St. Martha

I went to bed last night with the resolve to re-group. I needed to take time to sit with my children, read the stories, play the games and do the cuddling. I needed to take a break from other activities and just be present to my little ones. I was thinking of the story of Mary and Martha and thinking how I need to be like Mary and stop and see Jesus in the face of my children.

But I woke up this morning to remember that today is the feast of St. Martha! She is the patroness of housewives...and I really needed that reminder today.

I think we often put Mary and Martha in two separate categories. Mary representing the contemplative life, while Martha represents the active life. Both are good and both have their necessary place. In life, I think we tend to flow in between these two expressions of faith, based on the events taking place in our lives at a given moment. Motherhood, understandably, falls under St. Martha. Perhaps though, in the midst of the housekeeping and child-raising, which are all beautiful, we can still find a little bit of Mary shinning through. We, as mothers and housewives, may not have the time to dedicate to our prayers or devotions that we once had. Prayer may often be for us, a fleeting thought of Our Lord, or a whispered Hail Mary in the midst of laundry. However, I like to think that while we are following the example of St. Martha, in serving our families, maybe we can still "sit at the feet Our Lord," and contemplate Him in a different way. We can reach out and connect with our children while we do our "chores," we can read a quick story between loading the dishwasher and picking up the living room and more importantly, we can touch and express our love to our children at multiple points throughout the day. This may sound easy, but I have found it to be quite a struggle recently, which is why it has been on my mind. Sometimes it comes easy, and sometimes it takes conscious effort. But, I think that in doing our housewifely duties, we can still contemplate with the heart of Mary, especially by reaching out to our children...Jesus speaks so loudly through them. I just need to remember to take the time to see that.

St. Martha, help me to always serve Jesus, through my family, with kindess, love and a smile (at least most days!) :) So that in serving them, I may come to see the face of Jesus more clearly.