This story of Martha and Mary is often seen as a choice between an active life or a contemplative life. We see Martha, who was arranging and preparing the Lord’s meal, busy doing many things, whereas Mary preferred to listen to what the Lord was saying. Some will say that Mary, in a way, deserted her very busy sister, sat herself down at Jesus’ feet, and just listened to his words, obedient to what the Psalm said: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Yet our challenge as disciples is to see beyond the either-or nature of this story. An active life forgetful of union with God is useless and barren. Still, an apparent life of prayer that shows no concern for serving and evangelizing the world through our daily, ordinary actions also fails to please God. The key to engaged discipleship is combining these two lives without harming the other. St Josemaría Escrivá says, “God is calling us to serve him in and from the ordinary, material, and secular activities of human life. He waits for us every day, in the laboratory, in the operating room, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home, and all the immense panorama of work. There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it. Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday life, or we shall never find him.”