Pastor’s Letter: July 17

Pastor’s Letter: July 17

15 Jul 2022 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear friend,

This week I was with the Junior Clergy of the Diocese of Peoria at the Sacre-Coeur Retreat Center in Henry, Illinois. The Junior Clergy are the Peoria priests ordained ten years or less. I help run a retreat for them each summer and organize some ongoing formation/education. Fr. Brett Brannen was the retreat director this week. He is a priest of 30 years from the Diocese of Savanna, Georgia. He currently serves as a Spiritual Director at the Josephium Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. Previously, he served as the Vice-Rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary with Msgr. Steven Rohlfs when he was Rector. Fr. Brannen’s wealth of experience working with seminarians and priests provided a great deal of inspiration and challenge for the priests. The Junior Clergy days are always a mix of prayer, reflection, spiritual growth/challenge with time for socializing. While I have more of a leadership role with the group, I always find it a restful and spiritually rewarding week.

The Gospel this weekend records one of the conversations between the sisters Mary and Martha with Jesus. The advice and correction Jesus gives to New Testament Biblical figures is always so rewarding for reflection. Jesus gives spiritual lessons, that one might view as strong corrections, to people who the Church holds as saints. Mary and Martha of Bethany display their individual personalities and spiritual struggles to Jesus, which truly provides us with an opportunity for reflection. Martha complains to Jesus, “Do you not care that my sister has left me to myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” From the practical household hosting perspective, the women of the house in the first century would have taken charge to serve all the disciples when they came for a visit. Offering hospitality and a meal was expected. Martha takes on this role but complains about the failure of Mary to do the same. Jesus approves of Mary’s posture of listening to Jesus preach and corrects Martha for wanting Mary to do what she wanted; what the culture would expect. Martha is a saint and offered several times of professing faith in Jesus. In this moment of weakness, we are called to learn from the correction of Jesus to pay attention to the moment at hand. So often we can get caught up in the expectations of others. We all can get stuck pursuing what we think others want us to do, while missing the real beauty of an experience. By this Gospel, Christ is calling us to look to the heart of the matter before us. Yes, those disciples needed to eat eventually, but did it need to happen at that exact moment? We can all get clouded by our own pursuits as to miss the bigger picture or the real need of those around us. Some might say, “stop and smell the roses.” Jesus said, “Mary chose the better part.” May the Lord help us to perceive the people, relationships, and varying situations of our lives with true listening hearts. When we honor the First Commandment and put God first, it helps us put our time and energy into that which truly needs our attention. May the Lord guide us all this week to pay attention to the “better part” in our work and home lives.

God bless,

Father David