16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time C.  July 18, 2004.  Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30.  Genesis 18: 1-10a.  Colossians 1:24-28.  Luke 10: 38-42.

I heard a little boy say that he was either going to be a doctor or a fireman.  Later he will probably want to be a baseball player, a teacher or spaceman. College students are often baffled and confused by all the choices that are offered them in today’s work world.  Sometimes they wander aimlessly from college class to class and from job to job, not being able to make up their minds.  Men and women in their 50’s may have a crisis of identity over whether their job is the right job or their marriage is the right marriage. We all like to hang onto our options.  We all want to preserve our right to chose again. None of us want to be trapped.  Freedom is a very high value in our society.   While freedom is a great gift, we can exaggerate the gift of freedom to the point that we never really settle down and never really make lasting decisions in life. 

It is not until we surrender our lives totally to someone one or something that we will really know who we are or where we are going. God made us for worship. Worship is a very important part of our human nature.  Whatever we bend our knee to in worship is the person or the thing that organizes and directs our lives.  Some people surrender their lives to a dream or an important cause.  Some people surrender their lives to a spouse and a family.  Some people surrender their lives to politics, or business or wealth.  Some people surrender their lives completely to God.  In our society there are many who never surrender their lives at all.  They worship every place and no place. They worship everyone and no one.  They are like colorful butterflies flitting from one flower to the next, surrendering to nothing and making no place their home for long.

As Abraham sat at the entrance to his tent on a very hot day he saw three men standing there.  For some strange and mysterious reason Abraham placed his life at the service of the three visitors.  He had a great feast prepared for them and welcomed them to his table. Abraham recognized the three men as a visit from God.  Although there were three men, Abraham greets them in the singular.  He calls them “Sir”.  This reading from the book of Genesis is the inspiration of the world famous and widely revered 15^th century icon in our sanctuary.  Three persons are on God.  The table of hospitality is God’s table, not Abrahams – even though Abraham has prepared the meal, it is the Holy Trinity that gives the gifts.  Abraham is a very old man when this mysterious divine visit happens.  His wife Sarah is also very old.  Because Abraham has surrender his life to the three visitors and opened his home to them, one of the visitors says, “I will surely return to you about this time next year and Sarah will then have a son.”   After a life time of trying to have a child Abraham and Sarah are given the free gift of a son because they had surrender their lives to three visitors – they had given their lives to God.  The altar at which we worship determines the gift that we will get in life.

We get out of life what he we worship and what we have surrendered our lives to. Martha was busy about many things precisely because Jesus was a guest in her house and she wanted to be hospitable.  What she was doing was God.  She was doing precisely what Abraham had done in welcoming the three visitors, but Jesus wants to teach us something more.  Our sons and our daughters, our hospitality and our business are not the ultimate goals of life although all of these things are very good.  Martha is also a saint.  What she is doing is good, but Jesus wants to teach us even more.  What we give our lives to is what we have in the end.  Martha will have the reward of hospitality.  But Mary, who chose to sit at the Lord’s feet and listen to his word, will have the reward of knowing and loving the Lord, deeply and intimately.  No one or nothing will ever be able to take that from her.   

We all have good excuses for what we do or don’t do in life.  While our excuses may be valid and good, they do not change the outcome.  I may have perfectly valid reasons for not showing for baseball practice.  The excuse doesn’t change the fact that I will never play in the All Star game or be in the baseball Hall of Fame.  We may have perfectly good excuses for not getting around to daily prayer, or to Sunday Mass, or for not spending time with family, or for not taking care of our health or for not planning our future.  The excuse may be perfectly good and valid.  The excuse doesn’t change the fact that we haven’t grown in our love and knowledge of God or in the depth of our relationship with our spouse, children and friends, or in setting a good direction of our lives.  Excuses are excuses.  They do not make up for the fact that we may be missing something that is very important in a healthy and holy life.

The things we worship and surrender our lives to are the things and tell us who we are and were we are going in life.  Jesus was not criticizing Martha when he said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about so many things (Yes Martha, you are anxious and worried about so many really good things)   But there is need for only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

The table that we chose to sit at and the things we worship and surrender our lives to are the things that give stability, direction and meaning to our lives.  In the midst of all the distraction in life, both good and bad, we thank God for the courage to choose the better part.