Dear Brother Knights,
On July 29, the Church celebrated a relatively new feast: the memorial of Saints Marth, Mary, and Lazarus. For many years Saint Martha was celebrated, but Pope Francis recently included all of these Saints together in one feast day.
It’s a beautiful feast day in may respects. We are probably familiar with the gospel passage of Marth and Mary. Jesus comes to the home of Martha and Mary (this is not the Blessed Virgin Mary, but another Mary). Mary is at the feet of Jesus and listening to him, and Mary is doing the serving. Basically, Mary is present to Jesus, recognizing the blessing of his presence; Marth does the work. We, in a similar situation would probably react like Marth.
And yet, Jesus says that Martha has chosen the better part. But she’s not doing anything, right? Exactly. Putting it another way, Martha says in her mind, “Jesus is here, I need to clean the house.” Mary says in her mind, “Jesus is here, I need to spend time with him.”
Both Marth and Mary offer tremendous hospitality to Jesus. I’m very grateful as a priest for the many people who are so hospitable to me in so many ways, including opening their home to me as Martha and Mary did for Jesus. But so many people are like Martha and Mary to me in their great kindness and generosity.
Martha, Mary and Lazarus were all sibling. That adds to the beauty of this passage. Most of us have siblings, but do we think of ourselves as helping our siblings in our spiritual journeys? These are people that God has specifically placed in our lives. We can assist our siblings throughout our lives in drawing nearer to Jesus.
Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, pray for us!
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Kipper
