In this Sunday’s Gospel we have two women waiting on the Lord. But the way in which they wait on the Lord is very different.
Martha waits on him by serving him, caring for him, preparing a meal for him. The Gospel says she was so immersed in her serving that she was distracted. The object of her concern was the actual serving not Jesus. Mary’s waiting was completely focused on Jesus. She had put aside all else in her life and she sits in the Lord’s presence.
Pope John Paul II used often to warn people who serve in the Church in its various ministries not to become so focused on the works of the Lord that they lose sight of the Lord of the works.
We have many instances throughout the Bible of people becoming fed-up waiting on the Lord and deciding to take matters into their own hands. The most famous is probably when Moses went up the mountain to meet the Lord; the people of Israel at the foot of the mountain get fed-up waiting on Moses’ return so they decide to fashion a calf of gold and honour it. God tells Moses to go down for the people have turned from him. They have decided not to wait on the Lord but to do things according to their own schedule and with their own agenda. When Moses comes down the mountain on seeing what is happening becomes angry and smashes the tablets of the Ten Commandments.
Today as the Church faces many challenges the temptation is for us to do the same. There is a shortage of priests in some parts of the world so people are coming up with their various solutions. People are "falling away" from Mass so people are attempting to come up with their pastoral programmes. But let us not become so distracted with all our planning that we forget to wait on the Lord. Maybe we need to become more like Mary and less like Martha.
Let us wait on the Lord and see what plans he has for his Church. Let us adore the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament as the Pope asked us in his recent letter to the Catholics in Ireland. "Through intense prayer before the real presence of the Lord, you can make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm, at the same time imploring the grace of renewed strength and a deeper sense of mission on the part of all bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful".
