6 Pentecost, C p 11, July 17, 2022
Amos 8:1-12 Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28 Luke 10:38-42
As human beings who have come to study ourselves, we like to know what makes us tick. What makes me tick? What makes you tick? And by tick we probably mean that we are looking for explanations which cause us to think, speak, and act the ways in which we do, especially in our interactions with other people.
To study ourselves and our personality differences, we have developed typologies. One of the most used is the extroversion and introversion classification of Jung, which was fleshed out in the Myers-Brigg personality test. In this inventory, a person through a series of questions is assigned four letters to classify the various dynamics of personality. Introversion-Extroversion. Sensing-Intuition. Thinking-Feeling. Judging-Perceptive. Such typology can be very reductive and even demeaning. People who discover this tool and get some insights can be very zealous in reducing themselves and others to their personality type. I'm not Phil; I’m INTP and you are ESTJ. But a person is much more than how they are labeled by some system of typology. One of the problems of such typological classification is in accepting one's designation, one is absolved from trying to do and be in different ways.
When the monastic forms of spirituality arose, there came about a spiritual classification typology, which derived from Mary and Martha of Bethany, and the caricatures formed about them found our reading from the Gospel for today.
So ,Mary is the Matriarch of the Contemplative Person, the one who is the perpetual "space-cadet." Martha is the Active Person, the "obsessive compulsive, nervous Nelly." And religious orders came to designate themselves active, working orders or as contemplative orders, even while most of them have sought to balance the two human vocations. A well-known Spiritual writer and Franciscan Richard Rohr, calls his organization The Center for Contemplation and Action. He would assert that both are vital ingredients of full and mature spiritual life.
In reading the Mary and Martha story of their interaction with Jesus what are wrong conclusions?
1-Jesus is only affirming the contemplative life style.
2-Jesus is opposed to the practical activities required for hospitality.
3-Contemplation and Active life are incompatible.
4-Mary did not know how to be practically hospitable.
5-Martha did not know how adore Jesus with contemplative fervor.
A story about Jesus, Mary, and Martha can cause us to limit people to the types that have derived from the story. These reductions are very unfortunate because such reductions are not true in the sense of the overall character of people. The stories highlight a singular event.
The truth about contemplation and action is that each person needs to strive for both in our prayer lives, and in our active lives to help make the kingdom of heavenly inner ideal, a reality in our outer lives of word, and deeds.
The contemplative and active life has many scenarios. From his prayer life with God the prophet Amos had to leave his active life as a herdsman and tender of Sycamore trees, and he had to speak the truth to the very bankrupt spiritual condition of Israel. Being the one who speaks truth to those who are in bad habits is never fun. But contemplative prayer and understanding God's will means that we often need to be those who accept rebuke for our own bad behaviors but also be brave to speak and act on behalf of what justice and love means in our world.
In a similar vein, the Psalmist wrote inspiring sung poetry about the necessity to speak truth to power. And the psalmist receivedd the power and energy to do so by being like an "olive tree in the house of the Lord” and renewing oneself by the prayer of praise of God, for God's goodness and mercy. And it is done in the presence of the godly; those who share a commitment to God's love and goodness.
The Pauline hymn in Colossians is a poetic form of the contemplation of the superb uniqueness of Jesus Christ. But such a contemplative confession of Paul had repercussion for Paul, including suffering as a way of identifying with and fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. But St. Paul regarded his active life to be a mission to help people realize the chief mystery of life, namely, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul's active mission in life was to bring people to the Mary of Bethany experience of jaw-dropping, awesome contemplation of the Christ in us the hope of our glory.
So, let us not pit our contemplative sides against our active sides; they go together, and we need to develop both sides of our spiritual lives to grow into the maturity of Christ.
May God help us be contemplative actors of love and justice. May God help us be active contemplators of Christ, who is our glory. Amen.
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