July 29
Saints of the Day

Saint Martha, Marta, d. 80
Fiend of Jesus, sister of Lazarus and Maria, the wonder worker of Southern Gaul, in France

    Sister of Saints Lazarus and Mary of Bethany. Friend of Jesus, hostess to him in her house.
    She end up in France with his brother Lazarus and sister Maria, a patroness of France, she is well known as the wonder worker of Southern Gaul, in France
 
    38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
   41“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10).

    No doubt Martha was an active sort of person. On this occasion she prepares the meal for Jesus and possibly his fellow guests and forthrightly states the obvious: All hands should pitch in to help with the dinner.

    Every Christian us an "activist" or a "mystic", a Martha or a Maria... or both, a mystic activist... are you a Martha or a Maria?... even to be an activist, an apostle or evangelist, first of all we should be a mystic, in union with Christ... without christ we can do nothing! (Jn.15:5)

    Yet, as Father John McKenzie points out, she need not be rated as an “unrecollected activist.” The evangelist is emphasizing what our Lord said on several occasions about the primacy of the spiritual: “...Do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear….But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:25b, 33a); “One does not live by bread alone” (Luke 4:4b); “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness…” (Matthew 5:6a).

    Martha’s great glory is her simple and strong statement of faith in Jesus after her brother’s death. “Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world’” (John 11:25-27).
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Additional Information
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintm05.htm
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1091
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Readings
Martha and Mary were sisters, related not only by blood but also by religious aspirations. They stayed close to our Lord and both served him harmoniously when he was among them. Martha welcomed him as travelers are welcomed. But in her case, the maidservant received her Lord, the creature her Creator, to serve him bodily food while she was to be fed by the Spirit.

No one of you should say, "Blessed are they who have deserved to receive Christ into their homes!" Do not grieve or complain that you were born in a time when you can no longer see God in the flesh. He did not in fact take this privilege from you. As he says, "Whatever you have done to the least of my brothers, you did to me."

- from a sermon by Saint Augustine

Saints of July 29:

http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0729.htm

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