The other night my Mom and I were speaking with a family friend who now lives in NH. I asked him, how did you happen to move from Fall River, MA, to such a different place?
He told the story of how he and his wife love the outdoors, and every other weekend for six years, they would camp, hike, and ski in the mountains. This involved traveling 152 miles, spending at least two and a half hours in the car up and back.
Eventually, they decided that they were meant to live where they found a sense of joy and peace each weekend.
All of us, like St. Paul, Martha, and our family friend, Marc, are faced with decisions to make about how we live. We need to decide our mission in this life. For some, it is to marry and to be blessed with children; for others, it is religious life or the priesthood or diaconate, for others, the committed single-life in service to God and others.
But, each of us within these vocations also needs to reflect upon how and where we are to live. In the gospel, Jesus is trying to help Martha to see that she doesn’t need to worry as much as she does, something that many of us can relate to, especially now.
Jesus is trying to help Martha, and any of us realize the trap of letting the world’s standards overwhelm us. Jesus reminds each of us that Mary got it right, beginning with her attention to Jesus, making time for him, and not leaving him while rushing around.
Now, this is the part of the homily where all the Martha’s want to say, “well then nothing will get done!”
That’s true to a point, but Jesus’ life and the Apostles’ life, like Paul, is full of activity. But, it begins with closeness and trust in the presence of God.
Our friend, Marc, and his wife didn’t decide to move to NH based on working hard and then looking at websites. They spent lots of time in those beautiful woods and mountains and then made “the move.”
My brothers and sisters, today, Jesus is calling us to spend some time with Him, and we are at this Mass. He comes to bring us a sense of peace and hope, just like He offered Martha. But we know that like St. Paul and our friend Marc, finding our purpose, our place to live, united to God’s plan doesn’t usually happen overnight or even in a matter of months.
This is why we need to patiently pray and reflect upon today’s psalm 139: “Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.”
In this psalm, we realize that God, who has created us, knows us through and through, and so He is the one we can rely upon to help us to find our way.
I want to invite all of you, Martha’s, Marc’s and Paul’s out there to join me today in praying and reflecting on this psalm and if you are blessed with children in your family, help them to understand how wonderfully God has made them, and how they can always God to help them along the way.
May God bless you and your family, this holy day, as we seek the guidance of God and the peace that only He can bring to us!
Reverend David S. Marcham is the Vice Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Patrick Peyton, and Director of the Father Peyton Guild, whose members pray for Father Peyton’s beatification and spread his message of the importance of Family Prayer. Prior to becoming a seminarian, Father David was a physical therapist and clinical instructor, serving hospital inpatients and outpatients throughout the greater Boston area for eleven years. In 1998 he heard the call to priesthood and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2005. Father David grew up in Quincy, MA, and has fond memories of playing soccer, tennis and running track. You’re never without a friend when Father David is around, as he welcomes everyone into his circle with a smile on his face!
