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Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 20th

St. Benedict had a saying that is very important to the members of the Benedictine Order of priests and sisters. It goes like this, “Work as if everything depends on you; pray as if everything depends on God.” We have an example of this important truth in this weekend’s Gospel about Jesus and the two sisters, Martha and Mary. Martha was working hard to provide a meal for her guests; something that is very important when it comes to showing hospitality.
In contrast, her sister, Mary, is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to everything He has to teach; similar to sitting in prayer and listening to God speak to us in silence. Both work and prayer are very important for our soul. We have to do both in order to have a balanced life.
There are many important lessons parents teach their children as they grow up into mature adults. Things like saying “please” and “thank you” and “I’m sorry,” and also to always tell the truth, or to follow the rules, or to play fair, just to name a few.
In addition, from a very young age, it is important for our young people to learn that it is necessary to work and to pray throughout life. The best way for them to learn this lesson is to show them that we adults are already doing it ourselves. It is good to teach our youth how important it is to work and to pray. For a very young person, to work can mean to help clean around the house, clean their bedroom, and to pay attention at school, and do their homework. For a young person, to pray can mean to say their prayers before they eat, and to say their prayers before going to sleep at night. When they learn to do these things as a very young person it will prepare them for when they group up into adulthood.
Two thousand years ago, Martha and Mary left us a very important lesson about life that is still very good for us today. -Msgr. Greg