“Martha welcomed him”

 
In today’s Gospel we are presented with the story of Saint Mary and Saint Martha, two sisters that live out what it means to know, love, and serve the Lord. The story begins with a simple yet profound phrase, “Martha welcomed him”. What or who is it that we are welcoming, when we welcome Christ? To welcome implies that we have an open heart, a desire. In the case of Saint Martha, as is the case with every Christian, to welcome Jesus into our home, into our life, means that Jesus will enter into our home and our life. Jesus desires to enter into our homes, our lives.
 
As Jesus enters in to our life, we begin to enter into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life as the Catechism states. “God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us ‘partakers of the divine nature’ and of eternal life. With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life.”[i]
 
Is Jesus a human person? No. Jesus is a divine person, the second person of the Blessed Trinity. Jesus takes on or assumes a divine nature. He is a divine person, with both a human and divine nature. The Church teaches that Jesus is ONE person, with TWO natures, human and divine. Jesus, as a divine person, always had and always will have a divine nature. “God so love the world that he gave his only Son”[ii], and the divine person, Jesus Christ, “became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”[iii] If Jesus were a human person then He Himself would need a savior, but obviously He is the savior because He is God.

Is man a divine person? No. Humans are not divine; we have only a human nature. Our response to seeing the glory of God should be as the Catechism states to desire to “enter into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life” At the moment of conception and for eternity we will have a human nature, but we take on or rather share in the divine nature.
 
What is the Trinitarian Life? The Trinitarian Life is the communion of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. “God’s very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret. God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.”[iv] The Trinitarian life is an “eternal exchange of love” and we are invited into this exchange of love, now and for all eternity. We are reminded of this call each time we make the Sign of the Cross and pray the doxology (Glory Be). We begin the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with the call to enter into the Trinitarian life when the Priest, extending his hands, greets the people saying: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”[v]

Search: Holy Trinity: The Secret is Out

The Divine Life (Trinitarian Life) is offered to the community and to the individual. “Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.” Jesus’s enters a village (community) and is welcomed by Martha (an individual). At the Mass, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are present, but they must be welcome not just by the community at large, but by each individual soul. We must welcome Jesus as Saint Martha did. Saint Therese says that Jesus does not just come down in the Blessed Sacrament to dwell in the tabernacle, but to dwell in the tabernacle of each soul. Jesus enters into our Church’s through the Mass and resides in every tabernacle throughout the world – in this way He has entered every “village”. Now that He has entered the “village” will we like Saint Martha welcome Him enter our “home” our soul. At every Mass we behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. How will we respond? “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”[vi]
 
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No one else can welcome Jesus into our “house”. I will protect this house. Will we protect our house, our soul? Our society is concerned about protecting the body, the Most Holy Eucharist is the under armor for our soul. It is for this reason that the priest prays after consuming Our Lord in the Eucharist, “May the Body of Christ keep me safe for eternal life.”[vii]
 
What are ways that we enter into the glory of Christ, into the joy of the Trinitarian life?
 
Saint Athanasius said, “He [God] was made man that we might be made God” This reality is expressed in the Liturgy when the deacon or the priest pours wine and a little water into the chalice, saying quietly, “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”[viii] “ The sharing in the divine nature is grace, a free gift, we do not earn nor can we earn it. This divine nature is also not forced upon us, but must be desired and freely chosen. We are by grace, what Jesus is by nature – divine. In other words, it is not natural for us to be divine; this is supernatural, it is grace, which comes from God and can only come from God. We are deceived if we believe, that without the help of God, we can “be god” or that we can be above nature (supernatural).

The father of lies, Satan, deceives humanity in the Garden of Eden. Eve, the mother of humanity tells Satan that God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”[ix] Satan’s response undermines God and sows the seed of doubt into humanity. He says, “You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad.”[x]

First, Satan flat out lies, “You certainly will not die!” Satan is presenting a false reality. He is in opposition, rebellion against the order of God. In his opposition to God and God’s will, he makes himself a “false god”. He presents to humanity what appears to be “a good”, “you will be like gods” and “know what is good and what is bad”. Isn’t that the goal of the Christian, to “be like God” and to “know good and bad”? Satan presents evil wrapped up in a package that appears good. Satan is saying “you will be like God” but his temptation is “to be God”. He has opposed God and God’s will and he tempts humanity to also be in opposition, rebellion against God and God’s will. Satan is saying “you will know what is good and what is bad” but his temptation is that humanity as a “god” will determine or define “what is good and what is bad”.

How has humanity bought into the lie of Satan? 
Do we make our self gods?
How have we or made ourselves “gods”?
How do we determine or define what is good and what is bad?
 
Is it enough to invite Jesus into our “house”? We see that once Saint Martha invites Jesus in, everyone does not become immediately perfect. Jesus says to us, “Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect,” [xi] but this perfection does not immediately occur as soon as Jesus walks in the door. Although Saint Martha has invited Jesus in, she becomes “anxious and worried about many things”. We may accept Jesus and ask Him into our life, through a prayer, conversion, receiving the Sacraments, and other good things, but then shortly after we feel “anxious and worried about many things”. Has Jesus left us? Did the Sacrament really work? What is wrong?
 
Saint Martha invites Jesus into her home but then she begins to tell Jesus what to do, rather than letting Jesus tell her what to do. Martha immediately gets distracted with being “active”. Martha is “burdened with much serving” (activism) and begins to question Jesus and tells Him what to do, “Lord, do you not care, that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” Many times we can invite Jesus into our soul, but then fail to be still and listen to Him.
We can invite Jesus into our “home”, but then expect Him to be the disciple sitting at our feet as we tell Him what to do. We invite Jesus in, but nothing changes, we are still anxious and worried and we are still “calling the shots” and dictating what God should do for us.
 
When do we let Jesus in our hearts, but then “boss” Him around?
Why do we feel anxious at times when we are near Jesus?
What sort of things can we do to help choose the better of the two (i.e. welcoming and being in love with Christ)?

Jesus gives us the example of Saint Mary, the sister of Saint Martha, so that we may know what to do once we have welcomed Jesus into our life. It is good to welcome Jesus into our lives like Martha did, but there is more, a “better part”, which is to make sure to be with Jesus like Mary did. We must “welcome” like Martha and “act” like Mary.

[i] Catechism of the Catholic Church – 1721
[ii] John 3:16
[iii] John 1:14
[iv] CCC - 221
[v] The Order of the Mass; The Introductory Rites
[vi] The Order of the Mass; The Communion Rite
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] The Order of the Mass; Presentation and Preparation of the Gifts
[ix] Genesis 3:2-3
[x] Genesis 3:4-5
[xi] Matthew 5:48