Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21).

To stress the family spirit of the home in Bethany, where Our Lord loved to be and to stay, Pope Francis has established the Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, replacing the previous Memorial of St. Martha.

Martha lived with her sister and brother, Mary and Lazarus, in Bethany, near Jerusalem. Towards the end of His public life, Our Lord would often stay at their home. They were His close friends. Strong bonds of affection united them to Jesus.

There He experienced the family spirit and friendship that He experienced in His own home. There was probably nowhere else that Our Lord felt so much at home, like He did in the home of Joseph and Mary, as when He was in Bethany.

That's one of the reasons why St. Josemaría has said that we have to try and make our altars Bethany, and our tabernacles Bethany (cf. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, Point 154; The Way, Points 322, 974).

The Gospel of St. John tells us that for this reason, He loved them (John 11:5).

Martha generously offered Him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to His words, and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of Him who humiliated death.

The traditional uncertainty of the Latin Church about the identity of Mary—the Magdalene to whom Christ appeared after His Resurrection, the sister of Martha, resulted in the inclusion of Martha alone on 29 July in the Roman calendar.

But that uncertainty has now been resolved, and the Roman Martyrology in early Roman times commemorated Mary and Lazarus on that day also.

We’re told in the Decree of the Holy See, “The Supreme Pontiff Pope Francis, considering the important evangelical witness they offered in welcoming the Lord Jesus into their home, in listening to him attentively, in believing that he is the resurrection and the life, has decreed that 29 July be designated in the General Roman Calendar as the Memorial of Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus” (Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Decree on the Celebration of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus in the General Roman Calendar, January 26, 2021).

This feast day is another occasion for us to enter into the home that was so often graced by the presence of Jesus.

There in that family formed by Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, Our Lord found affection and also rest for His body, tired out as it was by never-entering travels through towns and cities.

Our Lord really appreciated that affection and that rest. It was a true hospitality of the heart. He found patience there, understanding, kindness, rest, friendship.

The human nature of Jesus needed these things. This is what families are for. This is what homes are for.

There's a message there for us. And really, the underlying message of this feast day is all about family warmth and affection, the making of a home.

When Jesus went into the home of Simon the Pharisee, He received a rather cold reception. There was very little hospitality there, and whatever there was, was just an external cold hospitality.

In many of His other encounters with the Pharisees, it was the same. When He went to Jerusalem, He found hostility, treachery, bitterness, and hatred. All the more He must have savored the warmth of Bethany.

Our job as founders of Christian homes is to recreate that family warmth. We do it with authentic charity, with details, with presence.

Our Lord sought refuge among His friends. He teaches us too that we have to have many friends, and good friends, and we have to spend time with our friends.

It's not a passing thing. It's a solid, deep type of friendship. Our Lady stayed with Elizabeth three months (Luke 1:56)—not three hours, three minutes.

The more Our Lord encountered misunderstanding and scorn, particularly from the Pharisees, the more He seems to have sought out that source of strength in that home in Bethany.

We're told in St. John, “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus (John 11:5). They were true friends.

When Lazarus was gravely ill, Martha and Mary, full of confidence, sent Our Lord a message. “Lord, behold, the one whom you love is sick” (John 11:3).

Logically, they expected that He might come. Our Lord was in Galilee, a few days' journey away.

“When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained two more days in the same place. Then he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go into Judea’” (John 11:6-7).

When He arrived, Lazarus had already been four days in the tomb. Martha, always attentive and active, realized before Jesus reached the house that He was getting close, so she went out immediately to greet Him.

Despite the Lord's apparent lack of response to their plea for help, her love and her confidence were not diminished.

She speaks to Him very clearly, very openly, directly: “Lord, if you were here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21).

She gives out to Him a little bit with great sensitivity for not having arrived earlier. Martha was hoping for her brother's cure while he was still sick.

Our Lord, with a friendly gesture, possibly with a smile on His lips, surprised her by saying, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha receives these words of consolation, but she understands from them the final resurrection and says, “I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day (John 11:23-24).

Her response provokes an amazing declaration from Our Lord regarding His divinity. He says, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, shall live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

These are pretty strong words: I am the resurrection. I am the life. Words of hope, of optimism, of joy.

And He asks her, “Do you believe this?” Who could resist such a declaration? ‘I am the reason for being of all that exists.’

Our Lord is saying that He is the Life, not only the Life that begins hereafter, but also the present one in which supernatural grace works in our souls while we are along this pilgrimage of faith.

These extraordinary words can assure us and draw us closer and closer to Christ. We can have sentiments of reassurance in the moments of death and those of our loved ones.

Martha responds, “I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, come into the world” (John 11:27).

Moments later, Lazarus was raised from the dead, one of the most dramatic miracles of Our Lord's public life.

We can admire Martha's faith and try to imitate her in having a trusting relationship with Our Lord. “All things turn out for the good for those who love God” (Rom. 8:28).

