Choosing The "Good" Part

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t Martha’s feast day starting today, 29 July 2021, will now include Mary and Lazarus after Pope Francis approved the combined memorial. The decree, published last 2 February 2021, explained that the “traditional uncertainty of the Latin church” regarding the identity of three women named Mary in the Gospels—Mary Magdalene, Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and Mary “the sinner whose sins the Lord had forgiven”—was resolved “in recent studies and times.” This paved the way for holding one memorial for the three siblings whom “Jesus loved” (Jn 11:5).

I would like to talk about three women in today’s combined memorial of the three siblings. First, there is Martha. Through time, as the reverence for St Martha developed, the images of maturity, strength, common sense, and concern for others have been highlighted. During this pandemic period, people like Martha are the ones writing history. During last year’s Urbi et Orbi message of Pope Francis, he said, “You are calling on us to seize this time of trial as a time of choosing. It is not the time of your judgement, but of our judgement: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not.” Pope Francis acknowledges the ordinary people—often forgotten people—who are not in the newspaper and magazine headlines but “who without any doubt are in these very days writing the decisive events of our time: doctors, nurses, supermarket employees, cleaners, caregivers, providers of transport, law and order forces, volunteers, priests, religious men and women and so very many others who have understood that no one reaches salvation by themselves.” These people are the Martha’s who are contributing to the healing of the world more than all the vaccines combined could accomplish. For Pope Francis, he considers prayer and quiet service as our victorious weapons not only against the virus but against many evils. We owe to all those who are doing quiet service why the rest of us have survived until today. We must never forget to pray for them. My youngest sister, who is a nurse, has chosen to be sent to a more dangerous work place like the hospital. To improve her medical capabilities, she took an additional training and certification as Infectious Disease Preventionist on top of her already demanding duties. I, as a priest was even more afraid of her choices than she for herself. So many others are choosing to exercise patience and to offer hope. The Martha’s in our midst includes many fathers, mothers, grandparents and teachers who are showing their children or students, in small everyday gestures, how to face up to and shepherd their own flock by adjusting their routines and sacrificing their own personal preference. If Martha were to go through this pandemic, she would not simply throw caution to the wind but she will ask for all the help she could get like when she asked Jesus for her sister’s assistance with the chores in the kitchen.

Secondly, we move to Mary. The two sisters have often been contrasted this way: on one hand, Martha being "encumbered about many things" while Jesus was their guest, on the other hand, Mary having chosen "the better part,” that of listening to Jesus’s teachings. I looked into the original Greek New Testament to see the context of the phrase “the better part” (Lk 10:38-42). It seems to me this is the culprit why all this time many have been saying that it was Mary who chose the better part while Martha did not. The Greek word used by the evangelist is "ἀγαθήν" agathein derived from "ἀγαθός" agathos, meaning, “good.” Jesus says of Mary that she has chosen the “good” part and not the “better” part. I am reminded of Shakespeare who once said “Striving to be better, oft we mar what's well.” This detail in the translation liberates us from the constant comparison that we make of the two sisters. Mary too has exercised her freedom to choose like Martha, but what she has chosen to do is not better than but equally as good as Martha’s choice. It is not as simple as seeing one of the sisters as doing it wrong while another is doing it right. Perhaps, one image that we can use is to look at Martha and Mary as two dimensions of relating and responding to the Lord. There may be other dimensions than Mary’s and Martha’s. Whether we are more like Mary or Martha, let us not forget the one thing necessary who is Jesus himself. In relating to Jesus, the more dimensions we open ourselves to the better. Just as a three-dimensional object has to have a length, width and breadth, our path to Jesus is seen in multi dimensions and levels as well. This reminds us of the famous prayer of St Paul for the Ephesians, "[I pray that you] may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God..." (Eph 3:18-19).

Third woman, is our first Filipino Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz who just won the Philippines’ first ever gold since the country first joined in 1924. Upon looking into Hidilyn's life, I realized how the traits of both Martha and Mary are present in her. Martha’s images of maturity, strength, common sense are reflected in the weightlifter's persistence through the years. She also went through bouts of depression and almost quit. She hit rock bottom when there was no one to extend to her the support she needed in her training. She got harshly bashed online when she was included in the list of those who wanted President Duterte expelled from office through an ouster plot. Despite all the series of setback she chose to pursue her dream to bring home an Olympic gold medal for herself and her fellow Filipinos. She too has great concern for others especially the very poor aspiring athletes by helping them and giving them inspiration. The mark of Mary’s devotion in Hidilyn was manifested when she sacrificed not seeing her family for more than a year just to be trained by her equally dedicated coaches. Perhaps, there were many times when along the way she felt like she was doing it wrong rather than doing it right. But here is the catch. We grow much stronger by doing things wrong than by doing things right. Hidilyn owes her victory to every setback that came her way before winning the elusive Olympic gold medal.

I would like to end with this quote from Fr Richard Rohr’s book Falling Upward, “…the demand for the perfect is the greatest enemy of the good.” Martha, Mary, Lazarus and Hidilyn represent many of us, most especially the ordinary people who are all "good" people—meaning—we have learned or are now learning more how to include contradictions, setback and others, even risking our own proper self-image and to the extent of being misunderstood, ridiculed or bashed. That is why, the simple and good people would come out of the experience very strong and resilient. We let life’s imperfections mold us. Amen. Fr JM Manzano SJ