Feast of St. Martha

Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ the Son of the living God, who art come into this world.

We Magdalene sisters love our patronesses, and while Mary Magdalene gets most of our attention, today we honor the feast of her sister (and ours), St. Martha. Martha is considered the sister of Mary and Lazarus as depicted in the Gospels. Perhaps we are most familiar with her from Luke 10 when she (perhaps with a little exasperation in her tone?) asks Our Lord to admonish her sister Mary for leaving all the serving to herself. In the end, he chastises her!

From this description, we know her as the exemplar saint of the active life, as opposed to her sister Mary, the contemplative, "the better part." But I've always really identified with Martha, which I know I've mentioned before on this blog. She is the patron saint of housewives, servants of all kinds, cooks, and (Get This!) SINGLE LAYWOMEN. She is indeed our patroness!! But I identify with her more because of her willingness to serve the Lord, to wait upon His physical need for food and comfort. And by this means, she knew Him for who He was, as she proclaims in the Gospel of John (chapter 11) "Yea, Lord, I have believed that thou art Christ the Son of the living God, who art come into this world." She said this just before Our Lord raised her brother, Lazarus from the dead. But she did not utter these words so that Christ would do this; she had faith in the words spoken by Christ to her and in the Word, Christ Himself. She knew that no matter what happens in life, even the death of a loved one, at the end of every day, Christ is.

I think we modern ladies have so much to learn from her. She is, after all, through the wisdom of Holy Mother Church, given to us single laywoman as a particular patroness. But she teaches us to persevere in faith, to trust the Lord, and to serve Him in our daily lives. I know that many of us sit wondering when we'll meet that special man God has ordained for us (if our vocation is marriage) or wait in discernment to see if God is calling us to Himself as a Bride, or perhaps we just wonder what might be next in the chapter of our lives. St. Martha teaches us to have faith, to trust in the Lord and to live our lives joyfully as we listen for answers to all of our questions. And when we do this, He performs miracles for us beyond our own understanding. He will transform our lives to bring about more graces than we can imagine, if only we will allow Him to. So let us ask St. Martha for faith like hers as we await Him.

And dear readers, Happy Feast today.

Image found here.