Working in the land of rattlesnakes and scorpions, certain lines of scripture hit a bit closer to home. For example: “What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Jesus said these words after the disciple saw him praying and asked him to teach them how to pray. Think about this for a moment. They obviously knew how to pray. They were inspired by how Jesus prayed. They wanted to learn how to pray like him.

He opened it up with the Our Father. (Hopefully, Father tackled it during his homily.) Then, he told a story.

There is a common, but fatal disease in the Catholic community. The truth is, it is most common with those most active in the life of the parish. Parish staff, parish ministry heads, and even some clergy fall victim. It’s name? Martha Syndrome.

It is thusly named (by myself, as of today) after Luke 10:38-42.

Martha is so wrapped up in serving, that she has no time to stop and spend time with the Lord. She even resents her sister for pressing the pause button on service to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to His Words.

Many of us in Church leadership get so busy talking about Jesus, that we never slow down long enough to talk with Him. When this happens, we cease having the ability to speak to others about our friend and savior Jesus Christ, and sound much more like biographers.

We often fall victim to thinking following Jesus is complicated. After all, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a pretty thick book! Yet, I would submit that every word in that document is directed at helping us live out this Sunday's Gospel.

"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself… do this and you will live."

The directive is so simple, yet I have so far to go.

I've recently entered another season where the Lord is seeing fit to humble me. Right after we bought our townhome, our second car's repairs became more than it was worth. We are now a one car family. On top of that, I was recently carrying (what I thought was) a light box. It was too much for my back and the spinal stenosis pain came back full-force.

This Sunday’s Gospel is one of many instances where Jesus encourages his followers to go into the world and preach his message without worrying about the results.

“Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves… Into whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this household.' If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you... Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.' Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, 'The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.'