``Where the
Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be;
even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church'' Ignatius of
Antioch, 1st c. A.D
Feast of
St. Martha
St. Martha -- the Lord's worker and servant, the sister of
Saints Mary Magdalen
and Lazarus (all three of whom "Jesus loved" as we see in John 11:5) --
is only mentioned in three chapters of the Bible, but her character
comes through clearly.
We first meet her in Luke 10:38-42, toiling in the kitchen while her
sister sat at the Lord's feet:
Now it came to
pass as they went, that He entered into a certain town: and a certain
woman named Martha, received Him into her house. And she had a sister
called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord's feet, heard His word. But
Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: Lord, hast Thou
no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? speak to her
therefore, that she help me. And the Lord answering, said to her:
Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things:
But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall
not be taken away from her.
This is how we
most often picture St. Martha -- working hard in the kitchen,
serving, and being overshadowed by her more "colorful," emotionally
intense sister. 1 But Martha
humbly accepts His rebuke and heeded His teaching -- that she should
learn to be receptive instead
of always trying to get ahead through human activity -- because the
next time we meet her -- it is after the death of her beloved brother,
Lazarus -- she makes a profound profession of faith. Notice how boldly
she asserts herself in the story of this great miracle. And note the
beautiful parallel between Saints Martha and Peter as revealed in
Matthew 16 and John 11. How closely her profession of faith resembles
that of St. Peter!
In Matthew 16, Jesus asked Simon, "But whom do you say that I am?"
Simon answered, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew
16:16), the confession that caused Our Lord to name Simon "Kepha"
("Rock") and say to him "thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
In the story of the miracle of Lazarus's resurrection, when Jesus said
to Martha, "Thy brother shall rise again," she replies, "Yea, Lord, I
have believed that thou art Christ the Son of the living God, who art
come into this world." Read the story of Lazarus's resurrection, and be
mindful of these parallels. Be aware of how this woman who exemplifies
beautiful, underappreciated, and noble traditional women's work and
service is no "doormat":
John 11:1-45
Now there was a certain man sick, named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the
town of Mary and Martha her sister. (And Mary was she that anointed the
Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair: whose brother
Lazarus was sick.) His sisters therefore sent to him, saying: Lord,
behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
And Jesus hearing it, said to them: This sickness is not unto death,
but for the glory of God: that the Son of God may be glorified by it.
Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus. When He had
heard therefore that he was sick, He still remained in the same place
two days. Then after that, He said to His disciples: Let us go into
Judea again.
The disciples say to him: Rabbi, the Jews but now sought to stone Thee:
and goest Thou thither again?
Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day? If a man walk in
the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world:
But if he walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in
him. These things He said; and after that he said to them: Lazarus our
friend sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep.
His disciples therefore said: Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. But
Jesus spoke of his death; and they thought that He spoke of the repose
of sleep. Then therefore Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead.
And I am glad, for your sakes, that I was not there, that you may
believe: but let us go to him.
Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples:
Let us also go, that we may die with him. Jesus therefore came, and
found that he had been four days already in the grave. (Now Bethania
was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.) And many of the Jews
were come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
Martha therefore, as soon as she heard that Jesus had come, went to
meet Him: but Mary sat at home.
Martha therefore said to Jesus: Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my
brother had not died. But now also I know that whatsoever Thou wilt ask
of God, God will give it thee.
Jesus saith to her: Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith to him:
I know that he shall rise again, in the resurrection at the last day.
Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that
believeth in Me, although he be dead, shall live: And every one that
liveth, and believeth in Me, shall not die for ever. Believest thou
this?
She saith to him: Yea, Lord, I have believed that Thou art Christ the
Son of the living God, Who art come into this world.
And when she had said these things, she went, and called her sister
Mary secretly, saying: The Master is come, and calleth for thee. She,
as soon as she heard this, riseth quickly, and cometh to Him. For Jesus
was not yet come into the town: but He was still in that place where
Martha had met Him.
The Jews therefore, who were with her in the house, and comforted her,
when they saw Mary that she rose up speedily and went out, followed
her, saying: She goeth to the grave to weep there.
When Mary therefore was come where Jesus was, seeing him,
she fell down at his feet, and saith to him: Lord, if Thou hadst been
here, my brother had not died.
Jesus, therefore, when He saw her weeping, and the Jews that were come
with her, weeping, groaned in the spirit, and troubled Himself, And
said: Where have you laid him? They say to Him: Lord, come and see. And Jesus
wept.
The Jews therefore said: Behold how He loved him. But some of them
said: Could not He that opened the eyes of the man born blind, have
caused that this man should not die?
Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself, cometh to the sepulchre. Now
it was a cave; and a stone was laid over it. Jesus saith: Take away the
stone.
Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith to him: Lord, by this
time he stinketh, for he is now of four days. Jesus saith to her: Did
not I say to thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of
God?
They took therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up His eyes said:
Father, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that
Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people who stand about have
I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me. When He had
said these things, He cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth. And
presently he that had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with
winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said
to them: Loose him, and let him go.
Many therefore of the Jews, who were come to Mary and Martha, and had
seen the things that Jesus did, believed in Him.
St. Peter serves
the Church as a man, and St. Martha serves as a woman -- and we honor
and keep the Feasts of each.
The next and final time we see our Saint in Sacred Scripture, she is
serving food just two days before the Last Supper 2 -- working faithfully in the background as when
we'd first met her:
John 12:1-11
Jesus therefore, six days before the pasch, came to Bethania, where
Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus raised to life. And they made him a
supper there: and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them
that were at table with Him. Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of
right spikenard, of great price, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and
wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour
of the ointment. Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, he that was
about to betray Him, said: Why was not this ointment sold for three
hundred pence, and given to the poor? Now he said this, not because he
cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the purse,
carried the things that were put therein. Jesus therefore said: Let her
alone, that she may keep it against the day of my burial. For the poor
you have always with you; but Me you have not always. A great multitude
therefore of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for
Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus, whom he had raised
from the dead. But the chief priests thought to kill Lazarus also:
Because many of the Jews, by reason of him, went away, and believed in
Jesus.
Where Scripture
leaves off, tradition steps in. We are told that Saints Martha, Mary
Magdalen, and Lazarus went to southern France in A.D. 48, where St.
Mary Magdalen retired to a life of penance, and St. Lazarus acted as
Bishop of Marseilles. St. Martha's life in Europe was a very
interesting one according to the Golden Legend:
After the
ascension of our Lord, when the disciples were departed, she with her
brother Lazarus and her sister Mary, also S. Maximin which baptized
them, and to whom they were committed of the Holy Ghost, and many
others, were put into a ship without sail, oars, or rudder governail,
of the paynims, which by the conduct of our Lord they came all to
Marseilles, and after came to the territory of Aquense or Aix, and
there converted the people to the faith. Martha was right facound of
speech, and courteous and gracious to the sight of the people.
There was that time upon the river of Rhone, in a certain
wood between Arles and Avignon, a great dragon, half beast and half
fish, greater than an ox, longer than an horse, having teeth sharp as a
sword, and horned on either side, head like a lion, tail like a
serpent, and defended him with two wings on either side, and could not
be beaten with cast of stones nor with other armour, and was as strong
as twelve lions or bears; which dragon lay hiding and lurking in the
river, and perished them that passed by and drowned ships. He came
thither by sea from Galicia, and was engendered of Leviathan, which is
a serpent of the water and is much wood, and of a beast called Bonacho,
that is engendered in Galicia. And when he is pursued he casts out of
his belly behind, his ordure, the space of an acre of land on them that
follow him, and it is bright as glass, and what it toucheth it burneth
as fire.
To whom Martha, at the prayer of the people, came into the wood, and
found him eating a man. And she cast on him holy water, and showed to
him the cross, which anon was overcome, and standing still as a sheep,
she bound him with her own girdle, and then was slain with spears and
glaives of the people.
