Saint Martha

Hostess of Our Lord
(1st century)

Saint Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus of Bethany, holds a unique place in the Gospels as one of the most human and most beloved of Our Lord's intimate friends. The family of Bethany, a small village just outside Jerusalem, was among Jesus's closest friends, and the Gospel of John tells us explicitly that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. It was in their home that He found rest and friendship during His visits to Jerusalem, and it was to this family that He showed the fullness of His divine power in the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

Martha appears in the Gospels as the practical and hospitable sister, the one who receives Jesus into the house and is busy with the many tasks of serving. When she complains to Jesus that Mary has left her to do all the work alone, Jesus's gentle reply, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary, has been discussed by every spiritual writer in every century of Christian history. It is not a rebuke of Martha's activity or her charity, but an invitation to a deeper peace, to the awareness that even in the midst of service the one thing necessary is the union of the soul with God.

It is Martha who comes to meet Jesus when He arrives after Lazarus has been dead four days, and it is to her that Jesus speaks the great words, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Martha's response, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, He who is coming into the world, is one of the great confessions of faith in the New Testament, rivalling that of Peter at Caesarea Philippi in its clarity and depth.

Her feast is observed on July 29th in the current Roman Calendar, where she is commemorated together with her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus. She is the patron of cooks, domestic workers, innkeepers, and all those whose vocation is the service of others. Her example shows that holiness can be pursued in the midst of the most ordinary activities, provided they are done in the spirit of love.