A Solitary Ember Grows Cold
ONE
Today is the Feast of St. Martha.
Luke 10:38 Jesus came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to Him speaking. Now Martha, who was distracted with all the serving, said; “Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered; “Martha, Martha,” he said “you are anxious and worry about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her.”
Martha is reproved by Jesus because she is worried about so many things while Mary is praised for recognizing the one thing necessary – listening at the feet of Jesus in prayer.
But let’s not miss an important fact, Jesus was in the home of Martha precisely because she invited Him and gave Him hospitality. As a result, Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus became some of the best friends of Jesus. Oh, and by the way, it was probably a result of the hospitality and friendship that Jesus raised their brother Lazarus from the dead and all three became Saints.
God’s original plan, which is still in effect, is that faith would be passed on from parents to children and from friends to friends. This was to take place by means of friendship and good conversation. But to have friendship and good conversation it only makes sense that we invite people to where we live and then give them hospitality.
Martha is the patron saint of invitation and hospitality – now it’s our turn to follow.
TWO
A solitary ember grows cold. Put a heap of burning coals together and it erupts into a great fire that ignites everything around it.
If we try to live our faith alone – we grow cold.
That is why we all need a small group of family and friends with whom we can share life and integrate our faith so that we can enrich one another by our strengths and stretch each other by our differences.
Let’s call this a family-community.
We need to make the commitment to do this consistently, regularly, that is habitually. Preferably once a week.
We can only habitually do something with the resources habitually available to us. That is the home, or wherever we live. And that is why the Church was born in the home and the Church in crisis today will be reborn in the home.
And this is the very place where you invite those who have lost sight of God so that they too may share in your joy.
This is how we transform the culture.
THREE
How do we begin?
Observe who is already in your life.
Invite them to come together and give them some hospitality.
Do good things together - some activity that helps you experience your goodness, their goodness, and the goodness of God's creation.
● Prepare a meal and eat together and talk about life
● Have a meal outside in the beauty of nature – what could be better than good food, good drink, a beautiful setting and the people you love with good conversation?
● Have another family or friends over
● Go for a walk
● Play a game – bocce ball or croquet or soccer or kick-ball
● Listen to music together – there’s nothing better than live music.
● The point is, do stuff with family and friends so that you can delight in each other and the goodness of God’s creation.
Be genuinely interested in and delight in one another and talk about what matters most. Don’t gossip and don’t make politics into a religion.
If it is opportune – pray together.
FOUR
The best day to share life with your family community is Sunday
Because God knew what would make us happy, He commanded us to set aside Sunday as a special day to celebrate all he has done at Mass and to celebrate the goodness of creation with one another.
I’m confident that if we do what God asked, it will work.
Every Sunday, my wife Sandy and I get together with my parents, our grown kids, their significant others, and our grandkids.
We share a meal and hang out and talk and laugh and argue and delight in one another.
We’ve made the commitment to do this every Sunday because it’s our family, our community, our team.
Sunday Mass and sharing life with one another. It is the day of delight.
FIVE
On Christmas Day, 1969 then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict the XVI predicted our future when he saw:
Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty.
Immediately following this prediction Cardinal Ratzinger also predicted the hope for something entirely new. He said: Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.
Where will those who have lost sight of God find the little flock of believers? It probably won’t be in a Church or a retreat or a conference or Podcast or video about God and faith and religion – because the people who need God usually don’t know they need Him, so they don’t go looking for Him on their own.
They will find the little flock of believers where they live and share life with others when we have done two things:
First – when we have made the commitment to share life with a small group of people consistently, that is habitually, where we live.
Second – this is the place where we invite those who have lost sight of God to one degree or another.
And what will those people discover in us – people of hope and friendship and joy and deep faith and unconditional love. And they will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret.