Posted by The WORD in other words (2006) by Fr Gerry Donato SVD – Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
Tuesday 27th Week in Ordinary Time
“Silence”‘ is an important rule that every member of a religious community like our seminary should know and follow. Why? Certainly, without silence, we cannot concentrate on praying, studying, sleeping, resting, learning and making important decisions in our life. Silence has, therefore, a special value for us.
One way of looking at the message of today’s Gospel is the importance of spending the moment in silence before God, listening to him like what Mary did. In the Gospel story, two sisters, Martha and Mary, welcomed Jesus as a close friend of the family in their house for a meal.
However, the two sisters had their own way of welcoming and making Jesus feel at home with them. Martha welcomed Jesus by her hospitality of preparing a good meal. While, on the other hand, Mary welcomed Jesus by sitting down in front of Him and listening to Him in silence. Then, suddenly, Martha complained and said to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself. Please tell her to help me.”
What is the response of Jesus? He certainly took this occasion to reveal to Martha the importance of what Mary was doing before his presence, and said to her, “Martha, you worry about so many things, and Mary has chosen the better part. And it should not be taken away from her.”
What does the gospel mean for us? Silence is one of the words that has become less appreciated, less encouraged, and less observed nowadays. Children cannot study without music. Families cannot even eat their meals without watching television. We cannot even pray to God long enough without switching off our cell phones inside the chapel.
Mary, in today’s Gospel, showed us a perfect example on how to get out from our busy and noisy world, and spend time with the Lord, speaking and listening to him in silence. Even Jesus knew the importance of silence. It was not only once but many times that Jesus fled to a lonely place, away from the noisy crowd, in order to pray in silence to his Father in heaven.
We really need some moments of silence in our daily life. It is usually in these moments that God speaks to us. This might be the reason why God created us with two eyes and two ears but only one tongue. He wants us to speak less, but to see and hear him more in silence. If we do this, I can just be sure that Jesus would also be addressing us, “Indeed, you have the chosen part and it should not be taken away from you.”
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