Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Martha has a problem, and she goes to the Lord. We can read her words as a prayer. She brings him what she wants and asks him to act. That is how we pray. But the Lord’s answer to her request is no.

And notice that he does more than deny her request. Martha is complaining that her sister Mary is not helping her. She wants the Lord to tell Mary to change. Instead, he tells Martha that she is the one who needs to change.

That must have been a difficult rebuke to hear. Martha had gathered the courage to lay her heart before the Lord, and his response was to call her to change. And I think she did. We do not see her reject his words or turn away in anger. When we meet Martha and Mary again in John’s Gospel, at the raising of Lazarus, Martha makes a profound confession of faith. Like Peter, she acknowledges Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. I think we can see in that confession the fruit of a heart willing to listen to the Lord, even when his answer is no.

This is important for us. We may pray fervently for something, perhaps for a change in another person, and sometimes the Lord’s response will be, “You must change.” We may not want to hear that. It can sting. But accepting his correction is part of the path to authentic holiness.

Anger and sullenness will not lead us where we truly want to go. The Lord loves us. He wills our good, and he is guiding us along that path. So instead of remaining fixed on what we want him to do, we must be open to what he is asking of us.

Whenever we pray, we must be willing to hear a no. We must be willing to receive the Lord’s rebuke and allow it to take root in our hearts. If we listen to him and truly follow him, he will lead us where we most deeply want to go: to eternal life in his presence.