Stop, Look, Listen

When we teach children to cross the road we say stop, look, and listen. This daily task seeks to engrain a habit that is able for us safely navigate a daily task that is familiar to us. The familiarity with the activity also prevents us from assuming that the traffic on the road will be the same every day at the same time. It calls for a growing awareness of our environment. How our actions can have positive consequences for others and ourselves. This plays out in our readings for this weekend.

When Jesus visits the house of Martha and Mary, we see a domestic drama that could be familiar to many households. One person seems to be doing all the work and one person is just sitting around appearing to do nothing. Yet there is more to the story than just activity and contemplation. What we see played out is that Mary is attentive to the person of Jesus. He speaks about the reality of the situation and seeks to give a context for their activity. In this, he does not see our lives as an endless list of activities but rather an awareness of how we are present to God in our relationships.

This plays out when the three visitors meet Abraham and Sarah at the Oak of Mamre. Abraham provides hospitality to these visitors and makes them welcome. His focus is on meeting them with a receptiveness that is able to give fully from what they have available. In this, we meet God in what is available to us and allow us to be open to those graced moments that touch us deeply.

Paul is touched in a similar way when he encounters suffering. His focus is on noticing his own reality but also seeks opportunities to proclaim the truth of the Gospel to people. In this, we discover a mystery that needs to be listened to and lived out. We need to take out to stop, look and listen to discover where God is at play in our daily lives.