Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus
White
Martha was the sister of Mary of Bethany and Lazarus. In the West, her feast day comes a week after that of St Mary Magdalene because of the old and probably erroneous tradition that Mary Magdalene was the same person as Martha’s sister. Modern scholarship having made matters clearer, Martha, Mary and Lazarus have since 2021 been celebrated together on this day, which was formerly assigned to Martha alone.
Entrance Antiphon: Cf. Lk 10: 38
Jesus entered a village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
Collect
Grant, we pray, almighty God, that the example of your Saints may spur us on to a better life, so that we will celebrate the memory of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus may also, without ceasing, immitate their deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
First reading: Jeremiah 13:1-11
The Lord said this to me, ‘Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it round your waist. But do not dip it in water.’ And so, as the Lord had ordered, I bought a loincloth and put it round my waist. A second time the word of the Lord was spoken to me, ‘Take the loincloth that you have bought and are wearing round your waist; up! Go to the Euphrates and hide it in a hole in the rock.’ So I went and hid it near the Euphrates as the Lord had ordered me. Many days afterwards the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to the Euphrates and fetch the loincloth I ordered you to hide there.’ So I went to the Euphrates, and I searched, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. The loincloth was spoilt, good for nothing. Then the word of the Lord was addressed to me, Thus says the Lord: In the same way I will spoil the arrogance of Judah and Jerusalem. This evil people who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the dictates of their own hard hearts, who have followed alien gods, and served them and worshipped them, let them become like this loincloth, good for nothing. For just as a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I had intended the whole House of Judah to cling to me – it is the Lord who speaks – to be my people, my glory, my honour and my boast. But they have not listened.’
Responsorial Psalm: Deuteronomy 32:18-21
R/ You forget the God who fathered you.
You forget the Rock who begot you, unmindful now of the God who fathered you. The Lord has seen this, and in his anger cast off his sons and his daughters.
‘I shall hide my face from them,’ he says ‘and see what becomes of them. For they are a deceitful brood, children with no loyalty in them.
‘They have roused me to jealousy with what is no god, they have angered me with their beings of nothing; I, then, will rouse them to jealousy with what is no people, I will anger them with an empty-headed nation.’
Gospel Acclamation: Jn8:12
Alleluia, alleluia! I am the light of the world, says the Lord; anyone who follows me will have the light of life. Alleluia!
Gospel: John 11:19-27
Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’ ‘Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said: ‘I am the resurrection and the life.
If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’
Prayer over the Offerings
As we proclaim your wonders in Your Saints, O Lord, we humbly implore your majesty, that, as their homage of love was pleasing to you, so, too, our dutiful service may find favour in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Jn 11: 27
Martha said to Jesus: You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into this world.
Prayer after Communion
May the holy reception of the Body and Blood of your Only Begotten Son, O Lord, turn us away from the cares of this fallen world, so that, following the example of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus, we may grow in sincere love for you on earth and rejoice to behold you for eternity in heaven. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
We celebrate today a family of friends and benefactors of Jesus. Lazarus, Martha and Mary can teach us many things in following Jesus. We know little about Lazarus, but his friendship with Jesus is real. Jesus wept at his tomb and brought him alive from the tomb. He became a cause for many to believe in Jesus. Martha is busy with mundane activities but expresses great faith in Jesus. She believed that if Jesus had arrived earlier, her brother would not have died. She is also one of the few persons who confessed Jesus as the Messiah. Mary wished to be a disciple of Jesus. She sat at the feet of Jesus as disciples would do to listen to the teaching of their masters. All three relate themselves to Jesus in different ways. It is possible to be friends of Jesus in different ways. Let us be friends of Jesus.