St. Martha, disciple of the Lord 

＊＊＊1st Reading＊＊＊   Exodus 15-24, 30-34

 Moses then returned and came down from the mountain carrying in his hand the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets  Written on both sides, back and front. 

These tablets were the work of God and the writing graven on the tablets was the writing of God. When Joshua heard the noise of the people who were shouting he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”  But Moses answered, “It is not a victory song, nor the cry of defeat that I hear, but the sound of singing.”

 When he drew near to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burst forth and he threw the tablets he was holding, shattered them at the foot of the mountain.  Then he seized the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, grinding it into a powder that he scattered over the surface of the water, and this he made the Israelites drink.  Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you that you brought such a great sin on them?” And Aaron said, “Don’t let your anger be roused.

You know this people and how evil they are.  They said to me: ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’  I then said to them that whoever had gold was to give it over to me. I threw it in the fire and out came this calf!” The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a very grave sin, but now I am going up to Yahweh; perhaps I will obtain pardon for your sin.” 

So Moses went towards Yahweh and said, “Ah! This people have committed a very great sin; they made a god out of gold.  And now please forgive their sin… if not, blot me out of the book you have written.”Yahweh said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out from my book.  Go now! Lead the people where I told you. My Angel will walk before you and on the day of punishment I will punish them for their sin.”

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

John 11: 19-27 (or Luke 10: 38-42)

 many Jews had come to Martha and Mary after the death of their brother’s to comfort them. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him while Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to  Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”  Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”

 Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection, at the last day.”  But Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection; whoever believes in me, though he die, shall live.  Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Martha then answered, “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.”

 

Reflection gospel：

 “MARY SAT DOWN TO LISTEN TO HIS WORDS.”

Ordinarily, the function of “listening” is to know, to learn something. (It is an intentional or deliberate act. It is not a passive mental act.) But more than this function, a corollary product of listening is that” prepares one to take action.

Have we not experienced in our lives, when we were at a crucial point of making a difficult decision, we took some time to pray, to listen to the Spirit for guidance? In the case of being attentive to God’s word, listening supplies spiritual courage and strength. Genuine listening empowers one to take action.

Assuming a listening attitude or preparing the heart to be attentive is the kind of hospitality God seeks from us, that is, the “hospitality of loving attention and listening” (Brendan Byrne). This is Mary’s “seemingly passive” action, but to Jesus the one thing that is profoundly important. There is nothing more important to Jesus than to give him our undivided attention.