Martha my dear

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Artist Johann Friedrich Overbeck

Poor Martha, I feel for her – I’m pretty sure that most women do. She’s frustrated in today’s Gospel because while she is working her rear end off, her sister Mary is sitting there at Jesus’ feet listening, learning, adoring.

Did you ever notice how often we see rivalries played out in Scripture, even among those who love one another? I am guessing that this struggle between the sisters is not a new phenomenon. This particular struggle always intrigues me though, because so many of us get ourselves in a twist because we feel like we are doing more work than someone else. Also, we tend to want to explore the tale as a binary one, good-bad, black-white, right-wrong, winner-loser. Jesus always has other ways for us to understand everything in ways we do not typically imagine.

It might appear that Jesus declares Mary the winner for choosing “the better portion.” That does not make Martha the loser. What Jesus seems to be offering Martha is an invitation to sit down and spend some time with him, not to admonish her, but to bring her closer.

So many of us suffer from the need to be “doing” something all the time. This summer I have spent more time than usual on my deck reading a book – or doing nothing but contemplate the beautiful world around me. It has been heavenly. Typically I am  filling my days with this and that, having always been a poor budgeter of time, among other things. Busy-ness can seem to quell our anxiety, and I do know that is a big thing for me. Quiet time allows my fears and worries to creep in. Also, due to that poor budgeting of everything, I sometimes fritter time away with busy-ness of a non-essential sort, only to have to dive into the rush of things that need to be done. It is an endless cycle of the white noise of movement. And it keeps me from God.

On top of everything else, we live in a culture based on ever increasing productivity and efficiency. Achieving things is the source of pride, a lack of it a source of shame. Sitting at the feet of the Lord might not seem the best use of time. It might seem otherwise to Jesus however, as he notes to Martha regarding Mary.  Even in church the temptation to “do” more is evident and it seems like a form giving. It is indeed a form of giving, but the trick is to discern the balance of doing and being. That is a tough spot to discover, but one we might all well spend some time seeking out.

For what it is worth, our first reading tells us the story of Abraham and the visitors. As he welcomes them and sits with them, everyone else, his wife Sarah included, is busy in the background, unseen by the guests. This scene offers us an interesting prelude to Mary and Martha, the story of those busy “working” and those who sit at the feet of angels or God. In this tale, it would appear that everyone busily at work is there because Abraham set them in motion. One of the visitors asks about Sarah, and offers a mysterious statement about returning in a year, when she will have born a child.

In the end we are left with our own discernment of our relationship with God and with how we spend our time. Who among us cares to think about how all we have to do in order for God to love us is to simply be… What a thought! Yet that is at the very heart of Luke’s Gospel and the message of Christ. That’s not an order to stop accomplishing things, we all have some kind of work to do. It is however something to hold in heart and mind as we contemplate our relationship to God and to one another.

What choices will we make going forward? Can we sit still and participate in a holy gaze of love, heart and ears open and available to God alone? It is not easy to choose to do this “not-doing” but what might we miss if we stay in the kitchen.

(As I wrote this I kept hearing this Beatles song in my head, so I will include it along with the lyrics. It obviously influenced how I titled the post!)

Martha, my dear
Though I spend my days in conversation, please
Remember me
Martha, my love
Don’t forget me
Martha, my dear

Hold your head up, you silly girl
Look what you’ve done
When you find yourself in the thick of it
Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you
Silly girl

Take a good look around you
Take a good look you’re bound to see
That you and me were meant to be
With each other
Silly girl

Hold you’re hand out, you silly girl
See what you’ve done
When you find yourself in the thick of it
Help yourself to a bit of what is all around you
Silly girl

Martha, my dear
You have always been my inspiration
Please, be good to me
Martha, my love
Don’t forget me
Martha, my dear.

Neighbor

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Today’s Gospel from Luke is a familiar story – that of the Good Samaritan. I was well into my adult years before I learned that Samaritans were not upheld with respect by the people of first century Palestine. That’s why every time you hear about a Samaritan or a visit through Samaria in a Gospel, pay attention. That is a big part of what you are being taught by Christ.

