October 9th, 2018

Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
462

FIRST READING
GAL 1:13-24

Brothers and sisters:
You heard of my former way of life in Judaism,
how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure
and tried to destroy it,
and progressed in Judaism
beyond many of my contemporaries among my race,
since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.
But when he, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart
and called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were Apostles before me;
rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas
and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the Apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.
(As to what I am writing to you, behold,
before God, I am not lying.)
Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea
that are in Christ;
they only kept hearing that “the one who once was persecuting us
is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
So they glorified God because of me.

PSALM
PS 139:1B-3, 13-14AB, 14C-15

Response: Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.

Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.

My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.

GOSPEL
LK 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.”

Daily Reflection

9th October 2018

In today's Gospel, one may wonder at what most people see as a rebuke to Martha.

But Jesus’ gentle reproach was an act of love — to Martha and to us. To everyone else present, Martha’s serving probably appeared to flow from a generous servant heart. And it irked her that she had to bear the burden alone. But Jesus saw through to Martha’s anxiety that her hospitality might reflect poorly on her and her family (the culture of the time required high hospitality for honoured guests like Jesus and his followers who would have numbered at least a hundred!). This was an anxiety that made many unnecessary tasks feel compulsively urgent, and blinded her to the “one thing necessary” — listening to Jesus.

Through this correction, Jesus is challenging us to ask ourselves if we feel compelled to ‘serve’ out of a self-conscious anxiety for what others will think. If so, we are serving our own glory and not Jesus.

Jesus seeks to free us from all that distracts and disturbs us, by inviting us to stop working, rest at his feet, and listen to him.