Active Contemplation

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: 7-17-16

Peace be with You,

Last week, through the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus showed us what it means to live a life in imitation of Him when it comes to loving service of our neighbor.  This week, a meeting with two of Jesus’ friends gives us some instruction on how the personal life of a disciple of Jesus is shaped.

A first look at the story of Martha and Mary as related by Luke in this Sunday’s gospel would seem to suggest that Martha had somehow erred, as opposed to Mary, whom our Lord says had chosen “the better part.”  While there is certainly a reason for our Lord’s phrasing, I would like to suggest that although Mary certainly has her priorities in the right order, if we take a closer look at the story, Martha has just as much to tell us about living a life of discipleship.

St. Gregory the Great interpreted this particular gospel story as a both/and, not an either/or.  That is, we are not to be as Mary rather than Martha, but to learn from both of them. For Gregory, the two sisters exemplified the two dimensions of the spiritual life: the active (Martha) and the contemplative (Mary).  This type of constructive dichotomy has been utilized in various spiritual traditions of the Church.  For example, we may  point to the Benedictine phrase ora et labora (pray and work), or the Jesuit term active contemplation as indications that these concepts are not competitive, but rather complementary.  To be sure, as we have seen in prior weeks, the life of a Christian disciple revolves around a relationship which seeks ever greater unity with Jesus Christ.  However, as Jesus Himself constantly tells us, if we are to be in relationship with Him, we will actively seek out the good of others.  For, as James tells us in his letter, “faith without works is dead” (2:17).  In short, there is a healthy tension we must maintain when it comes to our life of discipleship, we must ora et labora.  Work without prayer will quickly devolve into an activism which seeks its own ends instead of Jesus’ end of building God’s kingdom here on earth; while prayer without work will leave our relationship with God unrealized, remaining in the world of idea and thus, never coming to life.  My friends, Mary has chosen the better part not because she has chosen to do nothing, but because all that she does is informed by the Word of God, Jesus Christ.  If we would have our works bring life to the world, we must do the same.

Your servant in Christ,

Tony

Tony Crescio

Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.

Tony’s academic publications can be found here.