The dragon was called of them that dwelled in the country Tarasconus,
whereof, in remembrance of him that place is called Tarasconus, which
tofore was called Nerluc, and the Black Lake, because there be woods
shadowous and black. And there the blessed Martha, by licence of
Maximin her master, and of her sister, dwelled and abode in the same
place after, and daily occupied in prayers and in fastings, and
thereafter assembled and were gathered together a great convent of
sisters, and builded a fair church at the honour of the blessed Mary
virgin, where she led a hard and a sharp life. She eschewed flesh and
all fat meat, eggs, cheese and wine; she ate but once a day. An hundred
times a day and an hundred times a night she kneeled down and bowed her
knees.
The exact nature of the now extinct creature being called a
"dragon" is unknown (many Saints have been credited with having dealt
with dragons -- Saint Margaret of Antioch and Saint George being the two
best-known -- and, of course, St. Michael will have his
way with the
Dragon of Dragons in the end!). But in any case, St. Martha's
conquering of the beast known as "La Tarasque" has been commemorated in
Tarascon, France (the town was named for the animal) ever since A.D.
1474 when "Good King Rene" instituted an annual celebration which
continues to this day and takes place now in the last weekend of June.
The town lies just between Avignon and Arles, on the left bank of the
Rhone River, in a part of France famous for caves filled with
paleolithic art. Below are two old postcards of the annual "Jeux de
la Tarasque":
St. Martha is
the patroness of homemakers, cooks, innkeepers, domestic servants, and
those whose work centers around hospitality. She is most often shown in
art working in the kitchen (usually with her sister and Jesus in the
foreground), at the tomb of Lazarus, crossing the sea on her way to
France, or with a dragon at her feet or on a leash. Her symbols are the
aspersory and/or aspergillum used to inflict holy water on the dragon,
the dragon itself, a broom, and a girdle. Her tomb can be found
in l'Église Sainte-Marthe de Tarascon in Tarascon, Provence, France.
Customs
Many prepare for this feast by praying the Novena to St. Martha which, unlike most
novenas, involves the lighting of a candle and is prayed on the nine
consecutive Tuesdays preceding the Feast of St. Martha instead of over
nine consecutive days.
St. Martha's patronage makes it a natural day to honor
homemakers and cooks. To cook for the cooks in your life and give them
a day off, consider making something with tarragon. Given that tarragon
(Artemisia dracunculus sativa), or
"estragon" in French, grows in the region where St. Martha lived in
France, and given that the Latin botanical name for this herb means
"little dragon," tarragon seems a natural choice for the day. This herb
is the most
powerful of the four herbs that make up "fines herbes" -- the Classic
French mixture of equal parts of fresh chervil, chives, parsley and
tarragon, chopped finely and added to dishes at the last minute. Fines
herbes go well with eggs, salads, vegetables, chicken, and fish.
Perhaps an omelette aux fine herbes, or a chicken tarragon dish would
be a nice reminder of dear St. Martha.
As an aside, chewing on tarragon leaves is a very ancient cure for
toothache, and tarragon tea is said to help with sleep,
menstrual cramps, and digestion.
Tarragon Tea
1 tsp. dried tarragon
1 tsp. dried peppermint
1 cup hot water
Steep tarragon and mint in water and cover for five minutes. Discard
herbs and sip warm or slightly chilled, as needed.
After the
omelette aux fines herbes, a plum tart would be a good choice. The
French have a saying, "A la Sainte-Marthe, prunes mûres, bonne tarte"
-- "On St. Martha's Day, ripe plums, good tart" (it rhymes in French!).
To make that good tart, here's a recipe for you:
Plum Tart
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
12 oz plums, halved and pitted (get Italian prune plums, if
you can)
3 TBSP cornstarch
2 TBSP cognac, brandy, or orange juice
1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
8 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature
Ice cold water
Preheat oven to 350o F. Grease a 9-inch springform
or 9-inch cake pan. Line the bottom of your pan
with a 9-inch round piece of parchment and grease the pan and the paper.
Whisk the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder together
in a small bowl; set aside.
Cut the plum halves in half again and toss them in a medium
bowl with the cornstarch, cognac, and 3/4 cup of the sugar; set aside
for 15 minutes so it macerates.
