Martha had been waiting for Jesus all day. She had begun to prepare the meal from the time she awakened. She had his favorite food on the menu. She kept looking out the window to see if he was walking down the road. When he did arrive, she was the one who met him at the door. Mary, meanwhile, “heard his word.” The text says that Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying” (Lk 10:39). The cooking is going fine, but it is Martha who is rather burned up. She now raises a simmering complaint. The meal, almost prepared, can wait. A family squabble breaks out. Mary, her sister, has done nothing to help her. Martha has had enough. She has slammed a door or two already. She has given Mary a few hard glances and glares. She has put down a plate or two of hors d’oeuvres with slightly more force than necessary. The little hints and messages don’t work. Mary hasn’t moved a muscle. She is just sitting there listening to Jesus. “Sure,” Martha thinks, “Let me do all the work. You just sit there and relax.” Then, it all bubbles over. Martha gets angry ... in public ... in front of her guests ... and her Guest. It was as if Martha said, “Why isn’t Mary like me? Why isn’t she rushing around getting the meal ready? Why doesn’t she at least take care of the dessert or fix the salad? Why isn’t she like me? In fact, why isn’t the rest of the world like me?” And then after trying to fix Mary, Martha begins to try to fix God: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me all alone to do the household tasks?” Imagine the irony of asking the Son of God if he doesn’t care! Jesus says something very interesting to Martha: “Mary has chosen the better part, and she shall not be deprived of it.” Martha cannot find what she does have, but by divine decree, Mary cannot lose what she has, the better part – sitting quietly with the Lord. “She shall not be deprived of it.” Everything else can be taken away or lost, but no power in this world can take away love. Mary is silent in the face of Martha’s complaint. Mary continues to gaze on Jesus. Nothing is lost for Mary. She loses no ground because she has not entered the contest. And the Lord defends her. The voice of Jesus alone brings security and restores peace. This week, listen again for His voice – especially in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist – in Mary’s Chapel Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. He is waiting for you. God bless, Msgr. Bransfield