The Best Part

"And the Lord answering, said to her: Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things: But one thing is necessary. Mary Hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her. (1)" What does Jesus mean when He says that Mary has chosen the best part? What is the one thing that is necessary? To answer these questions we need to understand the meaning of life and the nature of work.

We were made to know, love, and serve God (2). In His infinite mercy, God created us out of nothing. He willed us into existence so that we could share in divine life as His children. We come to know God through prayer, we love Him by following His commands, and we serve Him by fulfilling the duties of our state in life. The world and its allures is a formidable obstacle to achieving the purpose for which we were created. We see this obstacle in Martha. She wanted to give Jesus something tangible, something necessary: a meal. In the process she became anxious, worried about how things would turn out and what people would think. She took the entire experience and internalized it, agonizing about getting everything just right. She was drawn into the all-consuming circus of competing for human respect.

Aren't we the same way? So often we set out on a task, say completing a project at work, with the best of intentions. We may even have the insight to realize that that fulfilling our duties at work is part of living out our vocation. Inevitably, something goes wrong: a colleague doesn't agree with our approach; complications arise and the work takes longer to complete; the list goes on. Performing our work is no longer about fulfilling our vocation. We are in an all out race to protect our reputation and to keep control. Like Martha, we are worried about so much. We lift the weight of human expectations over and over and over again until we lose hold of our peace in a fit of exhaustion.

Maybe the solution is to do less: to relax and give ourselves a break. Even popular culture is starting to catch on to the idea that a life based on recognition and perfection is problematic. We see meditation, self-soothing, and mindfulness put forth as solutions to the agony that comes from a life competing for worldly affection. Treat yourself, go on a vacation, have an ice cream, or two, or three, or maybe just have a whole carton. While there is a glimmer of truth in worldly solutions to problems that come from burnout, they fall short by suggesting that we should turn inward and seek pleasure for ourselves.

The solution is to be more like Mary: to accept our Lord's invitation to divine life. While it's easy to understand praise and adoration in the context of prayer, it's more difficult to see how this fits into every day life. Every moment of the day is an opportunity to enter into communion with God, even the time that we're working. Martha's problem wasn't that she was working, but that she wasn't working for God, with God, and in God. Martha wasn't in communion with God. Her heart was consumed with the cares of the world while she frantically went about her work.

Our Lord calls us to a better life, one spent in His service, working for His kingdom. St. Josemaria Escriva, the saint of ordinary life, gives us an idea of how we're called to work in his book The Forge, "Any job, no matter how insignificant, when offered to the Lord, is charged with the strength of God's life! (3)" Wherever we are, we are called to life with God. Even our work is an opportunity to let go of control and allow the Lord to work in our lives.

The best part of life is that God is with us. He invites us to let go of our earthly goals and ambitions. The Lord, our God, calls us to seek His kingdom. For those brave enough to cast off the world, God promises to take care of the rest: "Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you. (4)" To do this, we are asked to do the humanly impossible, to put God first in everything that we do, whether work, prayer, or leisure. This is humanly impossible because from a human perspective, it all ends with us. God is the beginning, middle, and end of all things. The sooner we recognize this reality, the sooner we will live in God's peace. We see what life apart from God is like in the figure of Martha, who toils for worldly aims. Let's not forget that Martha is a saint, whose feast we just celebrated yesterday. This fact should give us great comfort. Someone so stuck in the ways of the world broke free of her bonds and entered fully into life with God. Are we courageous enough to do the same?
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References

(1) Luke 10:41-42

(2) Catechism of the Catholic Church: With modifications from the Editio Typica. (2003). New York: Doubleday. Paragraph 1.

(3) The Way; Furrow; The Forge. Balaguer, J.E., (2004) New York: Scepter. Forge #49.

(4) Matthew 6:25

Images

(1) Johannes (Jan) Vermeer - Christ in the House of Martha and Mary. Obtained via https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Johannes_%28Jan%29_Vermeer_-_Christ_in_the_House_of_Martha_and_Mary_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/300px-Johannes_%28Jan%29_Vermeer_-_Christ_in_the_House_of_Martha_and_Mary_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg