Tuesday of week 27 in Ordinary Time
Saint Bruno, Priest
Gospel: Luke 10:38-42Jesus’ words to Martha do not condemn work, responsibility, hospitality, or service; Martha is doing something genuinely good. Yet Mary has recognized that, at that particular moment, something greater is being offered: the Lord Himself is present, speaking, and she chooses to sit at His feet and listen. Discipleship means learning always to choose the better part. Often our difficulty is not choosing between something good and something bad but discerning between many good things and recognizing what is truly necessary now. We can become so occupied with serving Christ that we lose the intimacy of being with Christ; so concerned with responsibilities that we neglect relationships; so absorbed by urgent matters that we forget what is essential. Jesus does not say that Martha is doing too much, but that she is “anxious and worried about many things.” The better part therefore begins with an interior freedom that asks: What matters most before God at this moment? Saint Bruno understood this deeply. His withdrawal into silence and contemplation was not a rejection of life but a radical choice of the One from whom life receives its meaning. We may not be called to his solitude, but every disciple needs the same hierarchy of the heart. Choosing the better part means choosing what keeps us closest to Christ and enables everything else to find its proper place. When He is first, our work becomes service, our silence becomes communion, our relationships become love, and even our busiest days can remain centred in Him. Let’s reflect: Among the many good and necessary things that occupy me each day, do I have the interior freedom to recognize and choose the better part—the one that keeps me closest to Christ?
Don Giorgio