Excessive worry stifles the Gospel message of holiness. Martha is worried about many things that need to be done. Mary represents the disciple of the Master who wants to learn, who does not want to get lost in many legal things, but seeks the true food for her spirit: love for God and men. Christ unites prayer and action. We cannot fall into the danger of activism.
Prayer, which is love, is generosity, a spirit of service, is intimacy with the Father, with the Son and with the Holy Spirit. Interiority means serenity and peace. This is the fruit not only of prayer but also of the Eucharist and of living and transmitting the Gospel.
Prayer, which is love, forgetting oneself, not thinking so much about our worries and fears, which only manage to paralyze and sadden us. Work is just as important as rest. Maria represents the conviction that she needs to be led by Christ and by that person – spiritual director – who represents him. This requires a minimum of responsibility and willingness to do so.
Christ places the seed in both the spiritual director and the directed one. The directed feels the need and desire to be helped to discover his path or vocation to holiness, both in the family and as part of a community.
Christ was demanding in His love for the Father and for people. Do we seek a comfortable spiritual direction, without demands? Christ tells us: ‘Seek and you shall find’. Let us be open to the voice of the Father who speaks to our heart: we are his beloved, precious and unique children. We hear negative voices more often: ‘life doesn’t tell me anything’, ‘I’m missing something’, ‘I’m very shy, it’s hard for me to relate’, ‘let’s see if these sad days pass’. With these worries comes boredom and in the end we abandon Christ. It is certainly not the same to love as to feel. Martha felt and Mary loved. Mary was reflective, Martha was restless and nervous.
There is in us a tendency to discredit ourselves, to value ourselves negatively and, in some extremes, a certain pleasure in remembering sad moments from the past. It’s like going over and over our mistakes made by active or passive way.
Another aspect of activism – Marta – is seeking to cover our lack of being in prayer, in listening, at the feet of Christ. Some people hide their spiritual deficiencies by devouring books of spirituality or increasing acts of piety. But the danger is not to recognize our arrogance, pride, vanity and laziness. Being with Christ in prayer and the Eucharist does not suppress my confession to family, friends and others.
The experience of divine love changes my character and passions. Suffice it to say: Lord, have mercy. That is to say: Christ, help me to overcome the defect that dominates me, my tendency to pry into people’s lives, to murmur, to criticize. If we turn to this source of divine love, our soul wounds begin to heal.
