16th Sunday of the Year

“For too long a time there has been a mistaken insistence on the supposed incompatibility between secular work and the interior life. Nevertheless, it is there in the midst of daily work and by means of it, not in spite of it, that God wants to call most Christians to lives of holiness. We are to sanctify the world and sanctify ourselves with a life of prayer that gives divine meaning to earthly tasks.

“Jesus does not pass sweeping judgement upon Martha or Mary. He responds to Martha’s question with profundity by pointing to what is most important in life, that being the presence of Christ in the house. How often might not the Lord make the same reproach to us?  Nothing can justify forgetting Jesus in our daily work, not even the most important concerns. We cannot put Him, who is the Lord of all things, aside for the sake of the things of the Lord. We certainly cannot minimize the importance of prayer with the excuse that we are too busy with activity.

“All worldly occupations, when engaged in with the right intention, allow us the opportunity to put into practice charity, mortification, a spirit of service to others, joy and optimism, understanding and an apostolate of friendship and confidence. We sanctify ourselves through our work. This is what really matters – to find Jesus in the midst of our daily concerns, not to forget about the Lord of all things… Otherwise we will end up doing what is, in fact, His work for ourselves, thereby neglecting the Master.

From In Conversation with God, by Francis Fernandez