Opening Prayer
I realize that my life as a Christian is defined by a holy desire to see you. Just as a pouch is stretched to hold what is put inside, you use my longing to stretch my soul to hold the Infinite, making me capable of being filled by making me wait in hope.
Empty me of the “vinegar” of the world that I may be filled with the “honey” of your presence. Scrub my heart clean so that I may be ready for the gold of your grace, and let my holy desire fill me as I cut off the love of the world.
Amen.
Luke 10:38-42
38Now it came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha, received him into her house. 39And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard his word. 40But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? speak to her therefore, that she help me. 41And the Lord answering, said to her: Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things: 42But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.
St. Augustine
St. Augustine famously writes: “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” St. Martha and Mary provide the clinical evaluation of this restlessness. Martha was “anxious and troubled” by “passing things”, while Mary chose the “one thing necessary”. He emphasized the “tortuous ways” of his own past from the “true Rest” found in Christ. The narrative of grace is that Jesus comes to “carry us to the end of our journey”. Augustine warns: “Woe to that rash soul… that hoped by abandoning You to find something better!“. We must learn to be busy like Martha but rested like Mary.
The soul is characterized by a fundamental restlessness that drives its search for meaning until it finds “rest in You.” By recognizing our inherent restlessness, we can stop the “wretched wanderings” of trying to find satisfaction in busywork, choosing instead to sit at the feet of the Guest who carries us to our journey’s end.
“Every soul is a wanderer until it finds its home. Our hearts remain “restless” until they find their rest in the One who made them.”
— St. Augustine
Mary and the Magisterium
“Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you,” Augustine famously prayed. Mary, as the “perfect hostess,” provides a model for the soul to find this rest. She did not “toss and turn” looking for something better than God. She understood that “all the abundance” not found in God is “only poverty,” making her life a place of tranquility and “gladness” where Christ Himself found a home.
- Where am I "tossing and turning" instead of resting in God’s providence?
- Do I believe that "all the abundance I have that is not my God is only poverty"?
Closing Prayer
You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.
Amen.
