As a husband and father, I make it a point to provide for and protect my family. Aside from putting food on our table, I make sure our home is a safe place for my family.

As work shifted to face-to-face, I now have to leave home at 5:30 a.m. Because of this, I think about what can happen to my loved ones when I’m not around. This causes me to be overwhelmed with toxic worries.

So before I leave our place, I always say a prayer for my family. I say, “Jesus, I love my family. I need to leave so I can provide for them. Lord, I surrender and entrust them to You.

In my absence, I believe that You’re there to take my place. I love them, but I believe that You love them more. Amen.”

 After this prayer, Jesus would comfort me with a loving response. He would say, “Worry no more, son. I Am with them.” Philip Sumera (philipsumera@gmail.com)

Reflect:

What are your worries? Give them to God. He can do something about it.

Lord, I am worried. Please comfort me and don’t leave. I surrender this concern to You, Jesus. Amen.

Saint Martha, pray for us.

First Reading | 1 John 4:7-16

John writes to His community and exhorts them to grow in love of God and of one another. Love of God and neighbor are intricately linked and one is impossible without the other. Love is inclusive by nature. Loving one person leads to loving another, and so on.

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him. ¹⁰ In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. ¹³ This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. ¹⁶ We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11

R: I will bless the Lord at all times.

² I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall be ever in my mouth. ³ Let my soul glory in the Lord; the lowly will hear me and be glad. (R) ⁴ Glorify the Lord with me, let us together extol his name. ⁵ I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. (R) ⁶ Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. ⁷ When the poor one called out, the Lord heard, and from all his distress he saved him. (R) ⁸ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. ⁹ Taste and see how good the Lord is; blessed the man who takes refuge in him. (R) ¹⁰ Fear the Lord, you his holy ones, for nought is lacking to those who fear him. ¹¹ The great grow poor and hungry; but those who seek the Lord want for no good thing. (R)

Gospel | John 11:19-27 (or Luke 10:38-42)

Martha shows great faith when she expresses her belief in the resurrection from the dead. She affirms that Jesus is the Messiah. As we go about our daily lives, let us remember that we are also called to witness to this truth. Sometimes, the opportunities to do this are few and far between. Let us always be prepared for the opportunity when it comes.

Gospel Acclamation

 I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.

¹⁹ Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died]. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, ²⁶ and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

Reflect:

How did you come to believe in Jesus as your Messiah, your Lord and Savior?

Read the Bible in one year! Read PSALMS 111 - 115 today.

‘Santa Marta’

When then Pope John Paul II decided to put up a decent facility to house the Cardinals who will attend the conclaves that would elect future popes, a place that would also be a welcoming house for official visitors of the Vatican, he named the edifice Casa Santa Marta. Today, the place has become the location of the living quarters of Pope Francis who has opted to use the Apostolic Palace only as an office.

Santa Marta is popularly known as the woman whose family, with her siblings Mary and Lazarus, welcomed Jesus and His disciples whenever they travelled south to Jerusalem. Her house in Bethany was Jesus’ home in the south, in the same way that Peter’s house in Capernaum was known to be Jesus’ home in the course of His Galilean ministry in the north. Her name in Aramaic literally means “the lady” or “the mistress” (feminine form of “master”). The lack of mention about her fellowshiping with any man, on the other hand, has made many to regard her as the biblical patron of single women. She is also traditionally invoked as the protector and intercessor of cooks, innkeepers, butlers, household workers, and helpers.

In spirituality, Santa Marta models some sound values that are worth cultivating:

Maturity and Inner Strength. She was at home with herself. She was not shy about making her true feelings known, even by Jesus.

Common Sense. Martha’s devotion to housekeeping, to cooking for guests, entailed practical knowledge. In fact, when Jesus asked to see the resting place of the deceased Lazarus, she made a comment: “It is now four days, and there would be a stench.”

Martha’s hospitable character and her being a big sister to Mary and Lazarus illustrate her big heart for others. Fr. Domie Guzman, SSP

Reflection Question:

At home or even in your circle of extended family, who do you consider as a Martha? Say a special prayer for this person today. What of Saint Martha’s values do you want to develop more as part of your own personal spirituality?

Thank You, Lord, for the people who have been Marthas to me. Bless them. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ______________________________________