Martha appears three times in the Gospel. She is the one who complained that her sister, Mary, was not helping in preparing a meal when Jesus was their guest. The answer which Jesus gave her indicated that, while her concern about serving Him was good, Mary was doing the more important thing by spending time listening to Jesus. We, too, can be so active even in Church work that we have no time to pray or reflect on the message of the Gospel. Action is good but it must be action in the right direction and in the right way. Only by spending time listening to the Word of God and reflecting on it do we know the true value of what we are busy about. But it is Martha, too, who makes that wonderful declaration of faith in Jesus that John tells us about: "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world." Let that faith be ours too.