16th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Luke 10:38-42
Feast Day Gospel Reflections by Sister Rita Raboin

Every time I read this Gospel about Martha and Mary, I am inspired. I remember the appeal of St. Julie Billiart to the Sisters, in what sounds like an awkward expression for some people today. She asked them to live in a “Rapture of Action.” This was also the theme of an SND International Symposium, held in Springfield, MA about seven years ago when over five hundred Sisters of Notre Dame gathered for in-depth sharing. I was in Brazil and did not attend but I heard the highly positive evaluations. This thread ran through all the presentations. So many active, committed Sisters from five continents treasured the reflection and interaction.

This same appeal for a “rapture of action” finds itself inextricably woven in the fabric of our SND ministries everywhere and in this particular Gospel of St. Luke. In today´s Gospel, it does not seem like an either/or choice of what is better, and what is more necessary than something else with Martha and Mary. In listening to God´s Word, or at least trying to be attentive to it, people attempt to do what they do is an integrated way ---working and praying, not in an exclusionary way. Jesus tells us that listening is better. Mary has “chosen the better part.” We know, however, that the impact of her listening resounds in her actions all day long. In our daily reality, we do not really separate the action from the listening. Was St. Julie trying to say this to Sisters of Notre Dame in her call to us for a “rapture of action?” Was she trying to capture the essence of Jesus´ own words in this Gospel?

The witness of Jesus shows us that he never minimized action but he called us to it as he called us to change, to question, to make social transformations. The listening and the call only become authentic for us in the measure that we listen well to his words and do something about his message through action. We hear the words in our realities and in personal or social demands which Jesus’ message challenges us to face daily.

The listening that Mary was doing is indispensable because her attentiveness would also result in ongoing action for love of Jesus and others. Jesus indicated that Martha needed to be nurtured more, so as not be “anxious about many things…” but serene in the doing.

In reflecting on this Gospel, we look at both Martha and Mary and ask for the grace to live as contemplatives in action by holding in balance their listening and action in our everyday lives.

Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."

            This is the Gospel of the Lord.

 

Sister Rita Raboin

Rita was born in Boston, MA and she was raised in Cambridge. She attended Blessed Sacrament School in Cambridge and Cardinal Cushing High School for Girls in South Boston. She entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1962. Sister Rita taught in schools in St. Charles, Woburn, MA and St. Joseph, Salem, N.H. In 1973, she was missioned to Brazil and served in Maranhão in Northern Brazil for almost 16 years in rural communities. After sometime in the United States between 1991 and 1997, Rita had sabbatical time and worked with the Hispanic Community in Springfield, MA. She finished her Masters Degree in Education at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

In 1997, Sr. Rita returned to Brazil and began work in the Northern State of Pará. On the Island of Marajó, she works presently with women on Justice and Peace issues and re-entering the work of the Pastoral Land Commission. She is also a member of the Formation Team of the Brazil Province and shares community with three Brazilian Sisters, Maria Sousa Arruda, Maria de Fatima Borges, and Josineide M.Silva.