The question is, where do we put God in the equation?

"In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success." - Proverbs 3:6

Gospel Text: (Luke 10:38-42)

Jesus entered a village 
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. 
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? 
Tell her to help me.” 
The Lord said to her in reply,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. 
There is need of only one thing. 
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”

Often the difference between a happy and unhappy life, between a rewarding and a wasted one, centers on whether we've set the right goals and perseveringly to achieve them.

It is getting harder today for people to set and achieve solid priorities. So many of our technological advances, while offering great possibilities to improve our lives, often just leave us torn apart by a list of to-dos that just seems to keep growing, enslaving us to so many tasks that there seems to be no time for the things that deep down we know are most important.

Scores of American men have long complained that, because of all of the demands at work and the fulfillment of other duties, they have less and less time to do the things that are really fulfilling. Even many teenagers and young kids today have to keep a detailed calendar because with lessons, sports, homework, and even play dates, their schedule has become overwhelming.

To all of us in this frenetic era, who feel drawn-and-quartered by seemingly having to do so many things well at once, Jesus, with words shocking to our 21st century sensibilities, presents us today a summary of the Good News. He who came to set the captives free, who is the Truth incarnate, who knows everything and who cannot lie, tells us in one sentence, as he told Martha, the secret to our liberation: "You are worried and distracted by many things. Only one thing is necessary."

The crucial question to be answered is, "What is that one thing?" 

One of the most common problems facing many even faithful Catholics today, and preventing their spiritual growth, is that they put many things ahead of God, on Sunday, on Monday and throughout the week. I like to call this mixed up set of priorities the "Jesus is an important part of my life" syndrome. They try to squeeze Jesus into their schedule if they still have room and are not exhausted after having completed all the other activities they believe they "have to" do, whereas what we're supposed to be doing is making God truly the God of our life, giving him first place, and then centering all the rest we do around our relationship with him.

Those who center their life around Jesus will have a totally different attitude toward Eucharistic adoration, to daily Mass, and to adult education opportunities where Jesus seeks to feed us than those who are just trying to “fit him in”, as if Jesus is just one more important person or duty in a long series. To choose Jesus as the best part of all was Mary of Bethany's great wisdom, demonstrated in today’s gospel reading. We will be wiser the more we imitate her.