One lesson that I learned when I was studying theology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago was not in the classroom so much as outside of it. There are many religious orders that send their seminarians to CTU, and while I was there in the early ‘90’s, there were a lot of students from countries other than the U.S. The lesson I learned from my interaction with these students was that there were many cultures in the world different from the mainstream American culture. One common example of this was around the familiar question, “How are you?” In the U.S. that question is often answered with some one-word response such as “Fine,” or “Good,” or “Okay,” and the people involved move on. In many other cultures, however, the person you ask expects you to take the time and actually listen to how he or she is doing!
I thought of this when I read once again the encounter between Jesus and Martha and Mary in our Gospel reading for today from Luke. We know the story. Martha is busy about being a good hostess while her sister Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to Him. When Martha complains about Mary’s inactivity to Jesus, He says to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is only need of one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
I think it’s important to note that Jesus is not advocating that we sit all of the time. One need only read the Gospels and see that there are times when Jesus sends out His disciples to go and proclaim the Good News that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. But while I was reminiscing about the lessons I learned at CTU, I also found myself still wondering about the events of last week. After those events, there were people, like Martha who saw the need for action. There were those who renewed their calls for stricter gun control laws. There were others who continued their involvement in “Black Lives Matter.” There were police organizations who were calling for legislature that would designate killing a police officer a hate crime.
We can debate the merit of these and other actions that are being called for, and I don’t think it is good to summarily dismiss the efforts of people of good will seeking a solution. At the same time, I wonder if staying and listening, not only to Jesus but to each other, could not be the “better part” right now. In fact, what would happen if we thought of listening to each other as listening to Jesus? Now we might think of some people as absolutely not worth listening to, but could Jesus be asking us to look beyond what appears to us as arrogance or stupidity and see one of God’s children?
Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, “Fr. Phil, are you serious? I can’t listen to him, or her or them. Besides, things need to be done. We don’t have time to listen to each other.” Frankly, I’m wondering if Jesus is calling us to go that far myself. But I also believe that after the furor over recent events has died down, and we are tempted to go on as before until the next tragedy happens, that Jesus is calling us to listen. One thing that happened all across the country last week was groups of people coming together to pray. We need not only to cry our laments to God, but to listen to Jesus’ words of love and justice and peace. And at least part of that is listening, really listening, to each other.
May God give us the wisdom to discern what is the “better part” for our times.
In Christ,
Fr. Phil, CP
