How to deal with stress like Mary of Bethany

Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Genesis 18.1-10a Psalm 15 Colossians 1.24-28 Luke 10.38-42

What makes you anxious? What are you worried about? Or is your life completely free from worry and anxiety? At its core, the story of Martha and Mary is not about a sibling rivalry; it’s not about whether a contemplative lifestyle is better than an active lifestyle. It’s about stress – it’s about anxiety – it’s about worry – and how we deal with those daily, human emotions. Are we like Martha, who is so worried about cooking dinner for Jesus and what she has to do, that she ends up angry at her sister? Or are we like Mary, who probably has anxieties of her own, but who lays those anxieties at the feet of Jesus and trusts in him to give her guidance and strength. And the most important question: does our relationship with Jesus affect how we handle stress?

It seems like the more technologically advanced our society becomes, the more stress we have. The busier we are, the more we worry about how things will turn out. The more we are focused on our own need to succeed or to be popular or to accomplish a certain set of tasks, the more anxiety rules our lives. The stress is going to be there – and certainly it is sometimes good to be anxious. The real test comes with how we deal with these feelings. The example that Mary gives us is to turn everything over to Jesus and to trust in him. For us, today, that means taking our anxieties to prayer, laying our lives before our Lord, and asking him for help. It means that when we come to Mass, we bring whatever baggage and burdens we might carry, and set them at the foot of the altar. It means that in the general intercessions at Mass, we beg God to hear not only the needs that are expressed vocally, but also the prayers in the depths of our hearts. It means that when we come forward to receive the Eucharist, we exchange the stress and anxieties of our bodies and souls for the Body and Blood of Christ, who truly can transform our hearts and lift our burdens.

So what do you bring today to this Mass? Are you worried about family members who have fallen away from the Church or who do not seem to have a meaningful relationship with God? Remember them in prayer before our Lord and Savior. Are you anxious about the coming school year – whether in grade school or high school, as a college student or parent? Here, today, and every day, ask the Lord for guidance and wisdom. Do the continuing challenges of job markets and insurance premiums and unemployment cause your heart to beat faster and your blood pressure to rise? Seek peace from the Prince of Peace and trust that he will never abandon you. Do you find yourself in broken relationships, or ones that are on the brink of tearing apart? Sit at the feet of Jesus in prayer and pour out your burdens upon him – ask him for help, ask him for strength, ask him for whatever you need.

In the gospel, Martha was so busy trying to do everything herself that she lost sight of the only person who could help ease her anxiety – not her sister, but her Lord. Here in this place, that same Lord is present. He is there whenever you pray to him, he is with you in the depths of your darkest struggles, he is there to celebrate your achievements. But most of all, he is ready to help you get rid of all your stress, all your anxiety, and all your worries. All we have to do is go to him with our needs, listen for his response, and trust in his guidance. That is the one thing necessary.