Meanwhile, beat the butter and remaining sugar together until
light and fluffy, about 1 minute at medium-high speed. With the mixer
on low, gradually add the dry ingredients you set aside earlier, and
stir just until it starts to come together. Add 1 tablespoon of cold
water and stir the mixture for about 30 seconds, until it becomes
crumbly and just holds together when lightly squeezed. If the mixture
still seems a little dry at this point, stir in another tablespoon of
water.
Reserve about 1 cup of the dough on the side and press the
remaining dough into the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer,
working the dough about 1 inch up the sides of the pan. Pour the fruit
mixture evenly over the dough. Crumble or grate the remaining dough
over the top
of the fruit. Bake for 55 - 65 minutes, until the fruit is bubbly and
the crust is golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes before running a knife
around the inside edge and removing the sides of the pan. Serve
warm or at room temperature with or without ice cream.
And now for some music for the day, an old song from the area of France
once known as Périgord (now, roughly, known as Dordogne) :
"Sainte-Marthe En S'Allant," about how St.
Martha tries to convert her sister, Mary Magdalen, who was still at
that time a wordly woman. This is a recording by Eric Montbel:
Sainte-Marthe en
s’en allant Jésus trouvant
O Jésus, O Jésus mon Sauveur
Je ne peux pas convertir ma chère sœur
O Marthe Marthe allez-y
Et dites-lui
Qu’à l’église est arrivé
Un beau prêcheur
Allons-y nous l’entendrons ma chère sœur
Madeleine lui répond
Je n’irai point
J’aime mieux être à la danse
D’un violon
A la main d’un amoureux
Qu’à d’un sermon
O Marthe, Marthe allez-y
Et dites-lui
Qu’à l’église est arrivé
Trois beaux cadets
Qui souhaiteraient de la voir
Et de lui parler
Madeleine lui répond
Oh j’irai bien
Laisse moi prendre ma coiffure
Et mes gants blancs
Et aussi mes pierreries
Et mes diamants
Quand à l’église elle rentrait
Jésus prêchait
Sur la vanité du monde Il a parlé
Et le cœur de Madeleine en fut touché
Lorsque le sermon fut fini Jésus sortit
Et aussi la Madeleine en pleurant
Et aussi la Sainte Marthe en riant
Saint Martha
going off to find Jesus
O Jesus, O Jesus my Savior
I cannot convert my dear sister
O Martha, Martha go ahead
And tell her
That at the church
A beautiful preacher has arrived
Let's go there to hear him, my dear sister
Magdalen replies
"I won't go"
I'd rather be at the dance
With the sounds of a violin
In the hands of a lover
Than at a sermon
O Martha, Martha go ahead
And tell her
That at the church have arrived
Three handsome young men
Who would like to see her
And speak to her
Magdalen answers her
Oh I'll go
Let me take my hairstyle
And my white gloves
And also my precious stones
And my diamonds
When she returned to church
Jesus was preaching
On the vanity of the world He spoke
And Magdalen's heart was
touched
When the sermon was over Jesus left
And the Magdalen was crying
And Saint Martha was laughing
Readings
Homily by St.
Augustine, d. 371
The words of
our Lord Jesus Christ which have just been read from the Gospel, give
us to wit that there is one thing toward the which we are making our
way, all the while that we are striving amid the divers cares of this
world. Thitherward we make our way, whileas we are still strangers and
pilgrims, unpossessed as yet of any abiding city, still on the journey,
not yet come home, still hoping, not yet enjoying. Still thitherward
let us make our way, not slothfully nor by fits and starts, but so that
some day we may arrive thither. Martha and Mary were sisters, not in
the flesh only, but also in godliness; together, they clave unto the
Lord; together, with one heart they served the Lord present in the
Flesh.
Martha received Him into her house. It was just as strangers are
received, but it was the handmaiden receiving her Lord, the sick
receiving her Saviour, the creature receiving her Creator. She received
Him, to give bodily meat unto Him by Whom she herself was to be fed
unto eternal life. It had been the Lord's will to take upon Him the
form of a servant, to be fed by servants (still out of his good
pleasure, not of necessity), and in that form of a servant which He had
taken upon Him. This was His good pleasure, to offer Himself as a
subject for hospitality. He had Flesh, wherein He was somewhiles
an-hungered and athirst, but know ye not how that, when He was in the
desert and was an-hungered, angels came and ministered unto Him.
