＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊   

Jonah 3:1-10

 The word of Yahweh

Came to Jonah a second time: “Go to Ni­ne­veh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you.”  In obedience to the word of Yah­weh, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days just to cross it. So Jo­nah walked a single day’s journey and began proclaiming, “Forty days more and Nineveh will be de­stroyed.”

 The people of the city believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.  Upon hearing the news, the king of Nineveh got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. He issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles, no people or beasts, herd or flock, will taste anything; neither will they eat nor drink. But let people and beasts be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call aloud to God, turn from his evil ways and violence. Who knows? God may yet relent, turn from his fierce anger and spare us.”

 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened upon them.

 

Ps  130:1b-2, 3-4ab, 7-8

If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊   

Luke 10:38-42

 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he entered a village and a woman called Martha welcomed him to her house. She had a sister named Mary who sat down at the Lord’s feet to listen to his words. Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving and finally she said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the serving?”

 But the Lord answered, “Mar­tha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

Its only normal for each of us to desire the “better part.”who would’t. Nobody wants to be on the lousy end. This tendency may be the result of a certain selfishness within us that has attached itself to us as it almost becomes second nature.

On the other hand, it may also come from a holy desire when the “better part” is identified as the will of God in our lives. Conversely, sometimes we tend to choose what we perceive as better for us because of our myopic vision of reality.

We simply do not have a three hundred sixty degree view of it. This passage reveals that Mary chose something we should all desire in life. She chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and simply be with Him.

Martha was doing a lovely service by preparing the meal and working hard, but Mary was focused on one thing, her Lord. And therefor, presence is superior when the one present is the Lord. Everythig, our good words and deeds pales into the background when the Lord vists us in our life.