Trong đoạn Tin Mừng hôm nay đã giúp cho chúng ta có một sự phân biệt về sự chú tâm vào việc vào tiếp xúc Chúa Giêsu của hai chị bà Maria và bà Mattha. Để tiếp đón Chúa Giêsu vị khách quý của gia đình một cách chu đáo, bà Martha đã rất lo lắng và chú tâm tới các chi tiết tỉ mỉ trong việc tiếp đón Chúa, còn trong khi đó, Mary đã chỉ có biết chú ý tới Chúa Giêsu, Bà tiếp đón Chúa bằng cách ngồi nghe Chúa dạy, hầu hạ bên Ngài như là vị khách quý của họ. Thế nhưng Mary được ca ngợi, còm Martha thì bị trách mắng. Bà Martha bị Chúa Giêsu trách không phải là vì sự bận rộn của bà trong việc nấu ăn đãi tiệc mừng Chúa, nhưng vì bà đã quá lo lắng, bận tâm và cũng vì thái độ oán giận của bà. Bà Martha muốn có sự tiếp đón Chúa một long trọng. Mục đích của bà thật vô cùng đáng quý nhưng mục đích tốt của bà đã để lẫn lộn với rất nhiều động cơ khác. Vì thế Thánh Phanxicô de Sales nói rằng bà thiếu sự đơn sơ. Thật ra chỉ có một mục đích và chỉ có một động lực quan trọng nhất đó là đến với tình yêu Thiên Chúa, nhưng bà đã đánh mất vì sụ bận rộn của bà.
Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta nhận thấy rằng có lẽ bà Martha đã quên rằng không phải chỉ có một mình bà đã mời Chúa Giêsu, nhưng Chúa Giêsu cũng đã mời bà. Những sự tiếp đón, hay lòng hiếu khách nào mà chúng ta đã sẵn sàn để tiếp đón cho những người khách của chúng ta? nếu chúng ta để họ ngồi một mình trong phòng khách váng lạnh, trong khi chúng ta quá bận rộn với việc nấu nướng, đài đàng mà không có thời giờ với họ? Nếu chúng ta muốn được gần gũi với Chúa, chúng ta cần phải dành thời giờ để gần với Chúa Giêsu, ngồi bên cạnh Ngài và lắng nghe những gì mà Chúa muốn nói với chúng ta. Đây là những gì Chúa Giêsu mong muốn nơi mỗi người chúng ta.
In the gospel passage we have a distinction between being attentive to the details of hosting and of being attentive to the guests. Martha was very anxious and attentive to the details of hosting whereas Mary was very attentive to Jesus as their guest. Mary is praised and Martha is challenged.
Martha is challenged not for being so busy but for being so anxious, for her attitude and for her resentment in her busyness. Francis de Sales says she lacked simplicity. Martha wanted to treat our Lord well. Her intention was extremely praise-worthy but it was so mixed up with so many other motives that the one and only important motive of loving God was lost. Simplicity means that we do not consider or do not have any other aim in all that we do but the single desire to please God. Simplicity is inseparable from charity, from the way we treat one another. We normally please God when we love our neighbor as ourselves: when we sincerely listen, kindly respond and graciously attend to the needs of another.
In today's Gospel we see that perhaps Martha forgot that not only had she invited Jesus but that Jesus had invited her. What kind of hospitality do we give our guest if we leave them alone while we are too busy to spend time with them? If we want to get close to the Lord, we need to take the time to go with Jesus, sit at his feet and listen to him. This is what Jesus expects of each and every one of us.
Lord, with Your grace may we attend to one another’s needs kindly and graciously, doing what needs to be done and being present and attentive to one another.
“A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’ But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves.” Luke 14:16-18
Do you ever excuse yourself from the will of God? Do you pass up His invitation to feast at the table of His great dinner? More than anything else, the invitation God has given us to this “great dinner” is the invitation to participate in the Holy Mass and to pray. The fact that some would regularly excuse themselves from such an invitation shows that they do not understand that to which they have been invited. Others attend physically, but interiorly they are far from the feast that they attend.
In this parable, one after another of the invited guests did not come. So the man throwing the dinner sent out an invitation to “the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.” This is a reference to those Jews of Jesus’ time who recognized their need for the gift of salvation. They are those who were aware of their weaknesses and sins and knew that Jesus was the answer.
