20170729
THE SPRING AND THE
STREAM
1 John 4:7-16English
Standard Version (ESV)
God Is Love
7 Beloved, let
us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born
of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love
does not know God, because God is love. 9 In
this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only
Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In
this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved,
if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No
one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his
love is perfected in us.
13 By
this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his
Spirit.14 And we have seen and testify that the
Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever
confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we
have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is
love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
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Gospel
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Luke 10:38-42 ©
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Jesus came to a village, and a woman
named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat
down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha who was
distracted with all the serving said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister is
leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.’ But
the Lord answered: ‘Martha, Martha,’ he said ‘you worry and fret about so many
things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the
better part; it is not to be taken from her.’
THE SPRING AND THE STREAM
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ 1 JN 4:7-16; LK 10:38-42]
The story of Mary and Martha has often been portrayed as a choice
between contemplation and action. Mary seems to have chosen the way
of contemplation whereas Martha chose the way of action. But in truth, we
know that contemplation and action are not mutually exclusive. On
the contrary, they are in fact complementary. Indeed, for most of us
today, we are called to be contemplatives in action.
That is to say, we are called to be first and foremost
contemplatives so that we might be authentic activists for the Lord.
The truth is that the needs of the world cannot be addressed by us unless we
are transformed by the Lord first. For this reason, Mary spent time with
the Lord at His feet, listening to Him. It was not that Mary was
unconcerned with the need to practise hospitality. On the contrary, Mary
gave Jesus the highest degree of hospitality by giving Him her whole
attention. After all, what is the meaning of hospitality if not to make a
person feel at home and welcomed. And this, Mary gave to Jesus just by
listening to Him. Indeed, to spend time with another person is to accord
that person the highest level of hospitality that can be given.
This was not the case for Martha. She did not
know Jesus as well as Mary did. She thought that the best way to
attend to Jesus was to attend to His needs rather than to attend to
Him. And because she did not have an intimate relationship with Jesus,
she became anxious, upset and competitive. Her complaints to Jesus about
Mary were signs of insecurity in her. She was actually jealous of Mary
that she seemed to enjoy a closer relationship with Jesus than her.
Hence, she wanted Jesus to know that she was more caring than Mary. Not
only that, she condemned Mary for not giving hospitality the way she did.
Inevitably, a person who lacks a relationship with another will try to
substitute it with things and actions. Martha as an activist, was insecure
and restless because her works were not founded in a deep relationship with
Jesus. Instead of spending time with the Lord, she wanted to impress
Jesus by doing things for Him rather than allowing Jesus to impress her.
Yes, between action and contemplation, the latter must come
first. Thomas Merton in his book “contemplatives in action”
illustrates this beautifully when he wrote of the “spring and the
stream.” According to him, unless the waters of the spring are living and
flow outwards, it remains but a stagnant pool. If the stream is
disconnected with the spring which is its source, then the stream would dry up.
Contemplation then, is the spring of
living water, and the stream that flows out to others is the action that we
perform. If action does not flow from an interior source in prayer, it
becomes barren, competitive, selfish and anxious. However if prayer does
not flow into action, it is cut off from life. That is why in the case of
Mary, she was unmoved by what Martha said. She did not retaliate or
react. She knew what was really important then, and she continued to be
at the Lord’s feet.
Let us learn from Mary to be more courageous in spending time with the
Lord. It may seem to be a real waste of precious
time which can be used for doing more things for the Lord. Yet, what
truly pleases God is not what we do but who we are. And who we are as God
meant us to be, can happen only when we open our hearts fully to Him so that He
can transform us from within through the power of His love. And when
transformed, then the love of Jesus will flow out from us to others, doing what
our Lord did for others.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh,
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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