We can see that the delay that Our Lord had back in Jerusalem was on purpose. He knew what He was going to do. He was going to work a great miracle, but He wanted to create the right environment in which that would be made.

We're told in The Forge, “Have you seen the affection and confidence with which Christ's friends treat him? In a completely natural way, the sisters of Lazarus ‘blame’ Jesus for being away. They almost say to Him, ‘We told you! If only you’d been here!’

“Speak to him with calm confidence: ‘Teach us to treat you with the loving friendliness of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus as the first Twelve treated you, even though at first they followed you perhaps for not very supernatural reasons’” (J. Escrivá, The Forge, Point 495).

Some time later, around the time of the Passover, St. John says that Our Lord visited Bethany again.

He says, “Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They made him a supper; Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with Him” (John 12:1-2).

“They made him a supper.” Our Lord had certain human needs. He enjoyed their company. He celebrated. He lived with them in joyful moments.

There's a story told about St. Teresa of Ávila who had a great love for pheasant. One day they got a present of a pheasant, and it was cooked, and they were eating the pheasant.

St. Teresa of Ávila was obviously enjoying the pheasant, but another younger nun in the convent was a bit surprised that St. Teresa of Ávila was enjoying this piece of meat so much, and expressed some concern about fasting and penance and abstinence and a few other things.

St. Teresa of Ávila is said to have told this younger nun, “When I fast, I fast, and when I pheasant, I pheasant.” There's a lesson there for all of us.

Our Lord enjoyed His supper. And Martha served. She must have served with a grateful love. Our Lord has told us, “Whatever you do to one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it to me” (Matt. 25:40).

In all our acts of service, we try to see Christ. Martha had the privilege of actually serving Christ Himself. The Messiah was in her house. God was in need of her services. She was able to wait on Him.

She must have realized this was something very special. God became man in order to identify with our human needs, so that we might learn to love Him through His Most Sacred Humanity, and also to become His intimate friends.

We need to consider, time and again, that the same Jesus of Nazareth, of Capernaum, and of Bethany, eagerly awaits us in the nearest tabernacle. He is in need of our attention and services.

We're told in The Way, “It is true that I always call our tabernacle Bethany. Become a friend of the Master's friends—Lazarus, Martha, and Mary—and then you will no longer ask me why I call each of our tabernacles Bethany” (J. Escrivá, The Way, Point 322).

Christ is sacramentally present there. We can't remain indifferent. We need to visit Him each day to keep Him company, without hurry and without anxiety, particularly during those precious moments when we receive Holy Communion, the thanksgiving after Mass. It can be a very profitable time for us.

St. Thomas Aquinas says that the Incarnation was the most effective and beneficial way for God to redeem mankind (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II, 1, 2). He gives three reasons.

As far as faith is concerned—it became easier to believe, since God Himself was the one speaking;

As far as hope—by the great proof of His salvific will that this act of revelation represents;

As far as charity—since “greater love than this no man has, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

And as far as actual deeds of love—since God Himself was going to be our model.

By taking on human flesh, God shows the tremendous value of every human creature; through His humility, He cures our pride.

Through the Sacred Humanity of Jesus, the love of God assumed human form for us. This act gently opens to us the way up an inclined plane that leads us to union with God Our Father.

And so, Christian life consists in loving, imitating, and following Christ. We can be inspired by the example of His life and by our friendship with Him.

Our sanctification shouldn't have as its main focus the struggle against sin, something negative. It's not a question of avoiding evil, but of loving and imitating the Master who “passes by doing good,” as we're told in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 10:38).

Christian life is profoundly human, and our hearts have an important role in the work of our sanctification because God became man.

If we're lacking in affectionate care in our life of piety, we don't love our prayer, we don't love to do our spiritual reading or our Rosary.

Now if we recklessly allow our heart free reign among creatures, our personal friendship with the Master will suffer, and our strength of will will not be enough for us to push ahead on this narrow path of holiness.

We need to be always aware that He's always by our side. “I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20).

We can use our imagination to represent the living Christ, who was born in Bethlehem, worked in Nazareth, and had friends whose company He sought out and truly appreciated during His earthly life.

We can learn from Christ's friends how to deal with Him from the standpoint of immense respect, as He is Our Lord and God.

At the same time, like Martha and Mary, we can have recourse to Him with great confidence, because He's our everyday Friend who continually seeks us out and desires our company.

We can ask Our Lord for the grace to be a greater friend of His. “No longer do I call you servants, but I have called you friends” (John 15:15).

Our Lord wants us to give Him the hospitality of our hearts, and He will respond. He will reciprocate.

There were many other occasions when Our Lord stopped at the house of His friends in Bethany, going to Jerusalem, and the two sisters were ready to do whatever was necessary to provide hospitality for Him and for those who were accompanying Him.

