Blessed are they who
Deserved to Receive Christ in their Homes
Martha and Mary were sisters, related not
only by blood but also by religious aspirations. They stayed close to our Lord
and both served him harmoniously when he was among them. Martha welcomed him as
travellers are welcomed. But in her case, the maidservant received her Lord,
the invalid her Saviour, the creature her Creator, to serve him bodily food while
she was to be fed by the Spirit. For the Lord willed to put on the form of a
slave, and under this form to be fed by his own servants, out of condescension
and not out of need. For this was indeed condescension, to present himself to
be fed; since he was in the flesh he would indeed be hungry and thirsty.
Thus was the Lord received as a guest who came unto his own and his own received him not; but as many as received him, he gave them the power to become sons of God,adopting those who were servants and making them his brothers, ransoming the captives and making them his co-heirs. No one of you should say: “Blessed are they who have deserved to receive Christ into their homes!” Do not grieve or complain that you were born in a time when you can no longer see God in the flesh. He did not in fact take this privilege from you. As he says: Whatever you have done to the least of my brothers, you did to me.
Thus was the Lord received as a guest who came unto his own and his own received him not; but as many as received him, he gave them the power to become sons of God,adopting those who were servants and making them his brothers, ransoming the captives and making them his co-heirs. No one of you should say: “Blessed are they who have deserved to receive Christ into their homes!” Do not grieve or complain that you were born in a time when you can no longer see God in the flesh. He did not in fact take this privilege from you. As he says: Whatever you have done to the least of my brothers, you did to me.
But you, Martha, if I may say so, are
blessed for your good service, and for your labours you seek the reward of
peace. Now you are much occupied in nourishing the body, admittedly a holy one.
But when you come to the heavenly homeland will you find a traveller to
welcome, someone hungry to feed, or thirsty to whom you may give drink, someone
ill whom you could visit, or quarrelling whom you could reconcile, or dead whom
you could bury?
No, there will be none of these tasks there. What you will find there is what Mary chose. There we shall not feed others, we ourselves shall be fed. Thus what Mary chose in this life will be realised there in all its fullness; she was gathering fragments from that rich banquet, the Word of God. Do you wish to know what we will have there? The Lord himself tells us when he says of his servants, Amen, I say to you, he will make them recline and passing he will serve them.
No, there will be none of these tasks there. What you will find there is what Mary chose. There we shall not feed others, we ourselves shall be fed. Thus what Mary chose in this life will be realised there in all its fullness; she was gathering fragments from that rich banquet, the Word of God. Do you wish to know what we will have there? The Lord himself tells us when he says of his servants, Amen, I say to you, he will make them recline and passing he will serve them.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons
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