Martha and Mary

Nothing is more worthy of attention than what the Gospel teaches us about the two sisters, Martha and Mary. It is certain that Martha is a type of the active life, that is to say, of the life in which, by our own efforts, by our own labour, we try to show God how much we love Him; and that Mary is the model of the contemplative life, in which we try to keep our souls in peace and repose, that God may act in them, and in which we do not act except through the influence of God, and under His guidance.

These two sisters received Jesus Christ into their house. Both of them loved Him, both of them wished to show their love for Him; but they did so in a very different way. Martha only thought of exercising her charity and hospitality towards our Saviour by preparing a repast for Him. Her pious care was worthy of all praise, but she put into it too much activity, too much eagerness, too much anxiety; she agitated herself, she disquieted herself. She cooked many different dishes when one would have been sufficient. Mary, on her side, did not agitate herself, she did not make great preparations for serving our Lord well, but she sat at His sacred feet that she might be fed by His words. The occupation of Martha was all exterior, all action; that of Mary was all interior, all silence and repose. The one wished to give to our Saviour, the other wished to receive from Him; Martha presented Him with all she had with a generous heart, Mary gave herself.

Martha, believing that she was doing a great deal more for Jesus Christ than her sister, and that her sister ought to leave the feet of the Saviour to come to her assistance, complains of Mary to Him, and begs of Him to tell Mary to help her. She thought that Mary was idle, and that her silence and repose could not possibly be pleasing to Jesus Christ. But what is His reply to her? " Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away from her"

Let us meditate upon this reply of our blessed Lord. The instruction it contains is admirably suited to moderate and restrain too great activity and to reduce multiplicity, which are two great defects of even sincere devotion. It was quite right that the hostesses of Jesus Christ should prepare something for Him to eat, but a frugal repast only was necessary. One single dish would have been sufficient for the wants of nature, and Martha thought she should be failing in hospitality and respect for her Divine guest if she did not prepare a great number of dishes. This was the defect of multiplicity.

This frugal repast should have been prepared quietly, without losing interior peace of soul; and Martha excited herself, agitated herself, troubled herself. This was the defect of activity.

Martha preferred her own occupation to that of her sister. Jesus Christ reproved her for this, and told her that the choice of Mary was better. He taught her also, and us through her, that all exterior works, all works of charity, however good they may be in themselves, are only for this present life, and will end when this life ends; instead of which the repose of perfect contemplation will never end, but after beginning on earth it will continue for ever in heaven.

On another occasion, when Jesus came to raise Lazarus from the dead, Martha as soon as she was told He was come, always active, always eager, ran to meet Him. Mary stayed in the house; she waited quietly, she did not go out until her sister told her that the Master was calling for her. Martha acted as her own inclination prompted her, at once; Mary waited to act until Jesus Christ Himself guided her actions.

Let us draw from all this some safe rules by which we may direct our judgment and our conduct in matters of devotion.

1st. All exterior good works, even when they have Jesus Christ Himself for their object, and when they have to do with such a necessary thing as bodily nourishment, are in themselves of far less value than prayer and the repose of contemplation. Consequently we must, as a general rule, prefer prayer to exterior acts, and must give much more time to it. By prayer I mean here all those exercises of piety of which the soul is the immediate object.

2nd. When exterior works of charity, which have to do with our neighbour, are not of absolute necessity, we must not multiply them to such an extent that they take the place of our prayers and our spiritual exercises. It is all very well to speak of zeal and charity: zeal must be regulated, and charity must begin at home.

3rd. Even when exterior works are positively necessary, and when they are the express will of God, we must try to acquit ourselves of them without losing the interior peace of our soul; in such a manner that even while we are acting our soul may still be united to God, and may never be deprived of that spirit of recollection which ought always to accompany it. And as this practice is extremely difficult, and is only fitted for advanced souls, all the masters of the spiritual life recommend to beginners to give the least time possible to active works, and to apply themselves much more to prayer. A time will come when prayer will become to them, as it were, natural, and then, if God thinks it well for them, they may employ themselves a great deal in exterior works without ever losing the peace of their soul.

4th. Even with regard to spiritual exercises, activity, which really springs from self-love, is always bad, and we cannot repress it too much, that it may be completely under subjection to grace. What did Mary do? She was seated; her body was perfectly motionless, quiet, and tranquil; she was perfectly silent. Jesus spoke to her, and she listened to Him with all the attention of her heart. It is never said that she spoke to Him, or that she interrupted Him; she kept herself in His Presence like a disciple in the presence of his master; she received His lessons, and allowed them to penetrate sweetly into the depths of her soul. This is the model of perfect prayer: when the soul seeks no longer to exhaust itself in reflections and sentiments, but when it listens to Him who teaches without any sound of words. When God gives us the grace to call us to this kind of prayer, we must never abandon it under any pretext whatsoever not for any sort of distraction, or dryness, or desolation, or weariness, or temptation but we must always persevere in it; we must overcome all the difficulties which meet us there, and be quite certain that we are doing a great deal when we are doing what God wishes us to do, even though we ourselves may think we are doing nothing, and only losing our time. We have need of great courage, and great dominion over ourselves, to walk constantly in the desert of a way of prayer that is bare and obscure and apparently empty of thoughts and affections: but it is precisely this prayer which will advance us most in dying to ourselves and living only for God.

5th. As activity engenders multiplicity, so repose leads to unity and simplicity, to that simplicity which Jesus Christ declares is so necessary. Activity multiplies all sorts of practices: it embraces all kinds of devotions. It passes incessantly from one act to another; it is always agitating itself, tormenting itself, never thinking it has done enough. The simplicity of repose concentrates our souls on God, and fixes us to one thing alone to listen to His voice when we are in prayer, and when we are not in prayer to do His will quietly in the moment that is passing, without disquieting ourselves about the past or the future; in .such a manner that the soul never really has but one object before her eyes, and that she is never entirely given up to exterior things, being less occupied with her own action than with the thought of God, Who is its motive and its end.

6th. The soul learns thus not to separate the occupation of Mary from that of Martha, and to arrange them both in such a manner that one does not interfere with the other. She neglects none of the duties of her state, even those of ordinary politeness; but above all these duties she places her inseparable union with God and her continual dependence on His grace. She renders to her neighbour all the services which depend upon her, but she does not do this of her own will; she waits until God presents her with the occasion. She speaks, she acts in peace under the direction of His grace, and she desires above all things to find herself alone with God.

7th. Finally, even in the best things of all, in those which immediately belong to the glory of God, the soul never takes the initiative of herself: she does not even make a fresh step towards God unless God Himself calls her. "She remains where she is," as Saint Francis de Sales says, "because her present state is that which God wishes, and she has no desire to leave it but at His command."

How beautiful devotion would be, how glorious to God, how useful to the soul, how edifying to our neighbour, how respected even by a corrupt world, if it was always based on these rules! But alas! we wish to govern ourselves, we seek ourselves in our devotion, and that is what makes it subject to so many faults and contradictions.

- taken from Manual for Interior Souls, by Father Jean Nicolas Grou