With what eagerness Martha devoted herself to the service of Our Lord--attentive, intelligent, delicate services.
If Our Lord was to commend those who help the members of Christ, considering all as done for Himself, how much more would the good Master accept the services that Martha rendered Him personally. I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in (Matt. xxv, 35-36).
I will examine my zeal in applying myself to the duties of my state, above all when they are made up of material occupations. Is my zeal attentive or negligent? Intelligent or desultory? Is my activity sufficiently supernatural? Do I truly serve Our Lord in my sister, the poor, the pupils, the souls entrusted to my care?
I must take care not to be carried away by an unregulated zeal, remembering that I am first and foremost, a religious. The words of the Master are significant, Martha, Martha, one thing is necessary. Now Jesus did not mean that prayers alone have value, but He meant that I may not under pretext of activity, omit or neglect my exercises of piety. He does not want me to lose my peace in the midst of work. He knows that, without a special grace, I cannot do two things, act and pray, at the same time, but He wishes my actions to be so offered to Him that, at every moment, I may have so much at heart the accomplishment of His divine Will in my regard, that all I do may ascend to Him as the incense of prayer.
When I pray, I will be Mary. When I act, Martha, but a Martha who remembers that she was Mary a little while ago.
_________________
Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
No comments:
Post a Comment