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Archbishop Listecki


Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
 

 

Last Sunday, we heard the Gospel of Martha and Mary. This Gospel is mistakenly depicted as a battle between the doers and the contemplators. Like the old beer commercial, “Taste great, less filling,” it’s really both. Mary might be sitting at the feet of the master, but I can assure you my mother would have had her in the kitchen helping with the dishes.
 
Martha, of course, takes to heart the challenge of Jesus: “Martha, Martha, you worry about so many things. Only one thing is important, and Mary has chosen that portion.” In a later passage of the Gospel, with the death of her brother Lazarus, she makes one of the greatest professions of faith experienced in the scripture. She meets Jesus at the outskirts of town and says, “My brother would not have died had you been here. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” And Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said, “I know he will rise on the last day,” and Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me even if he dies will live, and everyone who believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the World.”
 
This statement of faith comes from someone who has joined their action to the ultimate belief in God, the source of all our doing and being. Our actions in this world are different when we know why we do what we do, and for whom we do it. Think of a person who you have loved the most in this world, who has now gone to their reward. If they were allowed to return to earth and walk into our living room, would we run to get them a snack or would we throw ourselves into their arms and celebrate their presence?  I think the answer is obvious.
 
There is so much good that is performed by so many. How this good work is magnified for the doer, when we realize that it is Jesus Christ that we celebrate as we LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
 

Note: This blog originally appeared as the July 19, 2016 "Love One Another" email sent to Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki. If you are interested in signing up for these email messages, please click here.

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