“it will not be taken from her”
What promise does Jesus make to Mary and Martha? Jesus says to Martha, “the one thing necessary” which is Himself, “will not be taken from her [Mary, Martha’s sister]”.
Why can we trust Jesus when He promises something? Jesus is God and God keeps His promises. We pray at the end of the Act of Faith, “I believe these and all the truths which the holy catholic Church teaches, because in revealing them you can neither deceive nor be deceived.” We believe Jesus because he can neither deceive nor be deceived.
Give some examples of other promises that Jesus makes? Jesus says, “I am with you always, until the end of the age.”[i] He promises His apostles at the Last Supper, “In the world you will have trouble but take courage, I have conquered the world.”[ii] He promises Saint Peter, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”[iii] When Jesus promises something, it happens. When Jesus says that the “one thing necessary” will not be taken from Mary, He means it.
What is the “one thing necessary”? The “one thing necessary” is Jesus Christ, “the way and the truth and the life”[iv]. In choosing Jesus, Mary has chosen the way, the truth, and the life, and the way, the truth, and the life will not be taken from her. “Let us then be content with what God has given us – for only ‘one thing is necessary’ (Lk. 10:42) – and it is not beauty, not health, not talent, not fame, not power, not riches. It is the salvation of our souls. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul even though it should lose everything else.”[v]
How do we choose or experience the “one thing necessary”? There are many ways in which we are united to Jesus Christ. First and foremost we are united to Christ through His Church, His mystical Body. The word “one” is important. There are not “two” or “three” things necessary, but rather “one” thing necessary. Saint Paul speaks of this oneness and where it is found in his letter to the Ephesians. “For there are many counterfeits but there is only one true religion, one true devotion, and one way of perfection, as ‘there is only one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.’ (Eph. 4:4-6)”[vi] When then choose the “one thing necessary” when we choose:
One Body – The Eucharist
One Spirit – Confirmation; I believe in the Holy Spirit (Apostle’s Creed)
One Hope – Heaven
One Lord – I believe in Jesus Christ… (Apostle’s Creed)
One Faith – I believe in the Holy Catholic Church (Apostle’s Creed)
One Baptism – Baptism
One God – I believe in God the Father Almighty… (Apostle’s Creed)
Search: Peace: Unity in One
Can we loose the “one thing necessary”? If we have something in our possession, let’s say money, there are three ways it can leave our possession: First, someone steals or takes it away from us. Second, we choose to give it away, spend it, etc. Third, we could loose it by accident if we are careless. Mary has in her possession the one thing necessary, Jesus Christ. The first option is not possible, because Jesus promises Mary that “it will not be taken from her”. Jesus however does not promise Mary that she will always have the “one thing necessary”. If Mary were to “loose” possession of Christ it would be one of two reasons. One she gives up the “one thing necessary” by choice or two she is careless and lazy and in her mediocrity she “looses” Christ. When we become careless and mediocre in the “ones” above, we “loose” the “one thing necessary”, for how can we possess Christ if we reject God as Our Father, do not live out our baptismal vows, do not follow the teachings of the faith, do not live the life of Christ, do not hope or strive for heaven, do not look for the activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives thus using the strength given us at Confirmation, and if we do not care to or cannot receive Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist.
We, like Mary, are promised that if we choose Jesus Christ, the one thing that is necessary, it will not be taken from us. We must guard however against becoming careless, lest we “loose” Christ, and giving Christ away. We always have a choice, to hold onto Christ or to give Him up. “All things have an end, and two things, life and death, are side by side set before us, and each man will go to his own place. Just as there are two coinages, one of God and the other of the world, each with its own image, so unbelievers bear the image of this world, and those who have faith with love bear the image of God the Father through Jesus Christ. Unless we are ready through his power to die in the likeness of his passion, his life is not in us.”[vii]
We must guard and protect the “one thing necessary”, as Saint Augustine said, “…what do we possess if we possess not God.” We must guard and protect the “one thing necessary” with our whole life and even be willing to give our life. In other words, we should be willing to “give up our life” rather than “give up Christ”. We should be willing to “give up our life” rather than give up the Eucharist, or the Holy Spirit, or hope, or faith, or our baptismal vows, or God our Father. This witness has been given to us throughout the ages in the life of the martyrs, in fact the word martyr means witness.
In the year 303 AD, Christians living in the Roman province of Abitene, modern day Tunis chose the “one thing necessary” and it was not taken from them.
“ ‘Sine dominico non possumus!’ Without the gift of the Lord, without the Lord’s day, we cannot live: That was the answer given in the year 304 by Christians from Abitene in present-day Tunisia, when they were caught celebrating the forbidden Sunday Eucharist and brought before the judge. They were asked why they were celebrating the Christian Sunday Eucharist, even though they knew it was a capital offence. ‘Sine dominico non possumus’: in the word dominicum/dominico two meanings are inextricably intertwined, and we must once more learn to recognize their unity. First of all there is the gift of the Lord – this gift is the Lord himself: the Risen one, whom the Christians simply need to have close and accessible to them, if they are to be themselves. Yet this accessibility is not merely something spiritual, inward and subjective: the encounter with the Lord is inscribed in time on a specific day. And so it is inscribed in our everyday, corporal and communal existence, in temporality. It gives a focus, an inner order to our time and thus to the whole of our lives. For these Christians, the Sunday Eucharist was not a commandment, but an inner necessity. Without him who sustains our lives, life itself is empty. To do without or to betray this focus would deprive life of its very foundation, would take away its inner dignity and beauty. Does this attitude of the Christians of that time apply also to us who are Christians today? Yes, it does, we too need a relationship that sustains us, that gives direction and content to our lives. We too need access to the Risen one, who sustains us through and beyond death. We need this encounter which brings us together, which gives us space for freedom, which lets us see beyond the bustle of everyday life to God’s creative love, from which we come and towards which we are travelling.”[viii]
The centrality of the Real Presence of the Eucharist, is a reality expressed heroically in every age by those who are martyred, those who devoutly attend Mass, without exception or excuse, and those who hunger and thirst for the Mass when it is stripped of them, as was the case in communist Poland during the time of Blessed John Paul II.
“In his first Holy Thursday letter to priests, Blessed Pope John Paul II touchingly recalled situations of the faith triumphing over persecution from his own personal experience of living under religious oppression: ‘Sometimes it happens that [the lay faithful] meet in an abandoned shrine, and place on the altar a stole which they keep, and recite all the prayers of the Eucharistic liturgy: and then, at the moment that corresponds to the transubstantiation a deep silence comes down upon them, a silence sometimes broken by a sob … so ardently do they desire to hear the words that only the lips of a priest can efficaciously utter.’”[ix]
VIDEO – Nine Days that Changed the World
In 1979, Pope John Paul II went back to his native homeland of Poland. At that time it was under communism control of the Soviet Union. The Communists worked hard to keep religion out of every aspect of the people of Poland. When Pope John Paul came, in the middle of the Mass the millions of the faithful started shouting “We want God! We want God!” Blessed Pope John Paul II took on any form of government that restricted the rights of the people the ability to worship Jesus Christ. We too are called to stand for those who are unable to worship Christ.
MUSIC – Set a Fire “Will Reagan & United Pursuit”
This simple song cries from the heart: There is no place; there is nothing better than being in the presence of God, especially in His true presence in the Eucharist. Do we long for God to set a fire and burn within our souls?
[i] Matthew 28:20
[ii] John 16:33
[iii] Matthew 16:18
[iv] John 14:6
[v] Monkrock New Monastic Community Appendix; School: The One Thing Necessary; Section 11
[vi] Monkrock New Monastic Community Appendix; School: The One Thing Necessary; Section 9
[vii] Saint Ignatius, Office of Readings, 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time
[viii] Pope Benedict XVI; Homily, Sunday, 9 September 2007
[ix] Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, OFM Cap.; Jesus’ Eager Desire: Our Participation in the Sunday Mass
Pastoral Letter