July 29: St. Martha

Saint Martha
in a Flemish illumination
from the Isabella Breviary

History

Saint Martha was the sister of Lazarus and Mary. In the Gospel of Luke, we learn that when Jesus and His disciples came to visit Martha and her family, she immediately set to work to serve them, but her sister Mary simply sat and listened to Jesus’ teaching. Martha didn’t think this was fair and asked Jesus to tell Mary to get to work. Instead, Jesus told Martha that it was better that she join them, rather than worrying about what was serving. Martha is a saint who understands that sometimes the things we “should” be doing are not as important as spending time with Jesus.

Activity

Like Martha, it’s really easy for us to start out our days with all the chores and other responsibilities that we need to take care of. And then when that’s done, we want to relax or play. That makes it easy to forget all about Jesus! Start your day with prayer today as a family. Then work together so that everything that must be done is done as quickly as possible so there is still time to relax at the end of the day. Don’t forget to pray together before bed, too! This way, your family can make spending time with Jesus the most important thing you do all day.

Saint Martha, pray for us!

More reading for parents:

Catholic Encyclopedia

American Catholic

Catholic Online