Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Saints: Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus

Readings of the Day

Rule of Saint Benedict: Ch 48:10-21 The Daily Manual Labor

Mass: 1 Jn 4:7-16 or Jer 26:1-9; Resp Ps 34 or Resp Ps69; Jn 11:19-27 or Lk 10:38-42

I will bless the Lord at all times.

MARY, QUEEN OF PEACE,

PRAY FOR US.

Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed Him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at His feet listening to Him speak.

(Lk 10:38-39)

We are blessed to commemorate Saints Martha, her sister Mary and their brother Lazarus, friends of the Lord. Jesus loved Martha and her sister Mary and Lazarus (Jn 11:5). They believed what Jesus told them: I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die (Jn 11:25-26). It wasn't until last year, 2021, that we started to commemorate Martha, Mary and Lazarus together, as it had become relatively clear that Mary Magdalene (commemorated last Friday, July 22) is not the same person as Martha's sister Mary. Before 2021 then, July 29 was reserved to Martha alone. Thanks be to God that we have all these saints to pray for us!

It was some years ago that a friend of happy memory gifted me with 52 cards, one for each week of the year. Each card, a holy card, postcard, or a greeting card of one kind of another, had a quotation on the back. One year (he did this for at least three years), each card included a passage from Adrienne von Speyr's Three Women of the Lord. I include words for today, in honor of our beloved saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus too. 

As we contemplate the Lord on His journey it is axiomatic that love inspires His steps. It comes from the Father and goes to the Father and all the time He is in the Father. On His way He meets a woman and she too does something out of love; she takes Him into her house. This woman is like the rod of the tree, and her sister is the fruit ...

The fact that Mary's love radiates forth is a consequence of Martha's action in bringing the Lord into their house. Martha's action may be totally eclipsed by the brilliance of what follows upon it, but all the same it was the precondition for all that took place. It was the precondition for the Lord's coming: for the Lord's eternal Advent.

Welcome Jesus into your heart today, sit at His feet and listen.

SAINTS MARTHA, MARY AND LAZARUS,

PRAY FOR US.

Today's photo: I stumbled across this beauty yesterday in Eureka, CA, and received help with its name from my dear companion on the journey. This bold bougainvillea has three white stigmas, one for Martha, one for Mary, and one for Lazarus. Glorify the Lord with me, let us together extol His name.

© Gertrude Feick 2022