Himself it was therefore, that gave unto them of whom He was fain to be
fed, the wherewithal. And what wonder is this, if we consider how that
holy Elias, coming from being fed by the ministry of ravens, asked
bread of the widow of Zarephath, and himself gave her the wherewithal
to feed him? Had God failed to feed Elias when He sent him unto the
widow? God forbid. He did so that He might bless that godly widow for a
service rendered unto His servant.
Thus was that same Lord received as a guest, Who came unto His own, and
His own received him not, but as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, adopting servants and making them
children, redeeming prisoners and appointing them co-heirs. Perchance
some of you will say: O how blessed were they who were worthy to
receive Christ as a guest into their own home! but mourn not, neither
murmur, for that thou hast been born in an age wherein thou canst no
more see Christ in the flesh. He hath not put the honour of receiving
Him beyond thy reach. Inasmuch, saith He, as ye have done it unto one
of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.
Fourth Conversation
From "The Practice of the Presence of God"
By Brother Lawrence and friends
Brother
Lawrence was born in 1610 in Lorraine, France. He fought in the Thirty
Years' War, suffering an almost fatal injury which left him crippled
and in severe pain for the rest of his life, through damage to his
sciatic nerve. He became a hermit and, later, a lay Carmelite, becoming
the cook for the one hundred monastics of his Parisian monastery. He
died a quiet death in 1691. Because of the work he was called to do,
this account of a conversation with Brother Lawrence seems very
appropriate for the Feast of St. Martha, to inspire all those who must
deal with kitchen work.
Brother Lawrence
spoke with great openness of heart concerning his manner of going to
God. He told me that all consists in one hearty renunciation of
everything which we know does not lead to God. We might accustom
ourselves to a continual conversation with Him with freedom and in
simplicity. We need only recognize God intimately present with us and
address ourselves to Him every moment. We need to beg His assistance
for knowing His will in things doubtful and for rightly performing
those things which we plainly see He requires of us, offering them to
Him before we do them, and giving God thanks when we have completed
them.
In our conversation with God we should engage in praising, adoring, and
loving Him incessantly for His infinite goodness and perfection.
Without being discouraged because of our sins, we should pray for His
grace with perfect confidence, relying on the infinite merits of our
Lord. Brother Lawrence said that God never failed offering us His grace
at each action. It never failed except when Brother Lawrence's thoughts
had wandered from a sense of God's presence, or he forgot to ask His
assistance. He said that God always gave us light in our doubts when we
had no other design but to please Him.
Our sanctification did not depend upon changing our works. Instead, it
depended on doing those things for God's sake which we commonly do for
our own. He thought it was lamentable to see how many people mistook
the means for the end, addicting themselves to certain works which they
performed very imperfectly because of their human or selfish regard.
The most excellent method he had found for going to God was that of
doing our common business without any view of pleasing men but purely
for the love of God.
Brother Lawrence felt it was a great delusion to think that the times
of prayer ought to differ from other times. We are as strictly obliged
to adhere to God by action in the time of action, as by prayer in its
time. His own prayer was simply a sense of the presence of God, his
soul being at that time aware of nothing other than Divine Love. When
the appointed times of prayer were past, he found no difference,
because he still continued with God, praising and thanking Him with all
his might. Thus his life was a continual joy.
Brother Lawrence said we ought, once and for all, heartily put our
whole trust in God, and make a total surrender of ourselves to Him,
secure that He would not deceive us. We ought not weary of doing little
things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work,
but the love with which it is performed. We should not wonder if, in
the beginning, we often failed in our endeavors, but that at last we
should gain a habit which will naturally produce its acts in us without
our effort and to our great delight.
The whole substance of religion was faith, hope, and charity. In the
practice of these we become united to the will of God. Everything else
is indifferent and to be used as a means that we may arrive at our end
and then be swallowed up by faith and charity. All things are possible
to him who believes. They are less difficult to him who hopes. They are
more easy to him who loves, and still more easy to him who perseveres
in the practice of these three virtues. The end we ought to propose to
ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshippers of
God we can possibly be, and as we hope to be through all eternity.
