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Scripture Reflections for Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C, Lectionary 108

THEMES: Abraham • Community • Covenant • Cross • Disciple • Distraction • Encounter • Evangelize • Faith • Focus • Friendship • Hospitality • Identity • Journey • Listen • Love • Martha • Meal • Paul • Peace • Praise • Pray • Priority • Relationship • Rest • Revelation • Share • Suffering • Teresa of Avila • Trinity • Welcome • Women • Worry •

Genesis 18:1-10

Psalm 15:2-5

Colossians 1:24-28

“Christ intended for the afflictions that he experienced and endured on Calvary, on Good Friday, and this is the mystery, to continue in his mystical body that is the Church on earth. And if that seems mysterious, you're right. That's why Paul calls it a musterion.” -Brant Pitre

“just as one system of the body can sometimes take up the work of another if that system is suffering or one organ can bear the burden of another which is ailing, so one member of the body of Christ can perhaps bear the burden of another”

Bishop Robert Barron. "Paul’s Suffering." Word on Fire. July 22, 2007

Luke 10:38-42

“We all get stuck like Martha periodically...her experience is a prayer we too could use: 'Lord, if my perspective about this person or this situation is mistaken please let me know. Point me in a better direction. Help me to see as you see.'” -Ellie Hidalgo

“If we are trying to be kind to someone the first step we need to take is to listen and to see into the heart of the person we desire to help, to forget our own plans, to forget our agenda and then to identity the person's needs” -Fr. Emmanuel Ochigbo

“in this case here it's the service that Martha's providing is leading her to two problems: namely to be distracted and to be worried or to be anxious. And that's what Jesus, so to speak, rebukes her for.” -Brant Pitre

“As disciples of Jesus we cannot be reduced to being Good Samaritans of this world, important as they are. It is not enough merely to do good things for people. Disciples of Jesus must be inspired and nourished by a sitting at the feet of Jesus allowing his word to form, inform and transform us” -Fr. Geoffrey Plant

“if you study medieval paintings of Martha, paintings from Italy and France and Germany from the 13th to the 16th century you will see...these artists portray Martha as a dragon slayer. The feminine version of St. George.” -Susan Fleming McGurgan

“The more we over-invest in our work the greater the danger of taking too much of our meaning from our work rather than from our relationships”

Ron Rolheiser, OMI. "Working Too Hard – It Begins as Virtue and Ends as Escape." ronrolheiser.com. November 25, 2012

“What if this encounter with the Lord is not about these two women but rather about our own conflicting ideas of encountering the Lord? If we are to follow Christ we must allow him into our lives, under our roof, and allow his word to make us whole”

Fr. Brendan Slevin. "Under My Roof." Torch. July 18, 2010

“it sounds like Jesus speaks kind of strongly to Martha...but he's not doing it to condemn her. He's doing it to defend the value of rest. He wants us to know that he values the time we take to rest, especially when it's a silent and a quiet rest in his presence.”

Fr. Juan P. Ruiz. "Pause and Breathe." Juan Point at a Time. July 30, 2022

“We are called to consider, 'am I a Martha or a Mary?' when it comes to my relationship with Jesus”

Gemma Thomson and Senior students from Iona College. "Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time." Australian Women Preach. July 17, 2022

Overall Readings

“You can serve, you can work hard like Abraham did but if you have a peaceful heart you're in the right place...you can sit and rest but if you don't have a peaceful heart, if you have a heart of anxiety and worry then you have a Martha heart...It's not about action versus contemplation. It's about where your heart is.” -Fr. Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ

“if you are a people who focus on praising God you'll be able to see the many blessing that God is sending your way even in the midst of the mess each and every day” -Fr. Tony Ricard

“I invite you to be part of this hospitality. Embracing the immigrants, embracing the people who doesn't have any voice, we can be the voice for them. Embrace our neighbors and at last we need to embrace our family and embrace ourselves” -Lupita Vital Cruz

“if Jesus Christ is in your life, if you know the Lord Jesus as your Lord and savior, if he's your best friend, if you listen to him, if you make time for him, then there is nothing to be worried about” -Monsignor Raymond East

“I believe that friendship with God is open to all...How I express it may be like Martha one day, like Mary another. It may cause me to be honest in blunt, honest conversation like Abraham did one day, while I may doubt God’s work like Sarah the next...In any and all these things, it is the relationship that is important.”

