The feast of St Martha (July 29) is a good day to begin a holiday. I always imagine that Jesus said those words very gently and indulgently to Martha: “Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things, and yet only one is necessary.” I imagine him saying them to me now, as I pause for a break. Until you stop, you can’t even hear them.
The real message of the Martha and Mary story is not some simplistic polar opposition between activity and contemplation. Rather, it alerts us to a more subtle temptation, that of seeking to serve Jesus by the exercise of my own activity and plans, by a functionality which misses the point entirely because it is absorbed in its own busy agenda. Instead of drawing strength from the presence of Jesus, it seeks to impress him with my efforts and to value his presence in terms of their success and approbation. As with Martha, Jesus will let me get to the point where I realise that I cannot do it all alone before pointing out that I don’t need to. Until that point, my determination to do it alone renders me incapable of listening.
