16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our Gospel from Luke 10:38-42 presents to us the two sisters, Martha and Mary who both did their best for the Lord when He visited them. Martha was busy by herself to do the serving while Mary was busy listening to Jesus. Both were doing the right thing. But only one of them did things right. It was Mary according to Jesus who chose the better part. Why was it so? Well, the twist here was that the Gospel scene happened at the home of the two sisters. 
Home is a different place to visit. Let us put it this way. If there is a visitor in our home, it is being hospitable that we serve him or her food and drinks. As we do this, we know that our visitor is not after the food or drinks we serve. Rather, he or she is there for us, to know our current situation or our predicaments. It is about us not about our food or drinks that they want to hear about. To be more hospitable, we have to give attention to the heart of our visitor more than his or her stomach. 
Home is a different place to visit. If we visit Jollibee, Mcdonald, etc. we do not expect the managers or store owners themselves shall serve us and sit with us to have some personal conversations. But if we visit a home, we expect the homeowner to invite us to take a seat and converse with him or her. If not, then either he/she does not want to see us or he/she is not hospitable. What shall we do with the food or drinks if the homeowners themselves make us uncomfortable by not facing us?
Now, going back to the Gospel, the lesson Jesus wanted us to learn from the situation is that in our home, we need to listen to Jesus. We have to make our home a prayer zone too. Of course, our home is like other homes where members of the family are sleeping, eating, drinking, etc. But our Gospel reminds us that though all these activities are good, we have to include praying as a family in our home as part of the daily activities. Some of us do not pray the prayer before or after meals. Some of us never think of God when at home. This is not good. We have to welcome Jesus, be hospitable to Him by giving Him a special space in our home. Amen.