Feast of St. Martha

For almost nine years now I have had a little postcard hanging in my kitchen, a print of Vermeer's Christ in the House of Martha and Mary. I love it because it is a beautiful piece of art, for one. Occasionally when we lived in Edinburgh and I had a little time to myself, I would go to the National Gallery and just sit in front of it. I love it also because it reminds me that the main thing is not whether my pie crust flakes or my souffle puffs: the main thing is whether I am cooking for the love of God.

Sometimes in my kitchen I get these glimpses of what holy hospitality is like. Sometimes I realize that my ego is getting in the way again, making it about the food and not about loving service. Always, from Edinburgh to the Midwest to the East Coast and back again, St. Martha with her basket of bread has been nearby as a gentle reminder to keep on choosing the better part.

This morning I made oven pancake for breakfast and prayed for my children while I sliced nectarines. Together we read the story of St. Martha from Ethel Pochocki's little book, More Once Upon A Time Saints. (Lest you imagine a cloyingly perfect scene, let me hasten to tell you that the two younger boys complained about the presence of nectarine in their oven pancake and Alex interrupted to say, "Cthulu have mercy!")

Pochocki retells the gospel stories about St. Martha and then adds the legend that she and her sister were cast adrift during the persecutions and wound up on the coast of southern France, where she lived the rest of her life. There were dragons in the countryside near her village, but Martha dispatched them with holy courage and a little holy water. Tonight we will have a St. Martha dinner: pan bagnat, with ratatouille, and perhaps a pithivier if I can pull it off without getting cranky. (It would be the height of irony for me to get myself in a tizzy over puff pastry when I am ostensibly remembering the life of St. Martha.)

I have to stop at the grocery store to get zucchini for the ratatouille and frozen puff pastry because I am not crazy enough to make my own on a 90 degree day. If they happen to have any dragon steaks on sale, I am totally revising the menu.

Comments

[Angela]

Just wanted to say that I like your comments (in lots of posts) about praying while slicing nectarines...praying while knitting...etc. I've always been a fan of the "pray without ceasing" concept but need to be reminded sometimes :)