Homily for Ordinary Time 16 - July 17, 2022

 

Ordinary Time 16

July 17, 2022

At the Feet of Jesus

 

            Poor Jesus. Every time He goes somewhere, they’re always bringing the lame and cripples and sick out to him. They want Him to constantly do miracles, bring some healing, multiply bread and fish, or save them from a storm at sea. It’s always request after request.

            How much of a blessing, then, must it be for Jesus to come to the house of friends, where He is on the receiving end of kindness! And Mary gives Him the greatest kindness of all – just lovingly sitting at His feet, listening to Him.

            So – let’s look at our own relationship with Jesus. How many of us would say that the majority of our prayer is asking God for things? When I look at our book of prayers out in the Church vestibule, it’s a litany of requests – heal this person, find this person a job, bring this person back to the Faith. All good things – and God does want us to bring our needs to Him. But true spirituality begins when we stop seeking God’s blessings and we start seeking God. God is not just a vending machine to give us stuff (“I want healing from my ailments, so I’ll put in my three Hail Mary’s and hope that I can get some healing!”). He is a Father who simply loves to spend time with His children.

            So how do we “sit at the feet of Jesus” and listen to Him with loving attention? There are many ways to do so – silence, Adoration, the Rosary – but today I want to speak about a powerful way to sit at His feet, called Lectio Divina.

            Lectio Divina literally means “Sacred Reading” and it is a way to read Scripture where we can encounter Him in His Word. When people read the Bible, they often read it in one of two ways. First, they read it cover-to-cover as if it were a novel – which is hard to do, because it’s not a book but a library which includes poetry, letters, books of law, genealogies…so by the time they get to Leviticus, it usually gets so boring that they give up! The other way people usually read the Bible is what we call “Bible Roulette” – randomly opening to a page and seeing what it says. God can sometimes speak through this method, but it’s just as likely you will get some random verse which doesn’t make sense!

            But Lectio Divina is very different. It involves reading a passage from the Bible very slowly, focusing on a word, phrase, or image that stands out to us. For example, if one were to use this weekend’s Gospel, perhaps the words “the better part” will stand out to you. Or maybe you will identify strongly with Martha and her busyness. Then, after we have our word/phrase/image, we read the same passage again, and ask God what He means – “Lord, what are You trying to reveal to me through these words? What are you trying to say to me through this person in the story?” And then we wait and listen to whatever thoughts or feelings are arising in our hearts. Finally we read the passage a third time, and we speak to the Lord about any good resolutions that He has inspired in us – for example, we could say, “Lord, thank You for showing me that time with You is ‘the better part’ – help me to spend more time with You…Lord, make me less like Martha with her busy-ness and more attuned to Your Words.” Lectio Divina is that conversation between us and the Lord – He speaks to us in the words/phrases/images from the Bible that stand out to us, and we speak to Him about those words.

            Sitting at the feet of Jesus in prayer is the key to spiritual growth. Not trying to demand something of Jesus, not being a Martha-like busybody, but just seeking Him.

            A beautiful story illustrates this. St. Thomas Aquinas was perhaps the greatest and most prolific Catholic author in history – he wrote innumerable books about the Lord and our Catholic faith, including his most famous “Summa Theologica” which is a profound summary of all of our beliefs. Towards the end of his life, though, he had a vision of Jesus Who said to him, “Thomas, you have written very well of Me. What reward would you like to have?” Thomas replied, “My reward is only to possess You.”

            Mary did choose the better part, because she chose just to be with the Lord. Sometimes we fear it’s a waste of time because we’re not accomplishing anything productive. But being with the Lord is never a waste of time – it was loving attention to the One Who delights in us. My friends, if you want a real spiritual life, it begins when we sit at His feet and seek Him.