In the second reading today from the Letter to the Colossians, Saint Paul says something rather peculiar: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body which is the church.” We know that Paul suffered a great deal in his teachings and travels for Christ and the Church, and joy in the midst of suffering is a theme that is common throughout the New Testament, especially in the Acts of the Apostles, so that’s not so odd. But what does he mean when he says “in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ?”
This is sometimes misunderstood to mean that maybe the suffering of Christ was not sufficient enough for our salvation, and that the suffering of the saints (like Saint Paul) is needed to complete it. But this would be heretical. The merits of Christ and his suffering are infinite. But the merits of the saints are limited. What is “lacking”, then, are the sufferings, or afflictions, of the entire Church. Suffering is a mission for all the faithful as a way of conforming ourselves to Christ. In other words, we are called to follow in the footsteps of Christ, and that means not only in the good deeds he does for others, but also the cross. Remember what Jesus said: “Anyone who wishes to be my disciple must pick up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). And so when we unite our sufferings with Christ, our suffering is not in vain, but is redemptive.
This is a real problem for a lot of Christians today, because in many Christian circles, there is the mindset that Christ did everything for us, especially through his suffering and death, that all I need to do is profess my faith in Jesus and “accept Christ as my personal Lord and Savior” and I am saved. “Once saved, always saved” as the saying goes. But that is a dangerous religious concept because it involves one of two extreme positions when it comes to salvation: the first is the sin of Presumptuousness (a kind of spiritual arrogance) – a kind of casual attitude that so much has been accomplished by Christ in his death and resurrection, that I don’t have to do anything. “I am saved.” That kind of attitude gives people a kind of permission to lead a life that has no responsibilities and assumes that there are no eternal consequences. Salvation is a done deal. Christ has done it all. I don’t need to do anything.
The other extreme position that is very dangerous is the sin of Despair – the attitude that God loves everyone, but just not me. There’s no hope for me, so I might as well not even try. That’s when I’ve measured myself and fallen short of my ability to find salvation, or have salvation to find me.
So St. Paul is talking about sharing in the sufferings of Jesus. Becoming like Him in His death, that if possible he may attain resurrection from the dead. Paul doesn’t take it for granted. But he has a sure hope, which brings up his continuing conformity to Christ, being made continually into the image of Christ. This hope is the virtue and posture I think that we find in the Gospel passage today that is exhibited by Mary as she listens to Jesus.
In the Gospel passage we have Martha and Mary; Martha waits on Jesus by serving him and taking care of the needs around the house, while Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to him speak. From the conversation that takes place between Martha and Jesus it seems that Jesus is saying that listening (like Mary is doing) is more important than the work Martha is doing. But as it happens so often in the Gospels, there is more meaning that lies deeper in the story than what we see on the surface.
Martha really is doing nothing wrong. In fact, she’s doing good. She’s waiting on the Lord, taking care of Him, serving Him. And if we look back to our first reading today, we see Abraham and Sarah busy serving and tending to the needs of their guests, who, by the way, is understood to be the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. They were visited by God himself. So what is going on here with Martha and Jesus? Why does Jesus say to her that that there is need of only one thing and Mary has chosen the better part?
Part of Jesus’ response to Martha is noticing that she is anxious and worried about many things. Other translations say that she was distracted in her serving. In other words, her focus was not on Jesus, but on herself, and what she had to get done. She was letting other things get in the way of her service to Jesus. What is important here is not necessarily what Martha and Mary are doing while Jesus is their guest, but rather how they are doing it. And it’s not so much what Jesus says to Martha that’s important; it’s what he does not say. When Martha tells Jesus to have Mary help her, Jesus only says that she is anxious and worried about many things. He does not tell her to sit and listen with her sister Mary. If Mary’s actions were more important than Martha’s, Jesus certainly would have invited Martha to stop what she was doing and sit down. But he doesn’t do that.
What if the situation was reversed? What if Mary had said, “Jesus do you not care that Martha is so busy in the kitchen she doesn’t hear a word you say? Tell her to sit down and listen!” Jesus would probably have told Mary she was anxious and worried about many things. Why? Because she was concerned over what someone else was doing (or not doing), instead of focusing on her own task. In this case, Martha was not making herself fully present to the Lord. She was more concerned about Mary. By the way, did you notice that Martha didn’t ask Jesus—she told Jesus what to do: “Tell her to help me.” She told God what he should do! Can you imagine that? Thank goodness we don’t do that when we pray!
But what about Mary? What is she doing? She is simply adoring Jesus, reflecting on the words of Christ. She was fully attentive to Him, loving Him, and letting Him love her. How often do we take the time to place ourselves in the presence of Christ, and do nothing but adore Him? Did you know that you can come into the Church almost anytime, sit before the tabernacle (the True Presence of Christ) and adore Him? We even have special times for exposition and adoration on First Fridays and other times of the year for this special type of prayer.
This adoration can even be done during Mass, in how we listen to the words of Sacred Scripture and participate in the prayers and responses, and reflect during times of silence. But it’s easy to get distracted—anxious and worried about many things. Yard work, the car needs repaired, the kids are sick, problems at work, what that other person is wearing at Mass, and the list can go on and on. But Jesus is calling us to sit with him awhile here at Mass, and simply be attentive to Him. That other stuff will still be there later today, tomorrow, next week. But we need to remember: the Mass is not something we do for God, but it’s what God does for us. We don’t do Him a favor by showing up on Sunday. Our presence at Mass doesn’t make Him any greater or give Him any more glory. When we are at Mass, it’s Jesus who is there to serve our needs, not the other way around. It’s God who does us a favor by inviting us here, and then giving Himself to us in the most intimate way imaginable in Holy Communion. And when we are able to be attentive to that and give ourselves back to him, then all that other stuff—while it doesn’t go away—becomes much less of a distraction and cause of anxiety.
But the problem is that many of us don’t take the time to simply “adore” Christ, because we feel that we don’t have the time, or that it’s a waste of time. This is a reflection of our culture today that says we have to be busy all of the time. We have to be productive, and see the results of our actions. When this happens, then we ultimately think we can generate supernatural life by our own efforts, and the tendency is to forget God altogether. The whole concept of adoring Christ is lost.
And this is what Jesus is telling Martha: “Martha, if you are so anxious and worried about serving that you never take the time to simply adore me, then the life of God will be lost in you.” But notice that Jesus doesn’t tell her to stop what she’s doing, sit down at his feet with her sister and listen to him. He wants to make sure that there is a balance. The challenge for us, then, is to learn to simply adore Christ. It’s not enough to say “I can adore Jesus and thank Him when I’m gardening, working around the house, or driving to work.” There are times for that. But the problem with that is that we become easily distracted, like Martha, and we lose our focus on Christ alone. We become anxious and worried about many things.
Just a couple chapters later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks to his disciples about anxiety. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. . . . For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father know that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well. . . . For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also” (Luke 12:22-34).
I would like to suggest that we make the time and take the time for just Christ. Turn off the TV, put down the I-pads and cell phones, walk away from Face-Book, Instagram, and the computer, and give Jesus your time. Come to the Church and sit for awhile with Jesus. Take advantage of the opportunities when we have exposition and adoration. If possible, attend daily Mass when you can. Try coming early for Mass to prepare yourself for receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord in Holy Communion; stay after Mass for awhile to give thanks for his gift of Himself to you. There are two beautiful prayers by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the back of the Missalette—one for preparing yourself before Mass and the other for thanksgiving after Mass. You don’t have to do anything except give Him yourself and your time, and let Him love you.