JULY 29

Day 29: Martha the righteous, sister of Lazarus.

This righteous woman was born in Bethany near Jerusalem. She was mentioned by the evangelist Luke (10:38-42), who said that: “As they continued their journey he 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 speaks. 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."

Though, Martha used to receive Jesus in her home, and treat Him with great honor and generosity. When her brother died, she told Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. [But] even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you” (Cf. John 11:21-22). Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise" [John 11:23]. Martha said to him, "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day" [John 11:24].

Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" [John 11:25, 26]. She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world" [John 11:27]. They then, “came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.

Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the dead man's sister, said to him, "Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" [See John 11:38-40].

After the resurrection of her brother Lazarus, Martha followed Jesus and became his disciple until she died in the Lord in the year 84. May her prayer be with us. Amen.

 & the Prophet Ezekiel.

Ezekiel is one of the four great prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. He was born around the year 624 BC in Judea. At the age of 26 he was captured and sent to exile in Babylon along with king Joachim and many other officers and priests, by king Nebuchadnezzar, who had seized Jerusalem in the year 598 BC. God called Ezekiel to be a prophet among his people in the Babylonian exile, where he did his ministry as a priest, prophet, and spiritual director with great zeal for some 22 years. He died in the exile land, after he prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem, in the sixth century BC.

His prophecy is a mixture of sublime metaphors, heartedly tenderness, and elegant rhetoric and beautiful poetry. The famous vision of the chariot with eyes that inspired the symbols of the four evangelists belongs to him (Ezekiel 1:4-11); and so is the metaphor of the lazy Israeli herders; which will be substituted with some watchful shepherds (Ezekiel 34). The vision of the dried bones, which turn back to life and which symbolizes the resurrection of Christ and the faithful departed is for him (Cf. Ezekiel 37:1-15), and also the vision of the two branches and the one kingdom and the one king; which represents the Church of Christ comes from Ezekiel (37:15). May his prayer be with us. Amen.