It matters that it is not the priest or the Levite who helped the wounded man. The men who are those upholding the “law” keep on going because touching someone would likely have violated the law. There was ritual cleanliness and certain guidelines to follow as with any legal situation, church law or civil law. The Samaritan however, stops to help when he sees another human – a neighbor – in dire need.

Let’s take a quick look at that Continue reading →

Rerun

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This post is a rerun of something from 2017. Randomly chosen, I find myself struck by it as I got into a “thing” on social media yesterday. How we treat one another matters. FWIW, I poked the bear, the bear struck back hard. Score? As  I see it, Bear-Nothing and Fran-Nothing. In the end, although I found the bear unkind, no one wins except for cruelty.  In any event, welcome to the blog if this is your first visit.

Camino Edith Wharton QuoteIt has been a little while since I have blogged. I’ve been either too tired, too busy, or too uninspired.  Anyway, I was reminded of this quotation from Edith Wharton today, always a favorite one of mine, so I made a meme out of it.  That got me thinking about how often my own desire and willingness to live as Wharton’s words suggest.

With the reminder that when I write, I’m talking to myself allow me to begin. Right up front we are reminded that being unafraid of change is step one.  Change?! Unafraid of change?! Oh sure, many of us will say we are fine with it… that’s generally the case as long as it is a change of our own choosing. Any change that chooses us? Not quite so easy to like that kind of change. That goes for change that comes forth as challenge in both large ways and small, as well as the less obvious invitations to grow. You know, like the promptings of the Holy Spirit? Those kinds of changes… are they so welcomed? Not always.

Having said all of that, I have long believed the words of a little wallet card that came into my possession in the mid-90’s. It read said, “Change always comes bearing gifts.” The moment I read those words, I immediately hated them. Yet, something in them caught my attention, the slightest little tug Continue reading →

Memory and forgiveness

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502abc1410abc1122e8ef52ff8a34df5It is as if I am being pursued by them,  so constant is my pace when it comes to them. What am I talking about? A few topics that have been an obsession for me for most of my life, even during my earliest days.

One of those topics is the Holocaust. When I was young I was aware that my father had grown up in a Jewish family, but that he no longer practiced that faith. My mother was Catholic, and after visiting many churches in the years before I was 5 or 6, we ended up Catholic too. (I was baptized in a Catholic church about 5 months after I was born. Honestly, I’m not sure how that happened in the 50’s given the irregular status of my parents marriage and general lack of church attendance at the time, but somehow it did.)

That said, my obsessive curiosity about Judaism started at an early age. And while I cannot tell you how old I was when I first became aware of the Holocaust, I can tell you that the tumble down the rabbit hole of interest came quickly and with intensity. Perhaps it began with Anne Frank’s diary? Who knows? Whatever it was, I was hooked for life.

By time the Continue reading →

America the beautiful

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ATB Lemon Bougainvillea

Lemon and bougainvillea, Tucson, AZ June 2019

For all of my complaining, I do love this land. If I didn’t, I would not have so many issues with what has happened and with what continues to happen. During the past week, a friend mine was posting photos of all 50 states, many of them taken by her during a lifetime of travel. Another friend sent a video of his 4th of July on Lake George. Between the two of them I was inspired to do something.

From last August to this moment I have been to Arizona three times, New Mexico, Texas, and Pennsylvania twice, to Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Tennessee  once. The big one was going to Alaska. I flew there stopping in Seattle for about 2 hours – does that count?

Not every state ended up in this little video, but lots of places did. So yes -while I complain a lot, I also love the great and remarkably diverse beauty of the United States. Everywhere I went, politics aside, I met the nicest people. America is indeed beautiful.

None of this gets anyone off the hook for the ugly behavior that treats human beings as less than human. Maybe we can rise to the promise and ideal that all men and women are indeed created equal. And if you  – like me – believe in God, that we are all each created in the image of that same God. How can we mistreat others or diminish them if we think of it like that?

