Gospel Commentary: Sit Still!

By Fr. Paul Scalia
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 7/15/04)

Parents often give their children this simple command: "Sit still!" It is (or perhaps should be) the most frequently given command during Mass — not just for the sake of the other parishioners and the priest — but especially for the child. In fact, God Himself gives us basically the same command: "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps 46:10). After all, if we do not learn how to sit still, we will never learn how to be silent, to think, or to listen. In a word, we will never learn how to pray.

One person who perfected the art of sitting still was Martha’s sister Mary, "who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak" (Lk 10:39). Predictably, hard working Martha took issue with what appeared to be laziness. Yet when she looked to our Lord for sympathy, He first rebuked her and then praised Mary: "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her" (Lk 10:41-42).

Despite His seemingly harsh words, our Lord does not condemn Martha’s work. He does not say that Mary has chosen something good and Martha something evil. In referring to what Mary has chosen as "better," He presumes the goodness of Martha’s work. Neither does He condemn our labors. When we undertake some legitimate work in the world with the proper intentions, we can bring glory to God and holiness to others and to ourselves.

Nevertheless, our Lord calls attention to what might otherwise go unnoticed: the superiority of Mary’s "work," of prayer. Like Martha we often look askance at prayer, seeing it as a sort of luxury or even laziness. Our work (so we think) is so important, so essential to everything, that we cannot leave it for a second. So we go about our work — and cannot sit still. We are "too busy to pray." In the face of this exaggerated sense of our own importance, the Lord gives us the same instruction He gave Martha: "There is need of only one thing." Prayer.

Prayer gives purpose and meaning to our work. If we neglect our union with God — the union that only comes from being with Him, speaking with Him and listening to Him — then we have nothing to give the world. Without prayer, our work becomes mere activity — the disconnected racing from one thing to another rather than the deliberate and constant doing of God’s will. The work of a Catholic must rise above "random kindness and senseless acts of beauty" or "making the world a better place." It must proceed from an intimate union with God and thereby glorify Him.

Most importantly, prayer gives us a taste of our final destination: heaven. The "better part" would not be taken from Mary and will not be taken from us, because prayer continues in heaven. There we will pray (perhaps for the first time) perfectly. In heaven, our work will cease, but our prayer will realize its final purpose and perfection.

Today the role of Mary continues in the Church in the lives of contemplative women religious — women who have left the world’s work in order to sit "beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak." And as Martha misunderstood Mary, so the world misunderstands and resents such women, considering their vocation a waste. After all, there is so much work to be done. Nevertheless, like Mary, these generous women remind us that the one thing necessary is not work but prayer — to sit still and listen to the Lord.

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