Lately disturbing things have taken place in Noa and Alicia’s middle school. They have decided to tell their parents about it. – Dad is home, so much the better! Said Noa to himself, we’re going to be able to tell him, I would like to know what he thinks about it. But before they had time to open their mouth: – Hush children! I’m on the phone! A moment later, they return to the living room. – Dad! Daddy, listen! We have to tell you something! – Later, Alicia, I’m listening to the news. Later in the night, – Well, now Daddy, you can you listen to us? We have something to tell you! – Let me check my emails, I ‘m finishing a file and then I’ll listen to you. Finally, it’s time to go to bed. – Good night children! Ah! Yes! There was something you wanted to tell me, about! Well, we’ll see that tomorrow. Shall we? Have you experienced this kind of situation? We feel sad, frustrated that we didn’t have this moment of exchange, sharing and listening. It seems like everything else is more important than us, that we do not count at all or so little? But let’s see … why am I telling you this today? Just because Jesus experienced a similar situation. We are going to tell you the story and then you will answer my questions: – What is most important to Jesus? – What is important to us? You will find this story at the end of chapter 10 of the Gospel of Luc.
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Full text of this story :
FOR JESUS, WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT?
Jesus is on the way with his disciples, Thomas, James, John, and the others. They stop in a village. Martha invites them. – Come! Come to us, you can rest, she tells them, we will cook you some food. Jesus sits down with his disciples and begins to talk. He answers their questions, encourages them to believe in him, he explains to them the Word of God. Mary, Martha’s sister, sits down at Jesus feet she doesn’t say a word but she listens to Him carefully. She drinks His words. From time to time, we hear the noises of pots, jugs, of someone coming and going. It is Martha who is at work; she runs to draw water, she lights the fire, prepares pancakes with dried fruits, peel the vegetables, cuts them, cooks them she puts the fish to grill. She is busy on all sides. She doesn’t stop, she wants to welcome Jesus and his disciples in the best possible way and there is still a lot to do; she gets angry because she is afraid of not managing to do everything; time flies and she wouldn’t want to be late. Of course there is her sister but she is still sitting there and not moving. Martha has given her several times an annoyed look, which meant « so, are you going to come and give me a hand? », but Mary sees nothing, she is totally captivated, absorbed by the words of Jesus. Martha sighs long and loudly, but nobody seems to notice. They are all there quietly listening to Jesus. Finally, she can’t take it anymore, she explodes: – Lord, she said abruptly, don’t you mind to see my sister let me do the work all alone? Couldn’t you tell her to come and help me! – Martha, Martha! Jesus answers, you get worried and you fret for too many things; there are so few things that are really needed reality, Let me tell you, there is only one thing which is essential, it is that thing that Mary chose, it is the best part and this part you see, no one can take it away from her.
1, 2 3, 4 AND YOU AND ME! Wouldn’t you like to know what happened after this conversation? I do! Did Mary go to help her sister? Did Martha sit at Jesus’ feet? Did Jesus and the disciples have a good meal? Anyway, I would like to know but I will not know, so let’s go back to our story. Martha and Mary knew Jesus and it was an honor and a great joy for them to receive Him in their house with the disciples. They wanted to make him happy but, of course, as you saw, they reacted in a totally different way. Did you understand why? Jesus tells us that they did what they thought was most important. Martha thought that the most important thing was to receive her guests as well as possible. For Mary, the most important thing was to enjoy the presence of Jesus, to stop, to sit down at his feet to listen to him. She wanted to fill her heart with the words of Jesus. Did Martha do something wrong? Not at all! But she missed the mark. Jesus explained to her that she did not make the best choice, she chose the wrong part. She was very agitated, angry, worried, and she did not take advantage of this particular moment when Jesus was there, very close to her, in his house. She missed out on the essentials, she spent her day without hearing what Jesus wanted to say to her; this was precisely the most important and for you what is it? What is the most important? Do you have a quiet moment, when you sit down; the screens are off, no more noise around you and especially in your heart, a moment when your thoughts do not run in all directions but when you focus on the presence of Jesus? You read a passage from The Gospel, you pray, you sing, you thank Him and you listen to Him; He can speak to you through this story of the Gospel that you have read, but He can also speak in your heart, a thought, an idea, a word that makes you feel good, encourages you, gives you an answer to your questions. It won’t stop you from doing your school work, helping your parents and having fun but do not forget that there is a time for everything. That moment with the Lord, is very important for you too.
4, 3, 2, 1 AND WE PARENTS! – Now is not the time to have fun! – It’s time to do your homework, go to bed, turn off your phone, clean your room, go visit your grandparents, etc, etc. Ah! We have never finished repeating and repeating all this again! In this way we instill in our children values, which we consider to be important for them, health, work, physical and mental balance. What importance do we give to their spiritual life, their personal moment with the Lord? What are we doing to help them stop for a while at the feet of the Lord, to meditate on His Word? “A time for all things!” This is what the Lord also repeats to us, adults. But in this hectic life where so many worries, multiple activities assault us, where everything is presented to us as absolutely necessary, what do we do? Do we have the right scale of values? Through his Word, Jesus enlightens us on the true value of things; so we can do the right choices, make the right decisions, and find the good part that will never be removed from us.