Are you anxious and worried? If so, I'm sure you can find common ground in Martha's experience in today's Gospel. Like many of us, Martha is a hard-working servant of the Lord busy doing many good and wonderful things for the Lord. She loves Jesus. At the same time, we hear that she is burdened with much serving. Notice the contradiction: Jesus has come into Martha's home to spend time with her, but Martha finds every opportunity to avoid actually being with Him! The experience of feeling burdened, all too common for many of us, is a warning sign that we are bypassing a relationship with Jesus. You can hear the loss of relationship in the despairing message and snippy tone Martha takes when she finally does speak to Jesus: "Lord, do you not care, that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?" Listen to the expression of abandonment, helplessness, and even anger in her heart. She feels left on her own, burdened, anxious, and worried, even when Jesus is right there with her. This is not meant to be.

Without a relationship with the Lord who is right here with us, we stop listening to Him and His truth and we begin to believe lies about ourselves, about others, and about God. What lies do we find Martha believing? "I am alone and abandoned. No one cares about me, not even God. No one, not even my own sister, sees me or bothers to help me." When we believe lies like these, we give them an oppressive power over ourselves. These lies weigh us down with burdens, anxieties, and worries. Imagine what would happen if Martha renounced these lies and announced the truth of her situation: "The Lord is with me! He cares so much for me and wants to spend time with me. My sister is giving me a great example of what it looks like to spend time with Jesus. I am also meant to have a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus." Like Martha, we need to discern the voices speaking to us in our heart, to accept the voice of truth and reject the lies of the enemy.

I suppose that if Martha believed the voice of truth in her situation, she would have asked Jesus what He needed from her. This is the role of good discernment: to ask the Lord what He wants us to do rather than trying to figure it out on our own. Good discernment comes from listening to Jesus. Jesus tells Martha, "There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part." That better part is being present to Jesus and listening to Him. We should realize that in her desire to serve the Lord, Martha has indeed chosen a good part, not a bad part. But she missed that the most important need and desire that Jesus had at that time was to just be with her! This better part reveals that Christ is with her, and shows her how He calls her to serve in this time.

As disciples and as a Church, we do many good things for God. If we experience these good things as burdensome, or if the burdens of ministry make us anxious and worried, this is a sign that we are falling out of relationship with Jesus and into the lies of isolation. We need to return to our relationship with Jesus who will remind us of our call to serve and show us how to serve in the best way. I will end by offering a prayer method of renounce-announce that can help us reject the lies of the enemy and reclaim the truth that comes from God.

Lord, I renounce that lie that...I am alone/no one cares/I am not loved/I am bad/I can't be forgiven/I'll never change/(fill in whatever lie from the enemy you are tempted to believe falsely about yourself). I reject this lie and the power it has over me. Free me and open my heart to receive Your healing truth.

Lord, I announce the truth that... You are with me/I am loved and cared for/You created me good/Your mercy for me is endless/I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me/(fill in whatever truth that comes from God, Scripture, the Liturgy, or Church teaching that you need to believe). I reclaim this truth and believe in Your power to heal whatever wounds have been inflicted upon me by these lies from the enemy. Help me to listen to Your voice of truth whenever I am tempted to believe the lies that do not come from You.

I know personally the healing power that such prayers have had in my life, and I am confident that the Lord can greatly bless you through your own honest and heartfelt prayer in this way.