We must, from time to time, honestly consider and thoroughly examine
ourselves. We will, then, realize that we are worthy of great contempt.
Brother Lawrence noted that when we directly confront ourselves in this
manner, we will understand why we are subject to all kinds of misery
and problems. We will realize why we are subject to changes and
fluctuations in our health, mental outlook, and dispositions. And we
will, indeed, recognize that we deserve all the pain and labor God
sends to humble us.
After this, we should not wonder that troubles, temptations,
oppositions, and contradictions happen to us from men. We ought, on the
contrary, submit ourselves to them and bear them as long as God pleases
as things highly advantageous to us. The greater perfection a soul
aspires after, the more dependent it is upon Divine Grace.
Being questioned by one of his own community, to whom he was obliged to
respond, by what means he had attained such an habitual sense of God;
Brother Lawrence told him that, since his first coming to the
monastery, he had considered God as the aim and the end of all his
thoughts and desires.
In the beginning he spent the hours appointed for private prayer in
thinking of God, so as to convince his mind and impress deeply upon his
heart the Divine Existence. He did this by devout sentiments and
submission to the lights of faith, rather than by studied reasonings
and elaborate meditations. By this short and sure method he immersed
himself in the knowledge and love of God. He resolved to use his utmost
endeavor to live in a continual sense of His presence, and, if
possible, never to forget Him more.
When he had thus, in prayer, filled his mind with that Infinite Being,
he went to his work in the kitchen where he was then cook for the
community. There, having first considered the things his job required,
and when and how each thing was to be done; he spent all the intervals
of his time, both before and after his work, in prayer.
When he began, he said to God with a filial trust, "O my God, since
Thou art with me, and I must now, in obedience to Thy commands, apply
my mind to these outward things, grant me the grace to continue in Thy
Presence; and prosper me with Thy assistance. Receive all my works, and
possess all my affections." As he proceeded in his work, he continued
his familiar conversation with his Maker, imploring His grace, and
offering Him all his actions.
When he was finished, he examined how he had performed his duty. If he
found well, he returned thanks to God. If not, he asked pardon and,
without being discouraged, he set his mind right again. He then
continued his exercise of the presence of God as if he had never
deviated from it. "Thus," said he, "by rising after my falls, and by
frequently renewed acts of faith and love, I have come to a state where
it would be as difficult for me not to think of God as it was at first
to accustom myself to the habit of thinking of Him."
As Brother Lawrence had found such an advantage in walking in the
presence of God, it was natural for him to recommend it earnestly to
others. More strikingly, his example was a stronger inducement than any
arguments he could propose. His very countenance was edifying with such
a sweet and calm devotion appearing that he could not but affect the
beholders.
It was observed, that even in the busiest times in the kitchen, Brother
Lawrence still preserved his recollection and heavenly-mindedness. He
was never hasty nor loitering, but did each thing in its turn with an
even, uninterrupted composure and tranquility of spirit. "The time of
work," said he, "does not with me differ from the time of prayer. In
the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the
same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great a
tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Supper."
Footnotes: 1 This Gospel account of
Christ's visit to Martha's house is recounted during the "Baptism of the Bells," when the Church blesses
the large bells that summon people to Mass.
2 John 12:1-8 reads,
"Jesus therefore, six days before the pasch, came to Bethania, where
Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus raised to life. And they made him a
supper there: and Martha served" -- but Mark 14:1-9 makes clear that
the actual supper took place two days before Pasch. These verses read:
"Now the feast of the pasch, and of the Azymes was after two days; and
the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might by some wile
lay hold on him, and kill him. But they said: Not on the festival day,
lest there should be a tumult among the people. And when he was in
Bethania, in the house of Simon the leper, and was at meat, there came
a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of precious spikenard: and
breaking the alabaster box, she poured it out upon his head."
In other words, Jesus went to Bethany 6 days before, but the
dinner took place 2 days before.
This page
is
dedicated to my Mom, who died on the Feast of St. Martha, 2003.
If you are reading this, please say an Ave for her soul.