ON BY MINIMUSIN THE EVERYDAY LIFE
Wednesday is the feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God. It is interesting to note that the gospel for this and most Marian feasts is the story of Jesus’ visit to the home of Martha and Mary of Bethany. Martha is busy with the work of hospitality while Mary sits at the feet of the Lord. Martha complains and the Lord gently chides her about her worries and cares when “…only one thing is necessary.”
Why this gospel rather than one recounting some incident in the
life of Mary, the Mother of Jesus? One person has suggested that the Church wishes to remind us that, although we honor Mary as “more honorable than the cherubim, beyond compare, more glorious than the seraphim,” focus must always, ultimately, be on Jesus. Mary is our Mother, our fellow disciple, the one who points us to Jesus. Part of our vocation as Christians is to sit at the feet of the Lord and listen to His word as Mary of Bethany did and to meditate on this word, “keeping them in our hearts,” as Mary, the Mother of Jesus did.
A second explanation is that the Church wants to present for our meditation and imitation the Marian virtues of poverty of spirit and simplicity, virtues which Mary of Bethany exhibits as she sits at the feet of the Lord.
We might think of poverty of spirit as the realization that, on our own, we are poor, empty, helpless. In short, we need a savior. Only when we recognize our own poverty can we receive what Jesus wants to give. Only when we recognize our hunger can He, “fill us with good things.”
To be simple means to attend to the “one thing needed,” our relationship of
love with the Lord and His Church. It is the realization that the heart of the gospel is, “God loves us and wants to save us.” Everything else is an elaboration on that reality.
These Marian virtues of poverty of spirit and simplicity are not beyond us. If Mary of Bethany can have them, so can we.
Let us ask our Lady to take us by the hand and lead us along the poor and simple path into the heart of God.