July 29
Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
Lectionary: 607
The Gospel for this memorial is proper. The first reading
may be taken from the weekday, the reading found here below, or from the Common
of Holy Men and Women, #737-742.
Reading 1
Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only-begotten Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.
This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm
34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
R. (2) I will bless the Lord
at all times.
or:
R. (9) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Fear the LORD, you his holy ones,
for nought is lacking to those who fear him.
The great grow poor and hungry;
but those who seek the LORD want for no good thing.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died].
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
"Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you."
Jesus said to her,
"Your brother will rise."
Martha said to him,
"I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day."
Jesus told her,
"I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?"
She said to him, "Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world."
Or
Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
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."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/0729-memorial-martha.cfm
(Note: The Gospel reading today is proper to the memorial
and must be used even if the ferial readings are otherwise chosen.)
Commentary on John
11:19-27 or Luke 10:38-42
There is a choice of Gospel readings for today’s Memorial,
each one featuring Martha and Mary and one focused around the death of Lazarus.
The first is from Luke’s Gospel and describes an occasion
when Jesus went to visit the family’s house in Bethany. It was not far from
Jerusalem and it seems that Jesus was a regular visitor there. On this occasion
we are told that Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to him.
Martha, on the other hand, was fussing about in the kitchen getting the meal
ready. After a while, Martha complained (perhaps there was there a slight hint
of jealousy and resentment here):
Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do
all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.
Jesus replied:
Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many
things…Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.
Jesus had said elsewhere that his followers should not be
anxious or worried:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what
you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is
not life more than food and the body more than clothing…seek first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well. (Matt 6:25,33)
Jesuit Father Anthony de Mello used to say: “Why worry? If
you worry, you will die. If you don’t worry, you will die. So why worry?”
Martha gives the impression that Mary is just sitting there doing nothing. But
in fact, she is listening to Jesus—listening to the Word of God.
Many of us are very busy, run off our feet from dawn to
dusk. But what are we busy about? What was Martha busy about? We need to stop
and listen, as Mary did. ‘Busy-ness’ is not a virtue. The important thing is to
be active about the right things—and to know what is the right thing to do, we
have to stop and listen.
The alternative Gospel reading is from John. It is story of
raising of Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha.
Jesus had been told some days before that Lazarus was seriously ill, but did
not immediately respond. By the time Jesus reached Bethany, Lazarus was already
dead for four days.
When the sisters heard that Jesus had arrived, Martha,
typically, rushed out to greet him while Mary stayed mourning in the house. As
soon as Martha saw Jesus, she told him that if Jesus had been there earlier,
Lazarus would not have died. But she was confident that any prayer Jesus would
make to his Father would be answered.
Jesus said to her:
Your brother will rise again.
Replied Martha, expressing her faith in a future life:
I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the
last day.
In so speaking, she draws from Jesus one of the great
sayings of John’s Gospel:
I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in
me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me
will never die. Do you believe this?
In other words, those who believe in Jesus as Lord and
follow his Way immediately enter a life that will never end, although the body,
of course, will pass away.
This, in turn, draws a great profession of faith from
Martha:
Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of
God, the one coming into the world.
It is a statement on a par with that of Peter at Caesarea
Philippi earlier on.
And that, of course, is what this whole chapter is about.
Jesus, the Son of God, as the Source of Life. It is also a preparation for
Jesus’ own death from which he will rise in glory and be reunited with his
Father. The same future is promised to us.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/f0729g/
Tuesday,
July 29, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father, your love for us
surpasses all our hopes and desires.
Forgive our failings, keep us in your peace and
lead us in the way of salvation.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your
Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and
ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Luke 10: 38-42
During their journey He came
to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.
She had a sister called
Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to Him speaking.
Now Martha, who was
distracted with all the serving, came to Him and said, 'Lord, do you not care
that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her
to help me.'
But the Lord answered,
'Martha, Martha,' He said, 'you worry and fret about so many things, and yet
few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and
it is not to be taken from her.'
