Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

In 1890, the English Catholic poet Francis Thompson produced a poem entitled ‘The Hound of Heaven’. It begins with lines describing the human seeking to flee from a relentless, pursuing God, confronted as they are with truth, yet seeking personal fulfilment through self-centredness and gratification:
‘I fled Him down the nights and down the days
I fled Him down the arches of the years
I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind.’

The poem contrasts to the themes of today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 138) which prayerfully encapsulates one’s surrender to the God who is life and love – a God who envelopes us all in an inescapable relationship that cannot be compromised by human desire but which embraces us in the wonder of who we are and the mystery that is God.

The words of the Psalm (138:13) a prayer in itself – give us much on which to reflect:
‘For it was you who formed my inward parts,
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.’

The poignancy of the story of Martha and Mary in today’s gospel reflects the gentleness and immediacy by which we encounter God not only through the mundane but more importantly in humble prayer by which we give ourselves to God.

Thompson concludes his poem emphasizing once more God’s relentless pursuit but also the individual’s ultimate surrender to love eternal:
‘Ah, Fondest, Blindest, Weakest,
I am He whom thou seekest.’

Let us pray that we may always surrender to the ‘Hound’ who pursues us.

What is the one thing that we seek?