THERE IS NEED FOR ONLY ONE THING.
 
What is the most important priority in your daily life? Our priority can change from day to day but there is one priority that should not change. Our daily relationship with God in prayer. Going to Church to worship and listen to Jesus. This should be our most important daily priority that nothing should stand against. When this man was a teenager, Sunday was not his best day of the week. On Sundays his dad wakes him up to prepare for early mass. For him It doesn’t feel good to rise early just to go to mass. When he developed a deep relationship with God, Sunday becomes the best day of the week for him. Sunday is a day to be with Jesus. He will rise early to go to church, listen to Jesus in the readings and the homily. Most importantly receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. He will not allow anything to come between his time with Jesus. During Jesus time he gives all his attention to Jesus, other things can wait. We are invited to be hospitable to people but the most important hospitality is to be present and attentive to the need of the other. Being ready to listen to the other share his or her story. This was what Abraham did when he welcomed strangers to his home. Though he did not know them, he listened to them as they shared their story. He was present to them and attentive to their need. Abraham in turn shared his own story with these strangers. But they were not ordinary strangers. They were strangers with blessing. Abraham and his wife were getting old but have no child. In fact they have passed the age of child bearing. Abraham being a person of faith still hope for God’s blessing of a child. Having a child with his wife was Abraham’s most important need. After his story the strangers blessed him and promised him that in a year time his wife will have a child. Abraham was blessed by these strangers because he was hospitable, present and attentive to them. Jesus was a very good friend of the family of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Jesus and his disciples often come to their house to eat and rest after a busy day. In this particular visit Jesus did not come just to eat and rest. He came to share his story. He came to share the divine word with them. He came to share with them whom he really is. He came to share with them the beauty and glory of the love of God. He came to share with this family a joyful mystery hidden from ages past. What moment is better than a moment spent with Jesus. No moment is better than the moment sincerely and attentively spent in the presence of Jesus. Just like Abraham was blessed for being present and attentive to strangers, Jesus blesses you when you are sincerely and attentively present with him. He touches you deeply when you give him your time and attention. Mary teaches us how to give our time and attention to Jesus. Mary sat attentive at the feet of Jesus listening to him while Martha was busy preparing food and did not have time to listen to Jesus. Faced with many challenges Martha was distracted by the magnitude of the work and it turned into anxiety. Our challenges can turn into anxiety when we carry it all by ourselves without listening to Jesus who makes the burden light. Though Martha was a nice and hospitable woman, she was doing the right thing at the wrong time. At this moment what Jesus needed was only her presence and attention. Are you sincerely present and attentive to Jesus when he needed you to? Are you generous, present and attentive to the need of your family? Are you generous, present and attentive to the need of other people. They can turn to be moments of blessing.