Reflection
•
Context. The journey of Jesus, undertaken in 9: 51, is
surrounded by particular encounters, among the doctors of the Law (10: 25-37),
that precede the encounter with Martha and Mary (vv. 38-42). Above all, there
is a doctor of the Law who asks Jesus a question and, for the reader, it
becomes a convenient occasion to discover how eternal life is inherited or
gained in intimacy with the Father. One can have access to eternal life by
participating in the mission of Jesus, the first one sent who has shown us
fully God’s mercy (v. 37). In Jesus, the Father has become close to men and has
shown his paternity in a tangible way. At the end of the encounter, the
expression that Jesus addresses to the Doctor of the Law and to every reader is
crucial: “Go and do the same yourself” (v. 37). To become a neighbor, to get
close to others as Jesus did, makes us become instruments to show, in a living
way, the merciful love of the Father. This is the secret key to enter into
eternal life.
•
Listening to the Word. After this encounter with an
expert of the Law, while He is on the way, Jesus enters into a village and is
welcomed by old friends: Martha and Mary. Jesus is not only the first one sent
by the Father, but He is also the one who gathers together men, and in our
case, the members of the house of Bethany in so far as He is the only Word of
the Father. If it is true that there are many services to be carried out, in
welcoming attention to the needs of others, then even more is it true that what
is irreplaceable is listening to the Word. The account that Luke gives is a
real episode and at the same time an ideal. It begins with the welcome of
Martha (v. 38). Then it sketches Mary with an attitude typical of the disciple,
sitting at the feet of Jesus and totally attentive to listening to his Word.
This attitude of Mary is extraordinary because in Judaism at the time of Jesus
it was not permitted for a woman to go to the school of a teacher, a master. Up
until now we have a harmonious picture: the welcome of Martha, the listening of
Mary. But soon the welcome of Martha will be transformed into super activism:
the woman is “pulled,” divided by performing multiple services. She is so
absorbed that she is unable to control the domestic services. The great
amount of activities,
understandable for such a guest, becomes so disproportionate as to prevent her
living what is essential, precisely in the time that Jesus is present in her
house. Her worry or concern is legitimate but then it becomes anguish, a state
of mind that is not convenient when a friend is welcomed.
•
Relate service to listening. Her service of
acceptance, of welcome, is very positive but it is detrimental because of this
state of anxiety with which she carries it out. The Evangelist makes the reader
glimpse at this to show that there is no contradiction between the ‘diaconia’
of the table and that of the Word, but He wants to suggest that the service
should be related to listening. Because she did not relate the spiritual
attitude of service to that of listening, Martha feels that she has been
abandoned by her sister. Instead, of dialoguing with Mary, she complains with
the Master. Trapped in her solitude she goes against Jesus who seems to be
indifferent to her problem (“Lord do you not care”...) and then with the
sister, (“that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself?”). In
his response, Jesus does not reproach her, nor criticize her, but He tries to
help Martha to recover that which is essential at that moment: listening to the
Master. He invites her to choose that part, unique and a priority, that Mary
has spontaneously taken. The episode invites us to consider a danger which is
always frequent in the life of Christians: anxiety, worry, super activism that
can isolate us from communion with Christ and with the community. The danger is
more underhanded because frequently the material concerns or worries carried out
with anxiety are those we consider a form of service. What presses Luke is that
in our communities the priority that should be given to the Word of God, and to
listen to it, should not be neglected. Before serving the others, the
relatives, and the ecclesial community, it is necessary to be served by Christ
with His Word of grace. And thus, immersed in the daily tasks like Martha, we
forget that the Lord desires to take care of us... It is necessary, instead, to
place in Jesus and in God all our concerns and worries.
Personal Questions
•
Do you know how to relate service to listening to the
Word of Jesus? Or rather do you allow yourself to be taken up by anxiety
because of the multiple things to be done?
•
Have you understood that before serving you have to accept
to be served by Christ? Are you aware that your service becomes divine only if
previously you will have accepted Christ and his word?
Concluding Prayer
Yahweh, you
examine me and know me, you know when I sit, when I rise, you understand my
thoughts from afar. You watch when I walk or lie down, you know every detail of
my conduct. (Ps 139: 1-3)
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