Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Cuisine of Contemplation

Spending more time with Jesus in prayer this summer

07/20/2025

Luke 10:38-42 Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."

Did you know that I took three months off from being a diocesan priest to pray about becoming a Carmelite monk? Back in 2013 Bishop Taylor gracious granted me a leave of absence to live with the Carmelites in Dallas, Texas. If you don’t know, Carmelites are known for spending several hours a day absorbed in quiet contemplation.

My friends all said I would never make it. And I guess they were right, because look at where I am now! Nonetheless, my instinct for more prayer was right. What do I mean? Diocesan priests like me and Fr. Savio can become so work-oriented that we can easily sacrifice prayer for the sake of productivity.

And this obsession with output (what have you accomplished?) is understandable because the business of saving souls is 24-7. But when we neglect serious and sustained prayer, we are essentially like chickens running around with our heads cut off. Why? Because Jesus is our Head who gives us purpose, peace, and proper priorities. And prayer helps us keep our Head (Jesus) on straight.

Today we hear the beautiful but also somewhat baffling story of Martha and Mary who host Jesus for supper. The reason it feels baffling to me is because I sympathize and side with Martha. She is the one doing all the work (like diocesan priests) yet it is Mary (like the Carmelites) sitting on her hands, whom Jesus pats approvingly on the head.

In what sense, had Mary chosen “the better part”? Well, Mary stayed close to Jesus who showed her that there are spiritual feasts that are more satisfying than a supper of the most succulent steak. Remember when his disciples urged Jesus to eat while he was speaking with Samaritan woman at the well?

Jesus replied “I have food to eat of which you do not know” (Jn 4:32). Jesus was serving the Samaritan woman a sumptuous supper of his words and wisdom. And Mary in the gospel was relishing that same cuisine of contemplation too. That feast of faith is precisely “the better part.”

This past Friday I went to visit Josie Nunez, an IC parishioner who has joined the Olivetan Benedictine Nuns in Jonesboro. Her house was full of flowers and family and friends, who were coming to greet her because she had been gone for a year. They were all smiling and taking selfies as if Taylor Swift had come to Fort Smith.

I had a few minutes to talk to her personally, and I asked her what her daily routine was like. She said she gets up at 5 a.m. – which is later than the fully-professed nuns – and spends an hour in the chapel in quiet prayer. Then breakfast and more community prayer with the other nuns.

Around 11 a.m. she’s back in the chapel for more private prayer, the rosary, and lunch. In the evening, she hits the chapel a third time for prayer before supper and finally night prayers at 7:30, followed by Grand Silence. As I listened to her speak, I felt like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus tasting that cuisine of contemplation that Christ wants to feed us all with.

My friends, we are in the dog-days of summer, no offense to my dog Apollo! During the summer we finally find some time to relax and recharge. But how many people try to spend extra time in prayer? In fact, some people skip Mass as part of their “down time.” We can even treat prayer like work which we need a break from.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen was a huge advocate of making a Holy Hour every day in front of the Blessed Sacrament. But he observed ironically that “the hardest time to make the Holy Hour is when we are on vacation.” He explained why: “When you have all the time in the world, you have no time for God.”

Here are a few suggestions to taste a little of the delicious cuisine of contemplation that Mary enjoyed. Try to attend an extra Mass during the week. By the way, Josie will be at 7 a.m. Mass for the next two weeks if you want to say hello to Fort Smith’s own Taylor Swift. Sign up for a weekly Holy Hour at St. Boniface Adoration Chapel. And quite literally sit at the feet of Jesus, and eat the food that most people don’t know.

My family has a conference call every Sunday at 4 p.m. and whoever is available calls my phone, my parents, brother, my sister, and their kids (my nieces and nephews) spread all over the country. I merge the calls and we chat for a bit and then take turns leading the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.

The conference call is not perfect and I often cannot hear everyone’s voice because they cut in and out. Some people pray too fast, and others pray too slow. Of course, I pray perfectly. But for 25 minutes we all sit at Jesus’ feet and are blessed to taste “the better part.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!

No comments:

Post a Comment