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July 17, 2022
Power comes from listening to God
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Next Saturday, July 23rd, we will be celebrating the Feast of St. James the Apostle at 4:00 pm at St. James the Apostle Church, 4019 US 422. A light reception hosted by the Women of Faith will follow the Mass.
This weekend we are reminded of the beautiful story of Martha and Mary. These sisters symbolize for us the two legs of the spiritual life upon which we make our spiritual journey, namely, the contemplative and the active. Or as St. Benedict the Abbot would later make the foundation of his monastic rule, ora et labora, to work and pray! Our Savior in today’s Gospel, points out the supremacy of the contemplative life and of prayer itself. He also shows us by example that prayer to the spiritual life is like breathing to our natural life. We cannot live without it.
If we are honest, we are all guilty—like Martha—of being so caught up in the frantic and anxious activities of our lives that we fail to make time to sit at the Lord’s feet and listen! The Lord will not deprive Mary of the power that comes from listening to Him. This, after all, is where He derived His power to persevere in this life and in His mission, our salvation.
Over and over again in the Gospels, we see our Savior go off by Himself to pray and even spend the night in prayer. Before every major
decision in the life of Christ, He is found at prayer. Before He multiplies the loaves and fish, He spends the night in prayer. Before He walks on the water, He has been at prayer. Before He chooses His disciples, He is at prayer, before He begins His mission, He fasts and prays and battles with the Devil for 40 days and 40 nights in the desert. And before He ultimately sacrifices himself for our salvation, he prays in the garden of Gethsemane to the point of sweating blood.
That is why it is so essential for us as a parish family to take seriously our time in prayer before we make the decisions we must make as a parish family and as individuals and families. We should be encouraging our young people to pray before they make major decisions in their lives such as choosing a college or career and certainly a spouse.
You might say that we all have work to do. But I believe this
Gospel is telling us we all have a role to play in God’s plan, but we are never going to know it if we don’t first sit at his feet and listen to what it is he desires us to do, collectively and individually. Then and only then when we get up to act will we know that we are doing the Lord’s will and not our own.
To live and do the mission of Jesus Christ is to first, sit at His Feet. Neglect to do this, and we may be busy doing many things, but we will not be living the spiritual life. We will be living an aimless life, a life of absurdity and not of joy and purpose.
We need both legs to walk. But one leg has to step out in front of the other in order for us to move. Let’s make sure we are putting the right foot forward and beginning every move with prayer!
God love you,
