Distracted from Distraction by Distraction

A Reflection on the Gospel for July 17th, 2022:
​Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Luke
10:38-42 

Now as Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.

But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

In T.S. Eliot’s poem, “Burnt Norton” (the first of his “Four Quartets”), he reflects on various themes, including on how humanity is impacted by original sin and on the nature of our existence and relationship to God. In his third section, he writes that we are “distracted from distraction by distraction,” and this line echoed in my mind as I read Christ’s response to Martha in this week’s Gospel.


It is easy, even when we have welcomed God into the home of our hearts, to busy ourselves with many tasks that lead us to ignore or forget His presence. I love Him, and yet I can recognize that I have become idle when it comes to daily prayer and meditation. Feeling overwhelmed by many responsibilities, I expend the majority of my energy on a myriad of checklist items (that never end). There is great competition for my attention and, unfortunately, the longer I fail to prioritize daily prayer the weaker I become in that discipline. Ironically, focusing on God and being with Him is exactly what I need to do to allow Him to fill me with the love and grace needed to sustain any and all efforts in my life if I hope for them to be at all fruitful. 


I hear the Holy Spirit gently encouraging me to slow down and adopt Mary’s disposition — to sit at Jesus’ feet and simply be with and listen to Him. There is a reason that ora (pray) precedes labora (work), and this season of my life is demonstrating the necessity of the order. Thankfully, Christ is patient and merciful, and He doesn’t tire of reminding us that “there is need of only one thing.” Let us take time to pause and allow Him to reveal what He wants to speak to us and show us in the “now” of this moment. 


Come Holy Spirit! Remove all distractions, quiet our hearts, and speak to us. Amen.



Kendra L.

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