The relative claims of action and contemplation may sometimes come before us for consideration as the night draws on, and we have a space to think about our day's work and our relationships with those around us. The criterion of the day's success is measured in the first case by the fruits of our labours, because these are tangible and therefore available for calm assessment. On the surface we may seem to have achieved what we set out to do, so that a feeling of smug satisfaction may come over us. But then we come to ponder more deeply on the people we have met and how we have behaved towards them, especially our colleagues whom we know very well through constant involvement. In the end it is relationships that matter most, for the fruits of these last long after the results of our material labours fade from view.

In the story of Mary (who probably, pace St Teresa, was not the same person as Mary of Magdala) and Martha, Jesus visits their home, and while Mary sits at his feet and listens to him, Martha is left to prepare the meal. She becomes increasingly irritated that she is left alone to do the work while her sister does nothing but enjoy the presence of the Master. And so she tells Jesus to send Mary out to help her; but the only reply she gets is a simple, kindly but pointed, rebuke to the effect that she merely frets and fusses about so many things, while her sister, in quiet contemplation, has chosen the better way, and it will not be taken from her (Luke 10.38-42). From this rebuke has come the misunderstanding that Jesus prizes contemplative inaction above work in the world. In fact, it was Martha's attitude that he was censuring, not her work in the kitchen. Her irritation was not occasioned by the simple work she had to do, within the easy compass of a single individual, but by the envy she felt at being excluded from the Master's presence. Had her mind been concentrated on the work of preparing the meal to the exclusion of all else, she would have been as close to God in contemplation as her sister. Instead of this priceless gift, she wanted acknowledgement and praise from Jesus.

It is obvious that, unless we play our part in the running of the world, all of us will quickly fade away as the earth fails to nourish us and also our animal brethren. Therefore the Martha function is immediately vindicated. But unless we are centred on a power greater than ourselves, we, like the builders of the Tower of Babel, will soon come to grief as personality problems thwart our labours and destroy our peace of mind. We remember Psalm 127.1-2: unless God builds the house or keeps watch over a city, all our human efforts are vain. Thus it comes about that contemplation should both precede and accompany action in the world. We finally come to realize that contemplation is the highest form of action; it is the willed ascent of the mind to God, who then fills us with the Holy Spirit, the one absolutely reliable guide to constructive action in the world.

And so we can understand Jesus' priority for the way of Mary. He would say to us, then, "Go and do as she did, as in his advice to the lawyer whose query about the identity of one's neighbour evoked the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10.37). St Teresa also makes the comment elsewhere that, "to give our Lord a perfect hospitality, Mary and Martha must combine." Ideally the two should combine in all of us as we sit in contemplation at the Lord's feet before we set out to do our chosen work in the world.

Lord, give me the courtesy to wait upon you in prayer before I proceed upon the many works that so fill me with pleasurable ambition, so that I may be aware of other people's welfare and seek to preserve it before my own desires.