What am I doing right now?

Father Andrzej Wyrostek 
The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 20, 2025

Admonish the sinner
Instruct the ignorant
Counsel the doubtful
Comfort the sorrowful
Bear wrongs patiently
Forgive all injuries
Pray for the living and the dead

Those are the spiritual works of mercy that I would like to begin with as our reflection today. Our daily lives are filled with various worries and anxieties. They are often caused by a difficult situation or the anticipation of such a situation. It was similar to the house of friends of Jesus — Lazarus, Martha, and Mary — where Jesus was hospitably received. Observing the behavior of the sisters, Jesus admonishes Martha — not because she is serving but because this simple activity completely absorbs her and prevents her from seeing more important matters. 

What in our daily lives causes us our anxieties and constitutes an obstacle to spending time well? Time with the Lord. It often happens that the way we behave is shaped by human consideration. We take into account what our neighbors, who are more or less friendly to us, what they will say. They often shape our perception of the world, our view of others, or our own lives. And our anxiety is that we face a dilemma — how to look good in their eyes so that they do not think anything bad about us. That is why we begin to focus on secondary things and perceive the world through the prism of gossip and slandering, perhaps, a challenge of our ego. 

Another obstacle on our path of life are our habits. They are said to be the second nature of a person. Something new comes down to creating certain habits in us without which, we believe for a moment, the day would be wasted. For some of these habits they are mundane everyday activities such as drinking coffee, watching a favorite series, or going for a walk with the dog. For others it will be a constant search for “holes in the whole” — a modest interest or curiosity about the lives of other people. 

Habits cause us to lack freshness in life and a new perspective on the reality in which we live. They turn, they can turn, very quickly into stereotypical statements: 

I already know.
I know better.
What’s the point?
I have my own opinion on the subject.
I will not change my mind. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus indicates that we are to live by what is currently happening around us and not dwell on the past or indulge in unrealistic dreams about or living in the world “what if.” Therefore, looking at the attitude of Martha and Mary, Jesus showed that Mary, listening to his words, chose the better part. That is, she understood well what she should be done at a given moment. What should be done at a given moment is to simply ask ourselves a question, “What am I doing right now? How is that helping me to achieve my eternal redemption? Whatever I do right now, how is that helping me to live closer to God?”

So, I will conclude our reflection today with the corporal works of mercy, meaning the ways that we actively could help each other on the way of our redemption: 

To feed the hungry
To give water to the thirsty
To clothe the naked
To shelter the homeless
To visit the sick to visit
To visit the imprisoned
To bury the dead 

The corporal works of mercy, whether it’s spiritual or corporal, are the ways that we can challenge our habits at the same time listening to the voice of God.