16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre,
as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot.
Looking up, Abraham saw three men standing nearby.
When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them;
and bowing to the ground, he said:
“Sir, if I may ask you this favor, please do not go on past your servant.
Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet,
and then rest yourselves under the tree.
Now that you have come this close to your servant,
let me bring you a little food, that you may refresh yourselves;
and afterward you may go on your way.”
The men replied, “Very well, do as you have said.”

Abraham hastened into the tent and told Sarah,
“Quick, three measures of fine flour! Knead it and make rolls.”
He ran to the herd, picked out a tender, choice steer,
and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.
Then Abraham got some curds and milk,
as well as the steer that had been prepared, and set these before the three men;
and he waited on them under the tree while they ate.

They asked Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?”
He replied, “There in the tent.”
One of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year,
and Sarah will then have a son.”

The Gospel for today:

GospelLK 10:38-42

Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
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.”
The Lord said to her in reply,
“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.”

In the 1st Reading we see a 3 men approach Abraham, and he served them.  The 3 men is a place in the Old Testament where we see an image of the Trinity, even though the word Trinity is not used.  After they have eaten they ask about Sarah and say she will have a son when they return.  This takes trust on the part of both of them as they are old.  In the next verses Sarah laughs, because she doesn’t know how this will happen.

     In the Gospel we see Jesus in the house of Mary and Martha.  I can just picture this as Martha does all the work of serving the guests and Mary just sits there.  I can hear her say to Jesus, “tell my sister to help me”!

     We see 2 things here.  One is a reminder that in the midst of all our work, serving the Lord, we have to stop sometimes and just sit and listen!  Find the time for this!

     The second thing we see is Contemplative Religious and Active Religious.  The contemplative Religious live in Monasteries.  They don’t usually go out in public, and some of them have grills in the visitation room to make visible to separation between us.  These Sisters (Nuns) spend the bulk of their day in prayer for the Church. (And all of us.)  They do have some work time for cleaning, making altar bread, sewing, etc.  but their main work is prayer.

     I love these Sisters for all their prayer support!

     Other Sisters are active, they minster to all of us as nurses, teachers, parish work, car of children, etc.  They have a lot to do, but also must make time for prayer as this is the backbone and heartbeat of Religious life!

    There are priests, brothers and laity who also live Contemplative lives within their vocation.  In a since we see this today with Pope Francis (Active) and Pope Emeritus Benedict (Contemplative).

Have a great week!