Mary Ortwein. "Friends with God." A Catholic Moment. July 16, 2022

“We must, in short, give ourselves over to the welcome of that which we do not know in advance and that we cannot predict. This invitation is demanding and liberating. We are likely to find ourselves, like Abraham, unknowingly welcoming a messenger of God.”

Fr. Oliver Keenan. "Deep Hospitality." Torch. July 12, 2022

“no single sacrifice and charity shown to the “Other” especially to the strangers, the homeless, the abandoned, the sick and all who cannot reciprocate our charity will go unrewarded. Our God takes account of every single charity we show to others.”

Fr. Lawrence Obilor. "God our guest." A Catholic Moment. July 21, 2019

“as Jesus makes known to Martha, sitting and listening to the visiting stranger is an important way of recognizing the stranger’s dignity, and it is much more than seeing the person as just one more mouth to be fed”

Erica Olson. "Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time." Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. July 21, 2019

“Mary is concerned about what Jesus can give to her, and sits soaking up his teaching. Martha is concerned with what she can do for Jesus, and is busy about serving the food.”

John Bergsma. "Entertaining God." The Sacred Page. July 18, 2019

“You might expect that if we have been made in the image of God we would share the same hospitality genes. We seem capable of receiving his bounty but less good when the tables are turned and we are asked to return his generosity and attentiveness.”

Fr. David Sanders. "The Welcome Guest." Torch. July 17, 2019

“Do you see Him in the people you encounter, in the situations you’re presented with? Do you seek His will in the choices you make? Do you thank Him in all that you do in life, for the means and abilities that He has blessed you wtih?”

Joseph LaCombe. "Recognizing God in the Moment." A Catholic Moment. July 16, 2016

“Mary knows that we do not feed him, but rather, it is he who feeds us. We do not prepare a banquet for him, because it has already been prepared by him and it is for us. He does not sit at our table but rather it is we who sit at his table.”

Fr. Dermot Morrin. "At the Feet of Jesus." Torch. July 11, 2016

“It is through people and our interaction with them that God speaks to us and acts in the world. The guests you have in your house may be the means by which God is changing your life through them, and it can also be that he is using you to change their lives.”

Fr. Anthony Axe. "Welcoming and Being Welcomed." Torch. July 21, 2013

“No one is independent, except God. And the most basic dependence of humanity rests on him.”

Fr. Bruno Clifton. "The Hunger of God." Torch. July 22, 2007

“Jesus is a guest in the house of Martha, but it is Mary who finds her home at Jesus’ feet and is fed by his words. Abraham and Sarah receive the three men and show their generosity to their guests, but the men are there to bring God’s generosity to them.”

Fr. Peter Hunter. "At Home with God." Torch. July 18, 2004

“To share food is to share life. In both encounters God is offered the food which gives one kind of life, and in return gives the word of God, which gives another kind of life.”

Fr. Robert Pollock. "Encountering God." Torch. July 22, 2001

“once you know you're dealing with God he deserves all of your attention. Your life is about him. All your thoughts, all your moves, all your actions they're about him. They're focused and centered on him. It's the priority given to God in life. That's what we're meant to see here.”

Bishop Robert Barron. "Focus on the One Thing Necessary." Word on Fire. July 17, 2022

“just as God revealed his name to Moses by telling him his name, God reveals his identity to us by showing us the one who is light from light, true God from true God, Jesus Christ”

Fr. Fisher. "." St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church. July 23, 2019

“whatever you're doing, the many things, your duties, responsibilities, cares, preoccupations, as you're doing them can you honestly say, 'this is in accord with what God wants'?”

Bishop Robert Barron. "The One Thing Necessary." Word on Fire. July 18, 2004

“Faith means desiring one thing. Faith means that my life is focused unambiguously, without competition, without compromise on God and the things of God.”

Bishop Robert Barron. "A Passion for the Impossible." Word on Fire. July 22, 2001

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