Be Still and know that I am God
A blessed and happy Sunday to all! Welcome to the 14th Sunday of Pentecost. This week’s Gospel focuses on a passage of Martha and Mary - the busy sister who seems to be running around and the quiet one who sits at the feet of Jesus listening to Him. In the Gospel passage this Sunday, Jesus is calling us to choose the best option available to us – to listen carefully and to preach His Word, not for ourselves and our own glory but for the glory of God who knows the heart of each individual.
How do we do this? Firstly, let us look at Mary – the sister, whom in Christs’ presence, sat at His feet listening to Him. Through Mary’s example, we see that she dedicated time specifically to sit with the Lord, granting Him the opportunity to talk to her whilst she listens. We too need to adopt this example in our own lives that have become such a blur with all the running around that we do. In order to be filled with the Lord, we must constantly and regularly dedi-cate time to sit with Him and listen carefully to what He may be saying to us. We need to once again develop the skill to listen carefully; to listen with our hearts.
It is only in listening carefully to the gentle voice of Jesus deep within us that we can serve the Lord as Martha did. But
Martha seemed to have failed, for Jesus tells her that her sister had chosen the better option. Therefore, we can ask the question was Martha really listening to the Words of Jesus? Was her will attuned to the will of God? Sometimes, most times, we can be like that too – we get so worked up in preparing and running around that we fail to see the small yet very important things. Martha could have been a great model of Evangelisation, active and empowered – but she was not listening carefully. We too, have an opportunity to be evangelisers of the Good News, without knocking on the doors of our neighbours. We first need to listen to the Word and true listening only compels us to go forth, imitating the Word that was spoken and heard.
Our Feast Week celebrations for 2018 came to an end on the 15th of August with the Feast of the Assumption and what an amazing 12 days we have had. I would like to sincerely thank all the countless volunteers who have made it a great success. Yes, we have heard it being said that Our Lady of Lebanon Parish is the largest Maronite Parish in the world but it is so because of its dedicated volunteers, committees, Pastoral Council and Stewardship Committee. Preparations for Feast Week 2018 took 3 months from planning to execution and we had in excess of 500 men, women and youth who assisted over a 2 week period. In recognition of the efforts of all volunteers, we will be holding a Thanksgiving Mass in honour of all who helped throughout Feast Week 2018 on the 6th October at 6pm. This will be followed by a Sahra. May the Morning Star, who embraces our Youth also embrace you and your families.
