16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Prayer and Work. 10 : 25-37; 10 :38-42

Just last week,

We heard the story of the Good Samaritan

Who stopped to help someone in need.

While the priest and Levite kept going,

Quite possibly because they were on their way to pray in the Temple

And now Luke is telling us to stop what we are doing,

And pray.

So which one is it?

Should we be Good Samaritans and help others in need,

Or should we we be like Mary and spend time with Jesus in prayer?

Both!

Luke uses the story of the Good Samaritan who did good works

And then follows it immediately with the story of Mary at prayer;

To remind us that we must do both.

Good works AND pray.

Help others in need;

AND spend time in prayer.

Usually however we are do one or the other.

We are either Good Samaritans always running around with no time to pray.

Or we are Marys spending most of our time in prayer but getting little done.

We must do both.

It is like breathing.

We have to inhale and exhale to live.

And we must work and pray to be fully alive.

For we are physical AND spiritual beings.

If all we do us work, work work,

We starve our souls.

And if all we do is pray, pray, pray,

Our bodies do no good.

Striking the balance between prayer and work is not always easy.

But if we don’t

Then we lead a life “out of balance”

And are sure to Fall.

God bless

Fr. Patrick