We, human beings, worry and fret over many things. However, today Jesus invites us to be anxious over only one, that is, to serve God. This brings to mind the First Principle and Foundation of St Ignatius of Loyola. He emphasises that humans are created to praise, reverence and serve God. This is the purpose of our existence. All other created thingS are to be used for this purpose. Thus, our purpose in life is for God, and all else are instruments to reach this goal.

Sometimes we fret about the means to achieve the purpose of serving God; we worry so much about how to serve God that we forget that the goal is to praise, reverence and serve God. In this manner, Martha is anxious about serving the Lord when He comes to her house. She forgets that the Lord is served through her no matter what she does. She is into the details of serving and ensuring all is perfect, and she loses sight of the purpose. On the other hand, Mary knows her purpose is to focus on Jesus alone. She has chosen the better part of distinguishing between the goal and the means.

Jonah had one purpose: to preach repentance to the Ninevites. He was to bring the people back to serving God alone. On hearing Jonah, all strata of society fasted as a sign of repentance, from the greatest to the least, from the animals to the king himself. They realised what their goal was.