14th Week of Pentecost

1 Thessalonians 2:1-13
For you yourselves know, brothers, that our reception among you was not without effect. Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated, as you know, in Philippi, we drew courage through our God to speak to you the gospel of God with much struggle. Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives, nor did it work through deception. But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the gospel, that is how we speak, not as trying to please human beings,but rather God, who judges our hearts. Nor, indeed, did we ever appear with flattering speech, as you know, or with a pretext for greed–God is witness– nor did we seek praise from human beings, either from you or from others, although we were able to impose our weight as apostles of Christ. Rather, we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us. You recall, brothers, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers. As you know, we treated each one of you as a father treats his children, exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you conduct yourselves as worthy of the God who calls you into his kingdom and glory. And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that,in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.

Luke 10:38-42
As they continued their journey he 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.”

The Prayer of the Faithful, vol. III
PROEMION
Praise, glory, an honor to the King of kings and Lord of lords; he is the Creator of heaven and earth,
the One who ordered the stars in their places.
To him is due adoration and praise, all days and nights,
from all peoples, nations and tribes, at all times and feasts, now and for ever.
Amen.

Meditation on the Sunday of Heeding the Word (Martha and Mary)
Usually, commentators say that this story (Martha and Mary) demonstrates the difference between the admirable contemplative life and the slightly less admirable active life. I disagree. I think it is a call for focus and balance. All of life is meant to be spiritual and can be if done with singleness of mind. Both contemplation and activity are necessary and good, two sides of a single coin called “the spiritual life”. Most of us do not have the option of sitting around being contemplative all the time. I have news for you. Neither do contemplatives! Balance is necessary for everyone. Everybody has work to do. Even hermits straighten up their caves! It is how we pray and how we work that matters. In fact, our Orthodox faith sees all of life as spiritual.
If we live with conscious awareness, keeping our minds still and attentive, everything takes on a truly spiritual dimension. Try it. You’ll see. Stay concentrated on whatever you are doing and all of sudden prayer begins to happen. God reveals himself as present when we become present. As one spiritual writer has said, “Stay present and you will run into the Presence.” Whether contemplating or working or playing we can, through mindfulness, wed ourselves to God.
It is essential to have times of meditation and prayer everyday. It is like lifting weights to build up a specific set of muscles. When we work out a few days a week over time the other dimensions of life are affected as well. But it works the other way around too. If we focus attentively to the everyday things we have to do deliberately and consistently, over time, when we come to pray or work we discover that we do a better job. Contemplation and activity are really two sides of the same coin. Whatever we are doing we need to remember that it is “the one needful thing” at that very moment. Life becomes prayer and prayer becomes life and we become prayer itself rather than just pray-ers.
The instruction of St. Paul to “pray without ceasing” begins to make more sense this way. It actually becomes doable for all of us. – Homily of Fr. Anthony Hughes, St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church