Excuse the Mess!

How easy it is to forget the important things in life.   In the story of Martha and Mary we are reminded that some things are more important than the to do list.  Martha was running around hectic trying to get everything done that she felt needed to be done for her guests.  Mary though was sitting at the feet of Christ paying attention to Him.   I need to be reminded of this.  I am kind of anal when it comes to having a clean house and when we do have guests I am often the Martha.   Cleaning, washing, doing dishes I should have already finished, anxious and stressed.  I am missing the important thing, the guest.

Growing up my mother had a philosophy that went something like “house work can always be done, my kids will only be with me a short time.”   The house often wasn’t clean.   The laundry sometimes piled up well above the laundry basket.  The thing was we knew we were loved.  Mom spent as much time as we would let her with us.   We played, we laughed, we cried.  We did it as a family.   It’s a philosophy that all of us could learn from, especially when it comes to relationships.

Just the other day our friend Jennifer came over.   I was in the middle of a game online with three other people and while she stood talking to Julie, I kept playing.   I justified it because I was not alone in the game and three other people out there in cyber land were counting on me to finish this mission.  In reality I was missing an opportunity to sit at the feet of Christ.   To encounter Him in my friend who is made in His image.   To just be present, to treat her with dignity, and show her that she was more important to me than any game.  As rarely as we have guests in our home you’d think I would learn this lesson already.

Even more so, we have to remind ourselves to make time as well for that relationship with Jesus Christ in prayer and devotions.   Too often we fill our schedules up and then look for an hour here or a minute there to fit Him in.   When in reality we should simply empty our schedule and put Him in there first.   To make time for daily mass if possible, scripture study, Liturgy of the Hours, a rosary, or even just some silent time in which we listen for His voice speaking to us in the whisper of our hearts.   Are we making time for Him?  A relationship does not function if the two people never discourse.   Try it for a few days and you’ll find that even though you’re taking time to sit at Jesus feet, everything else seems to get done as well.  

His servant and yours,

Brian

“He must increase, I must decrease.”

A Reflection on the Mass Readings for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: July 17, 2016. Genesis 18:1-10a; Psalm 15; Colossians 1:24-28; The Holy Gospel According to Saint Luke 10:38-42