Etched in glass above the door at the entrance to Leander Hall
on the campus of Saint Vincent Seminary…
are these words from the monastic Rule of St. Benedict…
"Let all guests be received as Christ."
These words form the foundation of the hospitality
for which the Benedictine monks are so famous.
Today’s readings can be seen as stories of hospitality.
Abraham welcomes the three angels and feeds them in his own home.
Then in the Gospel, Martha welcomes the Lord Jesus and cares for Him…
serving Him and feeding Him from her own food.
Martha and Mary show us how to receive guests…
how to care for them and be attentive to them.
When our friends visit do we not cook for them…
and sit at their feet while they regale us with stories of travels and life at home?
This is also how we receive the Lord.
We welcome Him with great joy in the Eucharist…
show him great love and tenderness in our prayer
and sit at His feet listening intently to His Words of life and peace.
[PAUSE]
On a much deeper level…
Martha and Mary reveal to us the two-fold life of the Church…
the active and the contemplative dimensions.
Busy Martha is the active servant, burdened with much work for the sake of Jesus.
We see her spirit alive in
the diocesan priesthood,
in religious communities of friars, and nuns,
who teach, care for the sick and the poor,
and evangelize those who do not know Christ…
in all those who labor tirelessly for the good of the Church.
Pius Mary is the contemplative soul, resting at the feet of the Lord
and soaking up the splendor of His holy words.
Mary’s spirit lives
in the orders of monks and nuns
who spend their lives in the solitude of their convent or monastery,
praying and adoring the Lord…
Her spirit lives in the hearts of those who enter into conversation with God in prayer.
[PAUSE]
There are active members of the Church and there are contemplatives.
Dominicans…
Poor Clares…
Among the saints the spirits of both Martha and Mary are alive.
Saint Francis…
Saint Therese…
Each of us…
as members of the Body of Christ…
and heirs of a great treasure bestowed upon us by the Lord Jesus…
is called to embrace the fullness of the life of the Church.
There needs to be both an active and a contemplative dimension to our lives.
If we work our fingers to the bone and never pause for prayer…
our minds and souls will be without the nourishment they need…
and soon they will whither like fruit on a tree that is without water.
And yet, if one is absorbed in prayer and never labors in the Lord’s vineyard…
the fruits of prayer are never put into action…
and the contemplation of our hearts never blossoms into good deeds.
There must always be a balance in our lives.
There is a time and place for work…
the work we do to sustain our families
and our labor in service to the Church…
…and there is a time and place for prayer,
and for reading the Scriptures and spiritual books.
Through her active service and contemplative prayer
the Church is always in relationship with Jesus Christ…
and remains open to the mysteries He reveals to us.
Through our own work and prayer…
we open our hearts to the mystery of Christ…
the mystery which Saint Paul tells us was hidden from past ages
but is revealed to us as the members of God’s Holy Church.
[PAUSE]
In recent days, our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI,
has called us in unique ways to open our hearts to the mysteries of Christ.
If you have followed the news,
you know that there have been important developments from the Vatican...
The Holy Father has issued a document called a motu proprio (Explain term…)…
which gives all priests permission…
where necessary for the good of the faithful…
to celebrate the ritual of Mass according to the Missal of 1962,
the ritual in place before the Second Vatican Council.
The Pope calls this celebration of the Mass the "extraordinary form."
The Mass as we know it, according to the Missal of 1970,
remains the "ordinary form."
Having these two forms of the one Roman Rite celebrated together
opens the Church up to new and exciting possibilities in worship.
It allows us to behold and to appreciate
the fullness of our Catholic liturgical tradition.
The missal of 1962 can teach us many lessons
in the area of reverence and cherishing a sense of the sacred.
The Pope says that both forms can learn and borrow from the other.
Perhaps in time we will see a mingling of the old liturgy and the new…
a blending of Latin and English…
and even more significantly a beautiful, noble, liturgy…
filled with the best elements of the whole Catholic tradition.
This decision of the Pope does not negate the goodness of Vatican II…
nor does it change our ordinary experience of the Mass.
It allows the whole Church to experience the fullness of her liturgical heritage…
and opens our hearts to experiencing the mystery of Christ in a fuller way.
[PAUSE]
As Catholic people we rejoice and give thanks for the splendor of our faith!
We open our hearts to the mystery of Christ
as revealed in the beauty of our liturgical tradition…
both the former ritual and the one we are accustomed to today.
Through our labors and our prayer,
may we always keep our hearts open to experiencing ever more deeply
the mystery of Christ.
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