HOMILY ON BALANC

16th Sunday - July 19 --LUKE 10: 38-42 12:15 Jesus’ days were soaked with the sweat of bone-wearying sermons, energy-draining cures and non-stop journeying from village to village, from mountainside to valley. There was the time when he was so exhausted he actually fell into a deep sleep during a storm at sea, in an almost coma-like unawareness of the howling winds and engulfing waves. There are times when the ache in his back and neck is as fierce as nails piercing his flesh. Times when the relentless efforts of his mission seemed like a crucifixion.. Times when every fiber of his body screams for relief and relaxation. And so on occasion he stops at Mary and Martha’s home and crashes. Here with his closest friends he doesn’t have to be on guard, fencing with the sword-like attacks of the religious leaders or stretching on tiptoe to reach out to those who need to be healed. Here, in Mary and Martha’s home, he can curl up in the warmth of their friendship and relax. At least for a while. As often happens, friends can say things that others wouldn’t dare to broach because friends don’t have to put on airs. And so the serenity of Jesus’ relaxation is shattered by the whining complaint from Martha rattling around in the kitchen, slamming pots and pans on the stove. I’m swamped in here, Martha all but screams. Since my sister seems to be oblivious to the work involved in preparing a meal, will you at least tell her to get her pretty, uncalloused hands out here to help me? Jesus looks at Mary and Mary smiles as if to say, You know how Martha is. Jesus follows Mary out into the kitchen. As a friend he can be as open and honest with Martha as she was with him. You know, Martha, you’re so intense that you’re going to have an anxiety attack. May I suggest that you get your priorities in order? In the midst of all you well-meaning work, the one thing necessary is that you are consciously aware of your intimacy with God no matter how busy you are. This will help you to keep your balance. Sally Hill points out in her book, New Clothes from Old Threads, in her meditation on the fairy tale, Rumpelstiltzkin, "When we get caught up in a whirlwind of activities, we lose our sense of balance which enables us to distribute our energies like beads on the necklace of our lives." There are times when we need to roll up our sleeves and dig in. And there are times when we need to sit back, relax and enjoy the wonders of God’s loving presence in our lives and work. There’s a story about a man had a very tense day at the office So he sat down to relax and read the newspaper. One little son comes and asks him for money for an ice cream cone. The dad gave him the coins. His little daughter came to him crying. She hurt her leg and wanted her dad to kiss her boo boo and take the hurt away. So he kissed her leg. As he went back to reading the paper, his baby boy came running up to him. With a deep sigh and a smile he asked, "And what to you want? Nothing Daddy. I just want to sit on your lap. Isn’t this what Mary is teaching you? To curl up, as it were, on God’s lap? The need to put aside the torturing grind of your brutal everyday responsibilities and work and give yourself some time for meditative prayer? The need to listen to Jesus’ invitation, Come aside and rest awhile? It may mean getting up a little earlier or finding a room in the evening where the door can be closed. John Shea in his book, Gospel Light, says that when we close down the outer world, the inner world will begin to open. You may be thinking right now, That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have meals to get ready. You don’t have a boss breathing down your neck. You don’t have kids who go after you like nibbling ducks or who want to sit in your lap. That’s true. But I must tell you that the eight to ten hours I spend preparing my weekend homily is intense prayerful work. I need to tell you this because you need to know that you can always pray while involved in the busyness of your day. You could also pray by asking Jesus, who is as much your friend as he was a friend of Mary and Martha, to help you to balance the active and contemplative components of your life with the regularity of breathing out and breathing in. HUMOR There is a story about balance in communicating. A friend of mine was in the hospital awaiting the arrival of her first child. When I telephoned the hospital to see if the baby had arrived, the nurse said it had. I asked if it was a boy or girl and was told that it was against hospital policy to give this information over the phone. "Fine," I said. "I can understand that. But can you tell me what she didn’t have?" "It wasn’t a boy," came the reply. THOUGHT: Always maintain a balance between prayer and action.