27TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 2 / (Green)
Ps 130:1b-2, 3-4ab, 7-8
If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
1st Reading: Jon 3:1-10
The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time: ”Go to Nineveh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you.”
In obedience to the word of Yahweh, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days just to cross it. So Jonah walked a single day‘s journey and began proclaiming, ”Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.”
The people of the city believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Upon hearing the news, the king of Nineveh got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. He issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh: ”By the decree of the king and his nobles, no people or beasts, herd or flock, will taste anything; neither will they eat nor drink. But let people and beasts be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call aloud to God, turn from his evil ways and violence. Who knows? God may yet relent, turn from his fierce anger and spare us.”
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened upon them.
Gospel: 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 work? Tell her to help me!”
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.”
REFLECTION:
The family of the two sisters, Mary and Martha, is very close to Jesus. Their house in Bethany is the resting place of Jesus every time He goes to Jerusalem and in His return from Jerusalem. They had their brother Lazarus whom Jesus wept over when he died. They were intimate friends of Jesus. Mary and Martha, though they were sisters and living together are different from each other. Some identifies Martha as the icon of work and Mary as icon of prayer. Others say that Martha represents the active life and Mary represents the contemplative life as far as vocation is concerned in the spiritual realm or journey. Others would even say that their lives are too different from each other.
Both Mary and Martha would like to serve Jesus the best in their own particular ways. Their way of serving Jesus reminds me of a question once asked to me in a retreat for high school graduating students: Which is better? action or prayer? A good discussion came out of this question which even resulted to debate. One says action is good. In fact claims that work is prayer. Another says that prayer is good. Prayer is a communion with God. Nothing else is more important than being exclusively with God. All their realizations are good and right. However, St. James says: ”Prayer without action is nothing and work without prayer is nothing but a simple activity” (cf Jas. 2:14-20). Jesus exhorted: ”Away from me can do nothing. With me you can do everything” (Jn. 15:6). The services done by Martha and Mary are complementary. St. Gregory commented that Martha complained against Mary to teach her to work too not only pray. She was asking help because she wanted to finish serving so that she could now pray (talk and to listen to Jesus). This gospel narrative reminds all that a person of God is both active and contemplative.
Daily Reflection
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
Readings and Reflections
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