Feed them yourselves

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World Refugee Day Borys Fiodorowicz“Children as young as 7 and 8, many of them wearing clothes caked with snot and tears, are caring for infants they’ve just met, the lawyers said. Toddlers without diapers are relieving themselves in their pants. Teenage mothers are wearing clothes stained with breast milk.” – From ‘There Is a Stench’: No Soap and Overcrowding in Detention Centers for Migrant Children, New York Times, June 21, 2019

Mary Jesus in CageA 14-year-old girl from Guatemala said she had been holding two little girls in her lap.“I need comfort, too. I am bigger than they are, but I am a child, too,” she said. –From Attorneys: Texas border facility is neglecting migrant kids, AP News

Today we celebrate the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Today’s Gospel is embedded upon my heart. When the disciples were pretty much about to dismiss the crowd because they were in a deserted place and seemed to lack the resources (or the will) to care for them. Jesus said to them:

“Give them some food yourselves.”

Today he might add that toothbrushes, sleep, Continue reading →

Moral courage

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Today Jon Stewart showed more moral courage in this nearly nine minute speech to Congress than most people show in their lives.

Meanwhile, up the road from DC, at the USCCB meeting in Baltimore, the scene was a little different.  Bishop Robert Barron talked about why young people have left/are leaving the church. He spoke of how Jordan Peterson (sorry, not linking to his page, you will have to go look yourself) has connected to young people through social media. (Here is a link to Jack Jenkins’ report on Religion News Service.)

USCCB

At which point I had a moment. Wait, what? What? Who? Why?

giphy

Of course, Catholic Twitter, which was on fire all day, had some fine responses. My first favorite came from Villanova professor of Religious Studies and Theology, Dr. Massimo Faggioli. That was quickly followed by a clever retweet by David Gibson who heads up the Center on Religion and Culture.

On this crock

Of course my wry laughter over their tweets was not enough for my distress over everything else – both at the Congressional hearing with Jon Stewart, nor the USCCB meeting.

It all feels incredibly frustrating, even when tempered with a little dark humor. Moral courage is hard to come by these days, in any circles. When we see it, we know it. May God grant more of it to the Church; we need it. Holy Spirit, please – lead the way.

Each one heard

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266297.pToday, Sunday, June 9, 2019 is Pentecost, that great feast of the promised coming of the Holy Spirit.
“At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.“

Yesterday I read this at church, and as I stood at the ambo, I was filled with a Holy Spirit moment of my own. Having practiced the reading enough to memorize some of it, I was able to look up and out at the congregation before me, I had one of those Thomas Merton moments. If you are not familiar, one day he was standing on a street corner and saw through new eyes, in a Pentecost-like moment.

42b3fc66-c2d1-4bd7-9291-7bc6f6e931fcEveryone looked the same – yet so different to me at that moment. Not unlike what we read in the Acts of the Apostles, “When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.” Yes, here we were, a church full of Catholics, a big church – literally and figuratively – gathered as one in Christ. At a time when I feel deeply upset and highly frustrated about the Church, I felt awash in a wave of love.

Somehow that love eluded me today as I read some things in the newspaper that were upsetting to me.  In these fractious times, as we grow Continue reading →

Disturbances

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Disturb us Adonai Shabbat

Shabbat is over until Friday night, or Sunday – depending on your faith practice. That said, I found this graphic on my computer and it has been rubbing up against my consciousness, so I figured I better pay attention before the next sabbath sneaks up on me.

Honestly, I find Sunday to be one of the more stressful days of the week. Saturday feels more relaxed, even if I do more errands. And I typically attend mass on Saturday at 4PM. So what is it about Sunday that Continue reading →

Clear conscience – updated

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Lentz, Joan of ArcI think that it was Joan of Arc that got me thinking about this. She was burned at the stake after being condemned by an ecclesial court and not too long after, declared a saint by the same church that executed her.  (CORRECTION: It took a long time, my initial source was apparently incorrect. Joan was not beatified until 1909 and canonized in 1920.) She followed her conscience and the Church caught up to her, albeit late. That is conscience formation!

What is it to form our conscience? I’m not speaking in general, but rather as a Roman Catholic today. This is an important question and one that I fear is not well addressed in contemporary American Catholic circles. Like everything having to do with God, it is not a matter of transactional information, but Continue reading →