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From: Luke 10:38-42

Martha and Mary Welcome Our Lord

[38] Now as they went on their way, He (Jesus) entered a village; and a
woman named Martha received Him into her house. [39] And she had a
sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His
teaching. [40] But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she
went to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me
to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." [41] But the Lord answered
her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;
[42] one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good position, which
shall not be taken away from her."

Commentary:

38-42. Our Lord was heading for Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) and His journey
took Him through Bethany, the village where Lazarus, Martha and Mary
lived--a family for whom He had a special affection, as we see in other
passages of the Gospel (cf. John 11:1-14; 12:1-9).

St. Augustine comments on this scene as follows: "Martha, who was
arranging and preparing the Lord's meal, was busy doing many things,
whereas Mary preferred to find her meal in what the Lord was saying.
In a way she deserted her sister, who was very busy, and sat herself
down at Jesus' feet and just listened to His words. She was faithfully
obeying what the Psalm said: `Be still and know that I am God' (Psalm
46:10). Martha was getting annoyed, Mary was feasting; the former
coping with many things, the latter concentrating on one. Both
occupations were good" ("Sermon", 103).

Martha has come to be, as it were, the symbol of the active life, and
Mary that of the contemplative life. However, for most Christians,
called as they are to sanctify themselves in the middle of the world,
action and contemplation cannot be regarded as two opposite ways of
practising the Christian faith: an active life forgetful of union with
God is useless and barren; but an apparent life of prayer which shows
no concern for apostolate and the sanctification of ordinary things
also fails to please God. The key lies in being able to combine these
two lives, without either harming the other. Close union between
action and contemplation can be achieved in very different ways,
depending on the specific vocation each person is given by God.

Far from being an obstacle, work should be a means and an occasion for
a close relationship with our Lord, which is the most important thing
in our life.

Following this teaching of the Lord, the ordinary Christian should
strive to attain an integrated life--an intense life of piety and
external activity, orientated towards God, practised out of love for
Him and with an upright intention, which expresses itself in
apostolate, in everyday work, in doing the duties of one's state in
life. "You must understand now more clearly that God is calling you to
serve Him IN AND FROM the ordinary, material and secular activities of
human life. He waits for us every day, in the laboratory, in the
operating room, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the
factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in all the
immense panorama of work. Understand this well: there is something
holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it
is up to each of you to discover it [...]. There is no other way.
Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday life, or else we
shall never find Him. That is why I can tell you that our age needs to
give back to matter and to the most trivial occurrences and situations
their noble and original meaning. It needs to restore them to the
service of the Kingdom of God, to spiritualize them, turning them into
a means and an occasion for a continuous meeting with Jesus Christ" ([St] J.
Escriva, "Conversations", 114).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

FEAST OF THE DAY

St. Faustina was born in 1905 near the town of Lodz, Poland and
was baptized Helena Kowalska. At the age of twenty, Helena left
home and joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of
Mercy. Upon entering religious life Helena took the name Faustina,
the by which she was known for the rest of her life.

In 1934 Faustina was encouraged by her spiritual director to begin
keeping a diary. In this diary, entitled "Divine Mercy in My Soul"
Faustina recorded profound revelations and several mystical
experiences where Jesus appeared to her. In these visions Jesus
addressed Faustina as "Secretary of My mercy" and "Apostle of My
Mercy." He gave Faustina the instructions that grew into the Chaplet
of Divine Mercy and the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday.

St. Faustina died of tuberculosis in 1938 after predicting the coming
war to the sisters of her community. After her death, devotion to the
Divine Mercy spread rapidly through Poland and throughout the
world. St. Faustina was the first saint of the new millennium to be
canonized. She was canonized on April 30, 2000.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Apostle of My mercy, proclaim to the whole world My unfathomable
mercy. -Revelation to St. Faustina

TODAY IN HISTORY

869 4th Council of Constantinople (8th ecumenical council) opens
1938 Death of St. Faustina

TODAY'S TIDBIT

The Fourth Council of Constantinople was convened by Pope Adrian
II and its six sessions spanned from October 5, 869 until February
28, 870. This council was attended by more than one hundred
bishops and reaffirmed the condemnation of the iconoclastic heresy
issued at the Second Council of Nicea. This council also deposed
Photius as patriarch of Constantinople and restored Ignatius to this
position. This was the final ecumenical council held in the east and
was the first to be called "ecumenical" by historians in the eleventh
century.

INTENTION FOR THE DAY

Please pray that more people may encounter the mercy of the Lord
and use it to come closer to Him.