This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time and the story of Martha and Mary. In yesterday’s post we considered the gospel text and offered some thoughts about it as regards “place” in our culture. Today we offer a final reflection on this passage. Continue reading
In many ways St. Bonaventure is a Saint for the times in which we live – when divisions are ripe and the unity of a nation is being sorely tested. In the years while St. Francis was alive, the Franciscan Order experienced rapid growth – which only accelerated after St. Francis’ death and canonization – each friar and local fraternity trying to discern what it meant to follow Christ in the “tradition” of Francis of Assisi. They came to several differing conclusions and the opinions were not always offered “humbly.” Over simply, one group called for poverty to be the mainstay while another called for obedience. A third group was in the middle just wanting everyone to get along because fraternity and minority were the hallmarks of Franciscan life. The Order was beginning to come apart at the core. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time and the story of Martha and Mary. In yesterday’s post we considered the gospel text and offered some thoughts about it. Today we consider the proper role and place of discipleship and service. Continue reading
On this day in 1789, French revolutionaries stormed the Bastille. The Bastille, a prison housing only 7 prisoners at the time, was stormed by a crowd calling for the closure of the prison. The storming became the central event of the French Revolution.
This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time and the story of Martha and Mary. In yesterday’s post we took a deep dive into the biblical meaning and implications of hospitality. Today we will move from the welcome of hospitality to the scene most remembered:
“She [Martha] had a sister named Mary (who) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Mary was listening to Jesus’ word or message (logos in the singular) when “Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” Continue reading
Here in the United States there seems to be an ongoing, overt (sometimes covert) concern about what is “authentic”, “historical”, orthodox, true orthopraxy, etc. regarding what is correct liturgical practice in the Roman Catholic Church. It is always good to remember that there is no such thing as the Roman Catholic Church. That statement generally gets people’s attention. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time and the story of Martha and Mary. In yesterday’s post we provided some points of contact showing how this story and last week’s gospel (the lawyer who wanted to know what he must do to gain eternal life), together portray a fuller picture of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Today’s post is a long one – delving into the biblical meaning of hospitality. Continue reading
When I was a year or two short of being a full-fledged teenager, I was invited to attend my first funeral. It was not a Catholic funeral – and as I came to know – nothing like a Catholic funeral. It was a fundamentalist, born-again, raucous affair for a person who by all measures was a backsliding, church-skipping, no-good, no-count, reprobate of a man. The preacher made no bones about where this particular dearly-departed would spend eternity. He held up the miserable failing and sinful ways of this man as a warning of what would happen when Satan got his claws into you and dragged you down into the pit. Continue reading
On this day in 1909, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for a federal income tax, and submitted it to the states. It was declared ratified in February 1913.
This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time and the story of Martha and Mary. In yesterday’s post we provided some context and raised the question of this gospel and the one in which the lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life.
Looking at these stories together, it suggests that the contrast is not between doing and listening, but between being anxious and not. Green (The Gospel of Luke) notes in a footnote (p. 436) that the contrast is not really between Martha’s doing or service and Mary’s listening, but between “hearing the word” (namely, discipleship) and “anxious” behavior (namely, the antithesis of discipleship). Continue reading
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