Just a word before we go...Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time...July 17, 2022

            A sense of hospitality and welcome prevail in both the Genesis reading and the Gospel this weekend. Abraham and Sarah prepare refreshment and a feast for their three visitors in their tent under the terebinth at Mamre.  (We recognize this as the story that is depicted in our Andre Rublev icon on the side altar.)  The story of Martha and Mary is also familiar to us, and involves the opening of their home to Jesus.

Hospitality and welcome should be hallmarks of the Christian, but there is more than hospitality here. The Hebrew concept of our reason for being alive emerges; the term is “Tikkun Olam,”  and refers to the idea of healing the world.  How to heal the world you might ask?  The Hebrew idea, echoed by Christianity, tells us that what is required is a balance between contemplation and action; prayer and service, if you will.  Abraham and Sarah had prayed for years for a child; that prayer was answered by the three visitors to the tent, who promised them a son in the coming year. The answer to their prayer established Abraham and Sarah’s positions as “our ancestors in faith.”

In the Gospel, it is easy to see that Martha represents action, while Mary is the contemplative, sitting at the Master’s feet, absorbing wisdom. 

Reading between the lines by placing this story in context, as it immediately follows that of the Good Samaritan, one can surmise that Jesus is not choosing either contemplation or action as the favored stance, but that both are required in order to bring more light, more peace, more justice into the world.

How are we to apply these scripture lessons to our concrete life situations? How can we heal the world?  The answer will differ for each of us.  But perhaps, as a general rule...whenever we can add beauty or truth or goodness to our life or those of others, whenever we listen more and talk less, whenever we see a need and try to fill it as best we can, whenever we work together to create something that will outlast us, we are making a good start.  So, today, and all days, let us listen, pray for guidance, and act accordingly, as we do our part to heal the world.