The Mystery of Christ
The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience

by Father Thomas Keating

Chapter 2 Part V

The Easter-Ascension Mystery

Martha and Mary

    Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her."
[Luke 10:38 - 42]

    This text is one that has exercised exegetes down through the ages and has been the basis for distinguishing two evangelical lifestyles, the contemplative and the active. On closer look, however, the point of this story is not about which lifestyle is more perfect, but about the quality of Christian life. What Jesus disapproves of in Martha's behavior is not her good works, of which he was about to be the beneficiary, but her motive in doing them. The quality of one's service does not come from the activity itself, but from the purity of one's intention. The single eye of the Gospel is the eye of love, which is the desire to please God in all our actions, whatever these may be. Jesus' defense of Mary, who was sitting at his feet, is not an excuse for lazy folks to avoid the chores. But neither is it a motive for those who are working hard to get annoyed if those engaged in a contemplative lifestyle do not come forth to help them.

    The story is a parable about the quality of Christian life, about growing in it, and about the necessity of the contemplative dimension of the Gospel as the means of doing so. When Jesus tells Martha that Mary had chosen the good portion, he is telling Martha that she needs to find a place in her life for this contemplative quality, and that this perspective would make her good actions better. He is also warning Mary that there is something even better than the good portion. This is the union of contemplation and action.

    Purity of intention developed through contemplation brings to action the quality of love. Without contemplative prayer, action easily becomes mechanical, routine, draining, and may lead to burnout. At the very least, it fails to perceive the goldmine that ordinary life contains. Daily life is practice number-one for a Christian, but it can cease to be a practice without the discipline of contemplative prayer. The contemplative dimension of the Gospel perceives in daily life the treasures of holiness hidden in the most trivial and mundane events.

    Jesus' statement is a call both to Mary and Martha, not just to Martha. Martha's activity was good, Mary's was better, but neither was good enough. Both needed to move into the union and harmony of the two, which is the contemplative dimension of the gospel. Through contemplative prayer we come under the influence of the Spirit both in prayer and action. Then action is truly prayer. Prayer is relationship, and hence capable of almost infinite growth. Relationship can go on growing forever, especially relationship with the infinite God. Prayer is the relationship in which purity of heart, reached through the unloading of the unconscious and the dismantling of the false-self system, opens us to the will of God in everything and enables us to respond out of divine love to the events of everyday life.

    Jesus said to Martha, "You are agitated and upset by many things." "Agitated" is the key word; it means that she was attached to her activity, or possibly to Mary's inactivity. She was serving the Lord to please herself, not with purity of heart, which seeks to please God and to do what divine love would do in each situation. Her agitation pointed to the fact that one of her emotional programs for happiness had been frustrated. There was nothing wrong with her activity, but  to be agitated or upset indicated that she was under the influence of the false-self and withdrawn from the purity of divine inspiration.

    This parable encourages us to seek the integration of action and prayer. This time of contemplative prayer is the place of encounter between the creative vision of union with Christ and its incarnation in daily life. Without this daily confrontation, the contemplative vision can stagnate into a privatized game of perfectionism or succumb to the subtle poison of seeking one's own satisfaction in prayer. On the other hand, without the contemplative vision, daily renewed in contemplative prayer, action can become self-centered and forgetful of God. The contemplative dimension guarantees the union of Martha and Mary. This union is symbolized by Lazarus, who was the third member of the household. He is the symbol of the union of the active and contemplative lives. The mysterious illness that led to his death was self-knowledge, the awareness of his false-self system.  As the risen life of Christ emerges from the ashes of his false-self system, he enters into the freedom and joy of divine life.

    Teresa of Avila says that transforming union might be likened to the transformation of a worm into a butterfly. The life of a butterfly totally transcends that of a worm, but the worm contributes to the process by weaving its own cocoon. By the regular practice of contemplative prayer and by dismantling the emotional programs for happiness, we too weave our cocoon, die to the false-self system, and await the moment of resurrection.

More information can be obtained by reading the book The Mystery of Christ by Fr. Thomas Keating.  It is offered in our Book Store.