What matters

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100725.cfm

We have heard the story of Saints Martha and Mary over and over. We have looked for and found ourselves in one or the other of these blessed women. Perhaps we have found ourselves identifying with both of these friends of Jesus at different moments in our lives. This identifying usually comes in the form of considering contemplation vs. action.

St. Augustine would propose that it is much deeper than this. The entire Bible tells us that hospitality is good and even says that we should not neglect it because through it men have entertained angels. Augustine says that what really makes Mary’s part the better part is that she is focused on what will always be. He puts it this way:

“Thou breakest bread to the hungry; because you have found an hungry man; take hunger away; to whom do you break bread? Take houseless wandering away; to whom do you show hospitality? Take nakedness away; to whom do you furnish clothes? Let there be no sickness; whom do you visit? No captivity; whom do you redeem? No quarrelling; whom do you reconcile? No death; whom do you bury?”

In other words, when we are all in heaven, what serving will there be to do? Mary, on the other hand, has chosen to focus on what Jesus has to teach. To focus on the very Word of God. This word will last forever.

Now I am known to be a ‘passionate’ person. That is the kind word for it. I am the excitable type, in both a good way, and in a bad way. I can get fired up for the amazing blessings God has given us, and I can also get wound up about injustice and inaction and an interception thrown at the wrong moment in a football game. What Augustine is saying to my excitable nature is this: Ask yourself when will it matter?

I used to try to get my kids to think this way when they were upset about something: Will it matter 5 minutes from now? Will it matter 5 hours from now? Will it matter 5 days from now? 5 years? 5 decades? As we carry out this time frame, we can see that some issues and concerns dissipate quickly. Augustine would say that we should jump quickly to this question: Will it matter in eternity??

When we can answer yes to this question, then we are looking through the lens of the ONE THING THAT MATTERS – Christ. He is the one who brings us to eternity and will share it with us. When we choose this, when we choose Him first and foremost, it will not be taken from us. We should NOT stop serving. We should NOT stop sharing hospitality, we should NOT stop tending to the needs of others. But we have to look at all of it through the lens of Jesus Christ, or we might just miss out on the One and Only thing that matters.