in the
functioning of the Christian community, the church, the
assembly of those called together.
We can’t overlook the situation of Jesus. Even as he
prepares himself for the triumphal entry into Jerusalem as
its King of peace into the City of Peace, he is facing the
testing of his commitment to the Will of God for the
establishment of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of the
World will fight with all the tools at its disposal to stop
that Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is a threat to the way the
world lives.
In all the stories of the Hebrew Scriptures, a constant
story line is how the nation(s) fell into idolatry. Whenever
that happens, corruption, failure of social, economic, and
religious structures follows idolatry. Modern history
continues this line for when idolatry happens corruption
follows with great speed. When we make household gods of
work, of wealth, of power, of influence, of legalized
corruption we inevitable get off track and individuals and
the nation suffers.
Jesus is headed to Jerusalem to confirm by his dying and
rising the Will of the Father that all humanity be saved
from their folly, greed, and idolatry. When truth is slain,
the future of the nation and the people hangs in the
balance. Paul, in the letter to the Colossians read this
Sunday, makes a point we must take to heart. The way of the
Gospel, the Kingdom of God is not a cake-walk. Just as Jesus
suffered, endured betrayal of friends, experienced intense
pain both in Gethsemane and on Calvary and so brought about
the inauguration of the Kingdom of God, so also in our
living we’ll experience suffering. Our suffering adds to the
suffering of Jesus. Paul says that our suffering is a
filling up of what is lacking in the sufferings of Jesus.
That suffering is on behalf of the Body of Jesus, that Body
which is the Church. Paul in this short passage reminds us
yet again that we are members of the Body of Christ. We are
made so by our Baptism and nourished as members of that Body
and made more perfectly one when we receive the Eucharist.
These two simple stories of hospitality are packed with much
material for us to think about. Nourishment for the journey
is a necessity. And that nourishment comes to us in the
assembly – in the form of Word and Eucharist.
We are to serve our communities but in so doing we must
consider their need and not our egos. If we go big for the
sake of praise instead of meeting the need of the community,
who are we serving?
When it comes to the members of our community we should take
to heart Paul’s admonition. “Now there is neither Jew or
Gentile, freed or slave, woman or man.” We must learn to
respect the dignity of others as our equals no matter the
social, economic, immigrant, color, language – well you all
know the drill. We are all in the image and likeness of God.
That is the source of our dignity and worth.
Dennis Keller
dkeller002@nc.rr.com
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TWO KINDS OF HOSPITALITY: 16TH SUNDAY C
Genesis 18:1-10a; Colossians 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42
'Martha, Martha,' Jesus says, 'you worry and fret about so
many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one’ (Luke
10:11)
The most important thing in life is surely our
relationships. It seems that women are more likely to accept
that truth than men. Certainly, relationships, and more
specifically friendships, counted a great deal with Jesus.
In today's charming story from the pen of Luke, we hear that
on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus drops in on his ever-loving
friends, the two sisters Martha and Mary.
In the desert storms of his life right now, their home,
their warmth, and hospitality are a kind of oasis. Think of
where Jesus is heading when this incident occurs. He's on
his way to Jerusalem, and most likely, on his way to be
murdered there. Presumably, his whole personality is
convulsed with the battle going on inside him to accept that
this is very likely to happen, and to accept that somehow it
serves God's plan for the better world which is the kingdom
of God. With the prospect of the cross before him and the
terrible tension and struggle to accept it, what he wants
most of all right now is an oasis of rest and relaxation,
and calm, quiet conversation.
Martha is a good, kind, and generous woman. But here is one
of the problems of life. So often we want to be kind to
people in our way, by giving them what we assume they want.
But when we discover that they have other ideas and put us
off, we may take offence, and complain that our love and
generosity are not appreciated. This is to forget that being
truly kind to another is to become aware of what she or he
truly needs, or needs more than anything else.
This is where Martha makes a mistake. She sets out to be
kind to Jesus, but it has to be her way of being kind. She
fails to see into the heart of Jesus to discover that what
he wants and needs right now is not a lot of hustle and
bustle, not the clanging of pots and pans, not the hissing
of a kettle or the crackling of a fire, not heaps and heaps
of food, and certainly not a lot of fussing and fretting and
fuming. What he wants more than anything else right now is
to kick off his sandals, sit down and relax, and talk and
talk to friends who will take the time to listen. Mary, with
a more sensitive antenna than her sister in the kitchen,
picks this up, sits at his feet, and listens carefully. So,
when Martha gets mad and interrupts the flow of
conversation, she cops a bit of a mouthful from Jesus,
including his special words of praise for her sister's
choice.
Alice Camille has brought the Martha and Mary story
up-to-date. She speaks from her own experience when she
writes: -
I have often been a guest in Martha's home. I visit …
someone whom I have longed to see, and am treated with great
kindness and attention to my every need. The best china and
the nicest desserts come out, and I never see the bottom of
my coffee cup, for it is vigilantly refilled. Yet all the
while, enjoying every good thing that comes to me, I am
longing for my friend to sit down. After all, I have come to
be with her, not her dishes.
I have also been to Mary's house. The moment I come in, she
grabs me by the arm and we sit down. We talk, laugh, the
hours go by and maybe I am hungry, or I have to cough before
a glass of water is offered. The room gets cold and no one
closes a window or stirs up the fire. I may be uncomfortable
at Mary's house, but we have a darn good visit.
Alice Camille goes on to comment: -
It is best, of course, not to have to choose. Martha's
hospitality was welcome and good. Mary might have been more
considerate of her sister, sharing the chores and the chance
to be with Jesus. But if the choice has to be made, presence
is always the better part. The relationship will keep
without the cookies, but not without heart speaking to
heart.
There's a message in such real-life stories for us, whether
we are women or men. Sustaining relationships in general and
friendships, in particular, requires sensitivity to what the
other wants, and what the other needs, more than anything
else. With our fellow human beings, there's a time for
action, and a time for reflection. There's a time for doing
and a time for being. There's a time for talking and a time
for listening. There's a time for noise, and a time for
silence. There's a time for helping, but not for imposing.
With our God, there is a time for doing. Like the Good
Samaritan did in our gospel story last Sunday! And there's a
time too for listening to God's word - thinking, reflecting,
and praying about it - just as we are doing this Sunday and
every Sunday at our Eucharist. A time, therefore, to be
just like Mary in Luke's beautiful story of the two sisters
with their best friend, Jesus!
So, during our personal and shared prayer today we might ask
ourselves: -
Are we more like Martha or Mary in our relationships and
friendships with others? Are we good at giving, but poor at
receiving? Where do we put most of our energies? What do we
overlook or neglect? Do we make time to listen and reflect?
How do we share our presence with those who are important to
us? Where do we welcome Jesus as our guest into our lives?
Do we listen to him and let him guide us? Or are we simply
too busy or distracted to hear what he wants to say to us?
To the extent that we need to do better in any of these
areas, we might also pray with great conviction that
powerful prayer we say each time we welcome Jesus as our
best friend, in Holy Communion: 'Lord, I am not worthy that
you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my
soul shall be healed.'
"Brian Gleeson CP" <bgleesoncp@gmail.com>
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Volume 2 is for you. Your thoughts, reflections, and
insights on the next Sundays readings can influence the
preaching you hear. Send them to
preacherexchange@att.net.
Deadline is Wednesday Noon. Include your Name, and Email
Address.
-- Fr. John Boll, OP
