[stephenkhoo]

PRAYER AS ESSENTIAL FOR WORK TO BECOME PRAYER
SCRIPTURE READINGS: JONAH 3:1-10; LK 10:38-42
http://www.universalis.com/20131008/mass.htm

It is a fact that tension exists between those who subscribe to the spirit of activism versus those who believe in the value of contemplation. For those who are activists, they say that doing is more important than praying. After all, they claim, “everything they do is prayer.” For the contemplatives however, they say that prayer is more important than work. We all know that there is no real tension between prayer and work. It is true that all work is indeed prayer but this presupposes that one has first prayed before he got down to work. Hence, between prayer and work, prayer has the primacy. All works must be rooted in prayer. Indeed, prayer itself is already work in a certain sense. Thus, unless a person has prayed, he cannot claim that his work is his prayer. Without prayer, our work cannot be said to have come from God, even if it is the work of God.

Why is this so? Work is really prayer only when we consciously do everything for the glory and love of God. More often than not, when we do our work and even if they are objectively godly or religious work, the spirit in which such tasks are accomplished are done without any reference to God whatsoever. Unless we consecrate everything we do for the Lord, one cannot say that all work is prayer.

Today, the gospel illustrates this truth very vividly. An activist like Martha apparently has good intentions. Martha, as we are told in the gospel, was busy with all the details of hospitality. She wanted to please her guest. Apparently, she was concerned with the well-being of her guest. But if we examine deeper into her motives, we realize that she was not really concerned about Jesus. Under the pretext of attending to Jesus, she was really more concerned about herself and her reputation. If she had been so busy attending to the details of hospitality, it was because she wanted to gain attention from Jesus. There is no doubt that Martha was expecting Jesus to praise her for being so attentive to His needs. But when Jesus seemed not to take notice of her so-called works for Him, she got irritated.

We can be sure that Martha was not irritated because Mary did not help her. She was irritated because she was jealous that Jesus was paying more attention to Mary than her. For this reason, she did not complain to Mary that she was not helping her. Rather, she complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping her. And in her jealousy, she began to indulge in self-pity. She told Jesus, “Lord, are you not concerned that my sister has left me all alone to do the household tasks?” Mark the words, “all alone”. In other words, she is saying “Poor me! I am not only called Martha but truly a martyr for others”. She needed to portray herself as the better person who works hard for Jesus and therefore loves Him more, and by implication, Jesus should be more pleased with her than with the lazy Mary.

But not only that, she became demanding. She told Jesus, “Tell her to help me.” And the reply of Jesus was simply this: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and upset about many things.” Yes, the real problem is that when our work does not spring from our prayer, then our work becomes simply a means to egoism. Jealousy, backbiting, self-pity, agitation, anxiety, are all signs that we are more concerned with ourselves than with true service of others. That is why Thomas Merton tells us that one clear sign that the works we do are not from God is when we begin to feel agitated, restless and anxious.

But when we look at Mary, she was different. What was Mary doing? We are told that Mary “was seated at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking.” The truth is that Mary was the one who gave the greatest hospitality to her host. What greater hospitality can we give to someone than by giving our undivided attention and interest? That is why sometimes when people invite us, and if we find our hosts boring, it is because they tend to talk more about themselves and boasting about their success and glories than being more concerned about us. Sometimes, what we want when we visit someone is not being fussed over about our material comfort and the food served, but we want someone who is interested in who we are, what we are doing and how we are feeling. We want to be seen as persons and loved as such, not for the hosts to display their culinary skills and to show off their beautiful house.

Mary was not like that. She was totally interested in Jesus. And by giving Jesus her full attention, she herself surely was also uplifted and inspired. Rightly so then, Jesus remarked, “Mary has chosen the better portion and she shall not be deprived of it.” Yes, because Mary was focused on Jesus, she was fulfilled and complete. She was not anxious or upset in any way. She was simply at rest, peaceful and contented. She did not even defend herself at the accusation of Martha. Instead she was simply enjoying Jesus’ company. Perhaps, she was so absorbed in Jesus that nothing else in this world ,bothered her, not even the presumptuous remarks of her sister.

Mary’s contemplative spirit shows that she was self-effacing. She was not concerned with her reputation. She did not try to gain Jesus’ favours; she did not fight with Martha for attention; nor did she get angry with Martha for complaining to Jesus about her. Instead, she remained calm and absorbed. She could do this only because she was emptied of her ego. In her humility, she forgot about herself and lost herself simply in Jesus. She was a true host because she made Jesus totally at home with her. She invited Jesus into the intimacy of her heart.

Parallel to the gospel reading is today’s first reading. Jonah mirrors Martha in today’s gospel. Yesterday, we read that Jonah did not want to prophesy. And the real reason for his escaping from his call to prophesy was because he was afraid that the people would not listen to him and thus he would look like a fool. But we know from the story that a prophet cannot escape from God’s call. So today, we read that he indeed called the people to repentance. But again, he was not so much interested in their repentance. In fact, he was more concerned about himself. He wanted to prove to the people that he was a great prophet and that those things he predicted would befall them. He thought that the people would never repent. But he was wrong.

Instead of the three days it would have taken to traverse the city to get the people to repent, it took him only one day of proclamation before the whole people repented, including the King himself. And of course, the catastrophe was avoided. This made Jonah angry with God because he “lost face”. What he prophesied never happened. So you see, Jonah was a prophet who was more concerned with himself than others. Although he was doing the work of God, he was not doing the work for God. If he were, he would have been happy that the people repented. Instead, he felt hurt and bitter with God. He was egoistic and not really doing it for the love and compassion of the people.

And this is true for many of us working in the Church, or are involved in Church ministries. How often is there a total lack of charity, respect and compassion for fellow workers in the ministries! At times, such so called meetings are held with such hostility and tension even though those involved are supposedly doing the work of God. When we Christians working together are bitter against each other, no matter what we do, God will not bless our efforts. It shows that God’s work is used as a means to impose our will and to boost our ego, rather than as a means to offer true humble service for the Lord.

In contrast the King and his countrymen listened to the voice of God through the prophet Jonah. They were truly remorseful. The king, instead of being arrogant, took the words of the prophet to heart. And because they changed their way of life, they were saved from the consequences of their evil deeds. In living a life in fidelity to truth and love, they were liberated from self-destruction.

Indeed, the psalmist tells us, “Let Israel wait for the Lord, for with the Lord is kindness and with him is plenteous redemption; and he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.” To wait on the Lord is more than serving Him as in the case of Martha. Waiting on the Lord primarily means to be attentive to His voice and give Him our heart, soul and body. As the book of Deuteronomy says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.” (Dt 6:6-5)