Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Better Part

The Gospel for this Sunday can sometimes give the impression that Jesus favored Mary over Martha. But if they had both sat down to listen, there would have been no dinner to serve to Jesus. He wasn’t just saying, “Sit down and listen.” He meant that just as Mary was content to listen to him, so Martha could have been content to prepare the meal for him. Instead of thinking of her work as a gift to Jesus, she was more concerned with why Mary was not helping her. Remember the first reading, in which Abraham insisted on serving the visitors, whom he came to recognize as the Lord and two angels. He was rewarded with the assurance that he would soon have a son.
So simple acts of hospitality can also be how people can welcome the Lord into their homes. Paul reminds us in the second reading that Christ is in us; the church is the body of Christ. When we welcome someone into our homes as a visitor, or into our lives as a friend, we are also welcoming Christ. When we get to know someone better, we are also getting to know Christ. When we are respectful to people who help us, like the maintenance staff, the mail carrier, the waiter, we are also showing respect for the Lord.
And what about that “better part” that Mary had chosen? Are we sometimes like Martha, with too many things on our minds to be aware of the Lord? Sometimes we can’t avoid the distractions that are part of life. But if we keep the Lord on our minds, we may be able to see which are distractions to be put aside and which are opportunities to serve the Lord in a different way. Sometimes kids interrupt when we’re fixing dinner—maybe they need to be taught how to take care of things by themselves, or maybe they just need a few moments of attention. We can certainly ask the Lord to help us handle distractions. And as we spend more time with the Lord in prayer, we begin to experience God’s peace, which gives us the ability to choose the better part.
Tom Schmidt

Short Version

The Gospel for this Sunday can sometimes give the impression that Jesus favored Mary over Martha. But if they had both sat down to listen, there would have been no dinner to serve to Jesus. He saw that Mary was content to listen to him, so Martha could have been content to prepare the meal for him. Remember the first reading, in which Abraham insisted on serving the visitors, whom he came to recognize as the Lord and two angels. He was rewarded with the assurance that he would soon have a son.
So simple acts of hospitality can also be how people can welcome the Lord into their homes. When we welcome someone into our homes as a visitor, or into our lives as a friend, we are also welcoming Christ. When we get to know someone better, we are also getting to know Christ.
And what about that “better part” that Mary had chosen?  Are we sometimes like Martha, with too many things on our minds to be aware of the Lord? Sometimes we can’t avoid the distractions that are part of life. But if we keep the Lord on our minds we may be able to see which are distractions to be put aside, and which are opportunities to serve the Lord in a different way. As we spend more time with the Lord in prayer, we begin to experience God’s peace, which gives us the ability to choose the better part.
Tom Schmidt