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.
It is not too late. Let us go to the feet of Jesus, let us sit at his feet and listen to him speak.
"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small,
put on sackcloth.
It is not too late. Let us turn aside from our evil way and from the violence we have in hand. God will relent and forgive and withhold his blazing wrath so that we shall not perish.
In patient mercy the LORD waits for us to come to him. He invites us ever nearer and nearer.
Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the forbearance of our Lord as salvation. (see Second Peter 3:14-15)
The invitation is constant.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (see Revelation 3:20).
God invites us to turn aside from everything that is less than him. First we put aside evil and mortal sin. But even the legitimate goods of our lives must eventually take second place to him. For him it would be worth it to trade all consolation. The more we can put Jesus first in our lives, to simply be content to sit at his feet, the less that the world can take from us, and the more we will know the joy that only he can give.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (see John 14:27)
He waits patiently for us. Let us in turn learn to wait for him.
Let Israel wait for the LORD,
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
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