“We cannot find God in noise and agitation”

What is essential is not what we say but what God tells us and what He tells others through us. (Mother Teresa)

Gospel text (Lk 10:38-42): As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, He entered a village and a woman called Martha welcomed him to her house. She had a sister named Mary who sat down at the Lord's feet to listen to his words. Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving and finally she said, «Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the serving?». But the Lord answered, «Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her».

Today, we can see a divine as well as a human Jesus: He is tired of his journey and lets this Bethania family He loves so much welcome him. He will take advantage of this moment to let us know “what matters the most”.

In the attitude of these two sisters we can detect two different ways of living the Christian vocation: the active and contemplative life. Mary «who sat down at the Lord's feet», while Martha was busying herself with plenty of chores and all the serving, always happy, but tired (cf. Lk 10:39-40-42). —«Easy», Jesus tells her, «you worry and are troubled about many things, but you must have a rest, and even more, you must rest by my side, looking at me, listening to me». Two different models of Christian life we must coordinate and integrate: to live Marta's way as much as Mary's way. We have to be attentive to Lord's word, and, at the same time, alert for, more often than not, the noise and daily bustle may hide God's presence. Because a Christian's life and strength can only stay firm and grow if he maintains close ties with the true vine, where his life, his love, his yearning to go on... an not looking back, come from.

Most of us have been called by God to be like “Martha”. But, we should not forget that the Lord wants us to be more and more like “Mary” too: Jesus Christ has also called us “to choose the best part” and to let no one take it from us. He reminds us that the most important is not what we can do, but God's word, that lightens our lives by impregnating our works and deeds with the Holy Spirit’s love.

To truly rest in the Lord is only possible if we can enjoy the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Prayer before the sacrament itself!: To explain Eucharist Adoration in simple terms: In silence, we look Christ directly in the eyes.

The eye is said to be the window to the soul and many pictures can be seen therein. Prayer is an activity in which we look inwardly to see God looking through our soul’s window lovingly. We have to go eye-to-eye with ourselves to open that window. I suspect that we could keep our eyes shut if we didn’t want to be really known, but that kind of privacy is isolating.

Eucharistic adoration is the greatest treasure we Christians have. Let us remember the name of John Paul II's last encyclical: The Church lives from Eucharist. Our Lord has many things to tell us, many more than we think. Let us, therefore, seek those moments of silence and peace, to help us find Jesus again and, in him, to find ourselves once more. Jesus Christ invites us today to take an option: to choose «the better part» (Lk 10:42).