Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of St. Martha, whom we know from the Holy Gospels as both the sister of the dead Lazarus risen to life by Jesus, as well as the one who were very busy with her servings to the Lord even though her sister Mary sat down listening attentively to the Lord speaking and teaching.

St. Martha is one of the holy women mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, and she was one of the very loyal followers of Jesus, who followed Him around as He ministered to the people of God. And it is likely that she together with her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus also followed Jesus through His last moments in life, when He went on His Passion and died on the cross.

But she was not perfect and was not a super woman as we all had noticed, and which I had pointed out just earlier on. She had her imperfections, and she was indeed the same as all of us, who have our own weaknesses in life. But regardless of this, she managed to overcome her weakness and fears, and following God, she found the love of God which had been manifested through none other than Jesus Christ our Lord.

St. Martha reminded us through her examples and her shortcomings that we all often in life are too busy to spend some time with God, and carrying on with our daily routines and businesses, we often forget about God and lose our focus in life. Instead we ended up like St. Martha who ended up losing the perfect opportunity to listen to the word of God just because she was busy serving the Lord and ensuring the food and drinks are all properly served.

At least we have to credit St. Martha that she had a good intention, as she wanted to serve the Lord and be as good a host as she could to this important and amazing visitor, Jesus Christ the Saviour Himself. However, she forgot that in doing all the busy things, she might end up losing the perfect opportunity of encountering the Lord, just as Mary her sister took up the best opportunity for.

And for us who are in this world today, how many of us are even worse than St. Martha? That we forget about the Lord and shunned Him without even any good intentions to welcome Him? Remember that St. Martha believed in Jesus wholeheartedly, and when Lazarus her brother died, she trusted in Jesus and put her faith in Him, that He would have the power to bring her brother back into life.

We live today in a world where daily businesses and occupations with so many various things often interfere in our relationship with God, and not just with God but in fact also in terms of our relationship with one another. We live at a time when faith is often forgotten for the sake of our achievements and obtaining of worldly pleasures. And these things prevent us from finding God in our lives and ultimately can serve as a great obstacle in our attempt to attain salvation in God.

Following the example of St. Martha, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be true disciples of the Lord, and no longer be distracted by our busy activities in life that prevent us from appreciating the Lord who had come personally to save us from certain death in sin. Let us all be truly devoted to God and be focused on Him, that in all of our actions we proclaim the Lord alone and walk faithfully and tenderly in His path.

St. Martha, pray for us all, that our faith may be always strong and that our minds and hearts will be always focused to the Lord, to His laws and precepts. Let us never be separated from Him and be ever devoted. God bless us all. Amen.