On one occasion, perhaps shortly after He arrived, Mary sat down at His feet and “listened to his teaching” (Luke 10:39), while Martha went on with the housework.

Mary put aside everything still left to do and gave all her attention to the Master.

There may be moments when in our busy day, with many things to do, we also have to put things aside; stop what we're doing.

I came across the definition of idleness by Ronald Knox recently, where he says that idleness is not lying on our bed listening to music. Idleness is giving priority to what we want to do, to our tasks, as opposed to what should be done or what we should be doing.

Hence the need for a to-do list, perhaps numbered, so we see very clearly what is the next most important thing that we should be doing. Among those things can be the care of our spiritual life.

Sometimes we have to stop our work or stop where we are, and get our work, our prayer done, or our spiritual reading, or our Rosary, or get to Mass.

One writer says, “The familiarity with which Mary settles down at his feet suggests that this is not a first encounter. She seems to have a habit of listening to him. She seems to have a hunger to hear His words. It’s suggestive of a rare sympathy” (M. J. Indart, Jesus in His World).

Her heart clicks with His. There are deeper desires there. This is something that Our Lord doesn't find in other places.

Martha wasn't indifferent to Our Lord's words. She was also perhaps listening, but she was more occupied with her domestic chores. Without her realizing it, Our Lord lifts the conversation to a higher plane.

The very means at hand to attend to Him well are what absorb Martha. She's worried more about the things to do with the Lord than with the Lord Himself.

She begins to grow uneasy, feeling overwhelmed, overburdened with work. Meanwhile, she's looking at this sister of hers who's contemplating Our Lord's words.

A little upset, but with confidence, she goes to Our Lord. St. Luke tells us that she said, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” (Luke 10:40). These are pretty strong words.

Our Lord is divine love Incarnate. He's the Personification of divine love and human love, and she says, “Don't you care?”

She accuses the Personification of Love of not loving. And of course, she's all tied up in herself: “Tell her then to help me.”

Martha approaches Our Lord in a very trusting manner. Our Lord responds to her very quietly, calmly, in a very familiar tone that is indicated by the repetition of her name: “Martha, Martha.”

It's as though He doesn't have to say anything else. But the way He says those words, He’s said everything. “You are worried and concerned about many things; only one thing is needful” (Luke 10:41-42).

That's why Our Lord teaches us a very important lesson about our spiritual life.

Mary, who was probably very willing to help her sister, in the midst of all this excitement, didn't forget what was most essential: to have Christ at the center of her attention and of her life.

Our Lord doesn't praise Mary's entire disposition, but He does praise the most important part of it—her love.

There's a lesson here for us: that not even the things of the Lord should make us forget about the Lord of all things. Not even the harvest of the Lord should make us forget about “the Lord of the harvest” (Matt. 9:38). The Lord of the harvest has to come first.

Probably for the rest of her life, Martha would never forget those words, as we also could try to bear them in mind in a constant way.

Indispensable as her work was, her care not to relegate Christ to second place should have been even greater.

We can apologize to Our Lord for our negligences, our omissions—when we haven't shown Him as much love as we should have; when we've dropped this here or dropped that there; forgot about something else; when we've been a bit sloppy about our spiritual life—and try to make resolutions to come on to a new plane.

Our activities and our concerns that refer directly to Our Lord's service can never cause us to forget the “one thing needful,” the Person of Christ.

In our ordinary life, we need to keep in mind that certain matters that may seem to be very important, like our professional work, our financial gain, our social relations, should never take precedence over the family itself.

These means are worth little if family life suffers. If a father or mother earns more money but neglects the children, what good can come from that?

The Opening Prayer to this Mass says, “Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that the example of your Saints may spur us on to a better life, so that we, who celebrate the memory of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, may also imitate without ceasing their deeds.”

Help us to create Bethany in our homes, true Christian homes, where there is warmth and affection and truth and justice, and all the wonderful things that God wants to bless us with.

At the Prayer Over the Gifts, it says, “As we proclaim your wonders in your saints, O Lord, we humbly implore your majesty, that as their homage of love was pleasing to you, so, too, our dutiful service may find favor in your sight.”

Our dutiful service when we plug in the kettle, when we put bread in the toaster, when we lay the table, when we do the washing up, when we clear away the table after a meal, all the basic ordinary things that are part and parcel of family life—changing sheets on beds, doing our laundry, hanging it out to dry.

Our Lady, who enjoys the presence of Christ in heaven forever, will obtain for us the grace of better appreciating an active friendship with her Son. She'll teach us to take good care of the things of the Lord without forgetting the Lord of all.

She'll intercede for us also before Our Lord, so that we may learn never to value the family itself less than those noble gains we seek for its sake.

Mary, Queen of the family, help us to recreate that atmosphere of Bethany that made Jesus so happy. Help us recreate it on our altars, in our tabernacles, and very particularly, in our domestic Church, our home.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

OLV