Topic:
WORK AND PRAY
16C
Sunday Homily, Luke 10:38-42, July 17, 2022
1)
STORY
There
was an elderly man who used his rowboat to ferry people across a small river. The work “work” was written on one of the oars
and “pray” on the other oar. One day a
young man got in the boat and noticed the oars with the two words. He commented to the elderly man that in
today’s world what was important was “work.” “Pray” was not necessary. The elderly man said nothing but used only the
oar marked work to row the boat. The
result was that the small boat only went in a circle making no progress toward
the other shore. The young man learned
that to get to his goal both “work” and “pray” were necessary.
2)
GOSPEL, Luke 10:38-42
A.
Martha was a wonderful host seeing to all the needs of her guest, Jesus. She prepared a meal and make Jesus feel right
at home. However, she was upset with her sister Mary for not helping her in her
work.
B.
Mary was not idle. She was listening
very attentively to every word spoken by Jesus. She was listening to the words
of life. Jesus informed Martha that what
Mary was doing was very important, and it should not be taken from her.
3)
APPLICATION TO LIFE
A.
Work is important. It provides us with
our livelihood. We should do our work
whether in the factory, office, school, or home with care and responsibility. We should respect our superiors and co-workers
and work in a spirit of cooperation to get the job done.
B.
Pray. We always need God’s help to get
the job done so we must pray. Here are some suggestions on how to pray in our
busy lives:
i)
When you awake pray, “Jesus, please help me and my family during today. Before going to bed pray, “Thank you Jesus for
helping me and my family too.”
ii)
Say one Hail Mary or Our Father for yourself, one for your family, and one for
a sick or needy person. If time permits, you could say the rosary,
attend Mass or read the bible.
4)
CONCLUSION
As
two oars were needed to reach the goal and Jesus appreciated both Martha and
Mary’s role when he visited them, so we, too, must remember that to reach our
goal of a happy life and heaven, we must both work and pray.
