Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Homily for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2022

 

The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing.

 

Like Martha, we are almost assuredly anxious and worried about many things.  But when Jesus says there is need of only one thing, what, exactly IS that one thing?

 

St. Thomas Aquinas and others identify that one thing as being a life of contemplation, or contemplative prayer.  And most of us probably associate contemplative prayer only with monks and nuns and priests.

 

But we all have the capacity for contemplative prayer, and, when we try to enter into contemplative prayer we should know that the Devil will try to distract us in every moment.  But the Catechism says it is not a sin to be distracted in prayer, all that is needed is to, once you realize you have been thinking about other things, to simply refocus back on the Lord Jesus.

 

We live in anxious times and distracting times…the most distracted times in human history so far.  And so it is hard to carve out time for prayer.  But a monk at St. Meinrad said “Until we are convinced that prayer is the best way to spend our time, we will never find time for prayer.”

 

Like Mary, let us choose the better part; let us spend time in the presence of Jesus each day in prayer.  Let us step away from the busyness of life to still our minds, hearts, bodies and souls at the foot of the Master.

2 comments:

  1. Father John, God bless you - I pray that one day you will return to YouTube. For those of us that are far away - homebound - it is your sheep that recognize your voice. I'm absolutely positive that if the Apostle Paul had the technology he would do the same - we really need you, you are a spiritual Father - we need that dynamic duo of Meyer and Hollowell

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  2. I am not able to preach extemporaneously anymore because of the brain tumors. I post my text for my homily each week. Sunday Mass is also live most Sundays at Saint Paul's Parish in Greencastle on Facebook.

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