Show notes
It's the Feast of St Martha, 3rd Class, with the color of White. In this episode: the meditation: "Blindness: A Divine Punishment", today's news from the Church: "Rome Condemns Yet Stays Silent", a preview of this week's episode of The SSPX Podcast: "Sacred Restorations: Episode 5—Assumption Academy", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Have feedback or questions about the DD or our other shows? podcast@sspx.org
Sources Used Today:
- "Blindness: A Divine Punishment" — From Trinity Sunday to the Assumption
- "Rome Condemns Yet Stays Silent" (FSSPX.news)
- The SSPX Podcast: "Sacred Restorations: Episode 5—Assumption Academy" (SSPX Podcast)
- The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
Please support our new project, the Archbishop Lefebvre Biography Audiobook!
Saint Martha may be the most misunderstood woman in the Gospel.
Most people know her from a single scene. Jesus is visiting her home. Martha is busy preparing the meal, cleaning the house, making sure everyone is cared for, while her sister Mary simply sits at the Lord's feet listening to Him. Finally, Martha reaches her breaking point.
"Lord, don't You care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?"
If we're honest...
Most of us sympathize with Martha.
After all, somebody had to make dinner.
Somebody had to welcome the guests.
Somebody had to make sure the household kept running.
Jesus' answer can almost seem unfair. "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the better part."
Was Jesus criticizing hard work?
Not at all.
In fact, Martha appears several times in the Gospel, and every time we meet her, she's serving others. That wasn't her problem. The problem wasn't that she was working. It was that her work had begun stealing her peace. She was so occupied with serving Christ that, for a moment, she stopped simply being with Him.
That's a lesson many of us still need.
The home at Bethany seems to have been one of Jesus' favorite places to visit. Whenever He traveled near Jerusalem, He often stayed with Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus. Imagine that. The Son of God had a place where He felt at home, where He could enjoy a meal, conversation, and the friendship of people who loved Him.
The Gospels give us a glimpse of that friendship after Lazarus dies. When Jesus finally arrives in Bethany, Martha doesn't hesitate to meet Him. She doesn't begin with small talk. She tells Him exactly what she's feeling: "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died."
It's one of the most honest conversations in Scripture.
And notice something remarkable.
It is Martha, not Mary, who makes one of the clearest professions of faith in the entire Gospel. Before Lazarus is raised from the dead, she tells Jesus: "I have believed that Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God."
That confession stands alongside Peter's great profession of faith.
Ancient tradition holds that after the Resurrection, persecution forced Martha, Mary, and Lazarus to leave the Holy Land. According to the long-held tradition of southern France, they landed in Provence, where Martha eventually settled in the town now called Tarascon. There another beloved legend grew up around her. The people were being terrorized by a fierce creature known as the Tarasque. Rather than fighting it with weapons, Martha is said to have calmed it with prayer and the sign of the Cross, leading it peacefully back to the town. Whether history or legend, the story beautifully reflects the woman we meet in the Gospel: someone whose strength came not from force, but from faith.
Perhaps that's why Martha continues to speak to so many people today. She reminds us that serving Christ is a beautiful thing, but we can never become so busy working for Him that we forget to spend time with Him.
Saint Martha, faithful friend of Christ and joyful hostess of Bethany, pray for us.
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