Bishop Enrique Díaz Díaz shares with Exaudi readers his reflection on the  Gospel of this Sunday, July 20, 2025, entitled:  “Lord, do not pass by me without stopping”.

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Genesis 18:1-10:  “Lord, do not pass by me without stopping”

Psalm 14:  “Who will be pleasing in your sight, Lord?”

Colossians 1:24-28:  “A secret plan that God has kept hidden and now has revealed to his holy people”

Luke 10:38-42;  “Martha took him into her house. Mary chose the better part.”

The disease “burnout” is a trend, a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by chronic and prolonged work stress. Why is modern man carried away by appearances and noise? Why do they struggle so much with the simple, the hidden, the everyday? What’s most important isn’t flashy or dazzling, nor is isolation and selfish well-being. We grow tired of seeing huge billboards advertising bombastic projects, yet communities continue to suffer the same shortcomings and pain. Fantastic programs are announced that will lift the country out of its backwardness and provide employment for everyone, yet we see our young people wandering the streets in search of miserable, ridiculously paid jobs. Grandiose health projects are touted, yet the diseases of poverty and the terrible ravages of misery continue to ravage the population. It’s not the many actions without rhyme or reason; it’s the constant trickle of water that gives life. It is not the spectacular works, but the simplest, most necessary ones, that sustain humanity: water, education, health, work, security.

The same thing happens at the level of interpersonal relationships and at the family level: you can’t buy your children’s happiness; it’s built with daily affection, with constant attention, with the right words. We make a lot of noise, but we give little space for intimacy, for dialogue, for building love in the family and in society. We neglect what’s most important for what’s more urgent or what’s more popular. How much time do we dedicate to “being” with the family, with the children, with the parents? But how much time do we dedicate to truly being present in body, spirit, and emotions?

Today’s Gospel has often been used to contrast the active or apostolic life with the contemplative life, a life of prayer. But nothing could be more mistaken than making these distinctions. What Jesus is telling Martha is not that she is wrong in her chores, but in the way she does them and in wanting Mary to also engage in frenetic activity. The case of Martha and Mary is once again used by Saint Luke to highlight the value of listening to the Word of God. Without wishing to diminish the value of contemplation over action, which has been seen in the two opposing attitudes of Martha and Mary, the truth of the event is that the Kingdom of God cannot be distracted by an overly exclusive concern for earthly realities. On the other hand, listening to the Word of God is anything but occasional.

The Master does not approve of the eagerness, the agitation, the dispersion, the wandering in a thousand directions “of the housewife.” What, then, is Martha’s error? Her failure to understand that Christ’s coming signifies, above all, a great opportunity not to be missed, and consequently, the need to sacrifice the urgent for the most important. Martha rushes into “doing,” and this “doing” does not stem from attentive listening to the Word of God and, consequently, risks becoming a fruitless whirlwind. Martha limits herself, despite all her good intentions, to welcoming Jesus into her home. Mary welcomes him “inside,” into her heart, becoming his vessel. She offers him hospitality in that interior, secret space that has been prepared by Him and that is reserved for Him. Martha offers things to Jesus, Mary offers herself.

 Today, we face a more hectic pace of life than in earlier times. Modern means of saving time end up drowning us in useless activism. Excessive worries lead us to forget what is essential. Our Christianity thus becomes a timid fulfillment of some religious obligations, with no time to listen to the Word. We constantly seek to be effective and competitive. We desperately run after time, and time leaves our true selves as persons behind. Today, together with Martha and Mary, Jesus challenges us and calls us to respect the hierarchy of values and to put in its place the “option for what is fundamental”: to place ourselves at his feet and listen to his Word. Jesus invites us to make our Christianity a true discipleship.

 How long has it been since we dedicated some time to it, calmly, with no other concerns than listening to “the Word of Jesus”? Like this, barefoot, stripped of all we have, without masks, with simplicity, placing ourselves in the hands of the One who loves us so much. Listening to His Word, entering into the unknown, experiencing His tenderness, with a bare heart. Without falling into an intimacy that isolates us from reality or makes us indifferent to the problems of our neighbors. The story of the Good Samaritan is too close to home for this passage to make us forget that love of God is manifested in love of neighbor. But be careful: our heart must have a source, otherwise it dries up. It must also have an outlet expressed in love of neighbor; otherwise, it rots and stinks. What is our inner source, and how is it manifested in good works?

 Our Father, who in Jesus has shown us “the way”: see how we get bogged down by so many activities and go to extremes. Help us, like Jesus, to find the harmonious synthesis between prayer and action, between contemplating you and obeying you, between serving you and serving our brothers and sisters. Amen.