The Gospel story we just heard is an interesting one about a situation involving two of Jesus' good friends, Martha and Mary. But to better appreciate what is happening here, it's important to take a look at our first reading.
In that reading from Genesis, the Lord God is depicted as three persons. “The LORD appeared to Abraham… Abraham saw three men standing nearby.”
Coincidentally I was talking to a Muslim recently and he was telling me his view on God, that basically our Creator God is like the trunk of a tree, and then there is all of the branches which are the prophets, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, etc. and then of course, later comes Jesus and Muhammed.
I tried to explain to him that the Trinity existed from the beginning, for example, the Holy Spirit was present when God the Father created the world, and Jesus was present as the Rock who gave the Israelites water in the desert. I gave him those as “proof texts,” but I forgot about this verse which depicts God as three persons.
It's a good proof text to remember when talking to either Muslims or Jews because we all believe in the Old Testament as given by God, our “brothers of the Book” just don't believe that Jesus is God, that is the biggest difference.
But it is a big difference. See Jesus came to earth as a man to have a close relationship with us that clearly He couldn't have with us from Heaven, as God the Father or God the Holy Spirit. God the Son, when He became man, could have a different relationship with us, being present to us, to be God with us on earth.
With that in mind, we'll look at the Gospel, here Jesus is with two of his friends, and it is important to recognize that they both really love Him. Martha is doing a really loving thing here by putting on a big meal, she is just looking for a little help.
So she goes to Jesus to get him to command Mary to go off to the kitchen to help saying, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” But Jesus refuses her request. “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."”
The implications of this are really quite amazing. Basically God is saying "you humans work so hard, you busy yourselves with so many things, serving your family, serving others, so busy, but what I want most is your presence with me. That's all, just be with me, get to know me. I came to earth to be God with you, so spend time with me."
I believe it is fair to say God's primary love language is Quality Time, it's definitely ahead of Acts of Service. He wants our time, for us to “spend time” with Him.
It's interesting, in that first reading Abraham practically begs God to stay with him, bows down and begs the three persons of the Trinity to stay for a meal. And now it seems like the role is reversed, God is begging us to stay with Him, but we are often too busy to do so, we think we can’t afford the time.
Our time is our most precious currency. We say “spending time” just like we are spending money. To help us remember it, I even put the numbers of people who come to Mass each weekend in the bulletin under our Stewardship Report. We should consider tithing, giving 10% of our time to God, just like we are called to do with our money. I’d even say the most important commodity we have is our time.
Unfortunately we take this time we have and we make ourselves so busy with things of this world, work, play, eating, drinking, and we just don't have time for God. These things are not bad in and of themselves, often it is very loving to our neighbors, like Martha, but there is just something better out there, like Mary realized and Jesus concurred, and it seems like we fail to recognize it. We fail to “spend” our time wisely. And we even grow worried and anxious in the process!
I have to imagine that when our ancestors were coming out with all of this new technology like electricity and running water they thought to themselves, “our children will now have so much time to devote to God in prayer now that they don't have to spend it just trying to survive each day.”
But now we just spend our time with different things, especially things with our families, children’s activities and such, which is no doubt a very loving thing, but we miss out on the most important thing, spending time with God. He is here in the Church, so easy to find, yet we so often choose to spend our time somewhere else, loving something else, which is ultimately less valuable. That’s not even to mention all the time we waste on TV and our phones!
I want to read you an excerpt from a book called In Sinu Jesu. It is a great book, the author is an anonymous Bendectine priest monk, he doesn't want publicity, but he received messages from Jesus regarding Eucharistic Adoration over several years and he published them all at Jesus’ request. Many of the young priests and seminarians have read this and like me, keep coming back to it for deeper reflection.
Here is what Jesus told him on Thursday, January 8, 2009:
"Give Me the full attention of your heart - the ear of your heart - and I will speak to you. I will show you the way in which you are to walk and I will give you My light about the things that weigh upon you, or sadden you, or perplex you. Bring everything to Me and I will give you in exchange My grace and My love. It is fear more than anything else that prevents you from coming into My presence with confidence, with hope, and with a quiet heart.
With Me and from Me you have nothing to fear. I am here, in the Sacrament of My love, to be your comfort, your peace, your light, your refreshment, and your joy. Know this! Take it to heart. Believe it and act on it. If souls believed this of Me, nothing would be able to keep them from seeking Me out in the Sacrament of My love and from remaining in My presence.
Even after two thousand years of Eucharistic presence in My Church, I remain unknown, I am forgotten, forsaken, and treated like a thing to be kept here or there, with little regard for My own burning desire to be present to My people in a visible way and to see them approach Me and remain, silent and adoring, in the light of My Eucharistic Face.
As for you, My friend, make more time for Me and I will give you time and energy for all the rest. You are here, first of all, to keep Me company, Everything else is secondary. The more time you dedicate to Me alone in the Sacrament of My love, the more will I bless you in all that you are called to do.
Resist every temptation to cut short the time dedicated to adoration. Do you hear Me? Then do as I am telling you. Follow My inspiration. Remain with Me and I will continue to instruct you and lead you into the future full of hope that I have promised you."
This little message from Jesus is great for reflection. But it begs the question: how will we respond to this invitation to “spend time” with Jesus, in adoration?
At Nativity we have it here on Wednesday night, our family holy hours have music so that the kids can cry and parents don’t have to worry about it distracting anyone. But there is always silent adoration at the Power of Prayer. And the church is open until 3pm every weekday for prayer as well, as are many other churches in town, where Jesus is present and waiting for us.