After the poor, crippled, blind and lame came to the feast, there was still more room. So the man sent his servants to invite those from “the highways and hedgerows” which is a reference to the Gospel being preached to the Gentiles who were not of Jewish origin.
Today, this feast continues to be offered. There are many lax Catholics, however, who refuse to come. There are those who find that life is too busy for them to make time for prayer and for Mass. They are those who are so caught up in worldly pursuits that they see little personal benefit in devoting themselves to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
If you wish to be among those who attend the feast of our Lord, you must work to identify yourself with the poor, crippled, blind and lame. You must recognize your brokenness, weaknesses and sins. You must not shy away from seeing yourself this way because it is to those that Jesus sends a desperate invitation. His desperation is an all-consuming desire for us to share in His love. He wants to love and heal those in need. We are those who are in need.
When we come to our Lord’s Feast through prayer, fidelity to His Word, and by our participation in the Sacraments, we will notice that He wants others to join us for His feast. Therefore, we must also see ourselves as those servants who are sent forth to the highways and hedgerows where we will find those who do not follow God’s will. They must be invited. Though they might not feel as though they belong, God wants them at His feast. We must do the inviting.
Reflect, today, upon two things. First, reflect upon any excuse you regularly use when God invites you to pray, to deepen your faith, and to participate in the Eucharist. Do you respond immediately and with eagerness? Or do you excuse yourself more often than you want to admit? Reflect, also, upon the duty given to you by God to go forth to the most lost souls so as to invite them to God’s feast. Our Lord wants everyone to know they are invited. Let Him use you to send forth His invitation.
My generous Lord, You have invited me to share in the glory of Your great Feast. You invite me every day to pray, grow strong in my faith, and to share in the Holy Eucharist. May I always respond to You and never excuse myself from Your invitations. Please also use me, dear Lord, to send forth Your invitation to those most in need. Jesus, I trust in You.
1. Worried and Anxious: Jesus knows what we are going through. When Martha came to him with her complaint, he acknowledged and expressed clearly and precisely the turbulence she was experiencing: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. Surely he could say the same thing about us right now. How heavily the worries and anxieties of life weigh upon us! Something within us makes us think we need to solve them all, right away, and everyone around us should come to our aid. The voice of the Lord reaches out to us amid the noise of our self-absorption and invites us to release the tangle of worries that paralyzes our hearts: Only one thing is necessary: to stay close to the Lord, to listen to him, to trust in him, to do all things joyfully for him. Somehow, Martha’s good and loving desire to serve Jesus and his disciples had lost its purity and so lost its joyfulness. The same thing happens to us. We want to do good things. We want to build up Christ’s Kingdom. We want to fulfill the duties of our state in life. But as we engage in all our activity, we tend to lose sight of the real reason behind everything—simply to love God and love our neighbor. Whenever our loving work becomes a joyless burden, we need to do exactly what Martha did: burst in on Jesus, unburden our hearts, and listen carefully to whatever he has to say to us.
Opening Prayer: I am so grateful to be able to set aside this time to be with you and contemplate your Word, O Lord. I am so grateful that you have given me the gift of faith, by which I know with utter certainty that you are the source of all the truth and grace I need to grow in wisdom and holiness. I consecrate this time to your glory and the advance of your eternal Kingdom. Open my heart to receive and embrace whatever you want to give me today.
Worried and Anxious: Jesus knows what we are going through. When Martha came to him with her complaint, he acknowledged and expressed clearly and precisely the turbulence she was experiencing: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. Surely he could say the same thing about us right now. How heavily the worries and anxieties of life weigh upon us! Something within us makes us think we need to solve them all, right away, and everyone around us should come to our aid. The voice of the Lord reaches out to us amid the noise of our self-absorption and invites us to release the tangle of worries that paralyzes our hearts: Only one thing is necessary: to stay close to the Lord, to listen to him, to trust in him, to do all things joyfully for him. Somehow, Martha’s good and loving desire to serve Jesus and his disciples had lost its purity and so lost its joyfulness. The same thing happens to us. We want to do good things. We want to build up Christ’s Kingdom. We want to fulfill the duties of our state in life. But as we engage in all our activity, we tend to lose sight of the real reason behind everything—simply to love God and love our neighbor. Whenever our loving work becomes a joyless burden, we need to do exactly what Martha did: burst in on Jesus, unburden our hearts, and listen carefully to whatever he has to say to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment