Contemplation and Action

Martha and Mary

First Century

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.”

—Luke 10:40–42

Words matter. Maybe we give them too much weight—words can be blunt instruments that are often imprecise. (Perhaps that’s why Jesus used images in his parables to describe the kingdom of God; words alone just can ’ t capture it.) But regardless, we use words to reveal our mental and emotional states. That’s why psychologists use word-association tests. These tests are simple enough. The psychologist offers a word, and the subject responds with the first word that comes to mind. The theory is that the word the subject comes up with will reveal an emotional burden.

I’m not a psychologist, but I like games. So let’s play a word-association game. Write down the first response that comes to your mind for each of the following words: action, contemplation, Martha, Mary. (You may want to write these words and your responses in your journal.)

In case you were interested, the words that came to my mind were action/set; contemplation/rest; Martha/hedge; Mary/ rose.

The words that I chose to use for that game—action, contemplation, Martha, Mary—are important when talking about finding God in all things. The story of Martha and Mary is often used to describe the relationship between contemplation and action. Mary is the contemplative one: she rested at the Lord’s feet (which would have been scandalous in Jesus’ time: only disciples sat at a master ’ s feet, and disciples were never women). Martha, in contrast, was complaining about doing what needed to be done to entertain a guest.

We know whom Jesus approved, and it wasn’t Martha.

The problem with Martha was not that she was busy. The problem was that she was distracted. Unlike Mary, Martha’s attention was directed away from the Lord. She was too attached to her feelings of annoyance toward her sister for not helping.

Perhaps that’s why it’s so hard for us to find God in anything today. Like Martha, we are distracted by many things. We can ’ t focus on the Divine because we are too focused on accomplishing this task or achieving that goal. Not that our tasks and our goals are unimportant. The fact is, we need Marthas. We need people who can get stuff done.

To find God in all things, I have to learn how to keep my attention focused on the Lord while I do the stuff that needs doing. The trick is not to be Mary instead of Martha; the trick is to be Mary while being Martha.

Awareness and Practice

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.”

—Matthew 7:24–25

Participating in the presence of God means participating in the presence of others, and participating in the presence of others means participating in the presence of God. And isn’t that exactly what the Incarnation accomplished? Through it, we see how God participates directly in humanity, and how humanity participates in the divine.

Unite your contemplation to action. As you practice the presence of God, how do you respond? What do you feel called to do? What fruits sprout from your contemplation? How do you share these fruits with others?

Unite your actions to your contemplation. As you go about your daily tasks, pay attention and ask yourself, Where is God in this? Wait for an answer. You may have to ask the question several times. If no answers seem to come, ask, Where is God in this absence?

Mirroring

Clare of Assisi

1194–1253

Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!

Place your soul in the brilliance of glory!

Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance and, through contemplation, transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself, —Clare of Assisi

The 2017 Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves. ” The LIGO (short for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) used lasers and mirrors to detect the presence of gravitational waves, which were first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916.

But the LIGO’s mirrors weren ’ t ordinary mirrors—they were made from pure-fused silica glass, ground in Germany, and sent all around the world to receive more than eighty special coatings. As a result, these mirrors were nearly perfect: 11 they could reflect most of the laser light. (These mirrors were 99.999 percent reflective of the laser light, to be specific, yet they were translucent to the human eye!)

St. Clare of Assisi used mirrors too; in fact, mirrors are a major theme in her mysticism. Unlike the pure-fused silica glass found in the LIGO detectors, however, the mirror Clare used was 100 percent perfect: her mirror was Christ.

“Gaze upon that mirror each day . . ., ” Clare counseled Agnes of Prague, “that you may adorn yourself completely . . . with the flowers and garments of all the virtues.” Her instruction to Agnes is meant for us as well: we are called to reflect on what we see by gazing on Christ and putting on the virtues of poverty, humility, and charity, just as Clare did.

Clare recalled how Christ came into the world naked and poor. Reflecting that image, Clare imitated Christ’s poverty, humility, and charity. Clare herself became a mirror for others: “For the Lord Himself has placed us as a model, as an example and mirror not only for others, but also for our sisters whom the Lord has called to our way of life as well, that they in turn might be a mirror and example to those living in the world.”

When we look at ourselves in the mirror of Christ, we too will be transformed into a reflection of God and become mirrors for others. And we find God in that mirror.