Like many people these days, I struggle with trying to make sense of and respond appropriately to the whirlwind of information on my 24-hour newsfeed. During most of our nation's history, the main sources of news would have been the hearsay of neighbors and, perhaps, a weekly local newspaper. Today, we instead have around-the-clock access to cable news, social media, and a dizzying number of online commentators. Because these sources naturally focus on the sensational, our over-consumption of news can lead to the disorienting sense that the world is in a perpetual state of crisis.
I recently found some helpful insights when reflecting on the familiar story of Martha and Mary in the Gospel of Luke. As you may recall, Jesus was visiting his friends as he passed through their village. Mary “sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak” (Luke 10:39) and Martha, “burdened with much serving,” asked Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” (10:40). We don't know the details, but perhaps Martha was preparing a meal for Jesus and was becoming overwhelmed with all of the things to be done: Wine had to be purchased from down the street, the fire needed to be tended to in the oven, bread had to be kneaded and baked, and then the fresh-caught fish needed to be prepared. Jesus' reply to Martha is challenging:
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.” (Luke 10:41-42)
Notice that Jesus is not rebuking Martha for her service itself. Her efforts are not unappreciated. His specific concern is that she is “anxious and worried about many things.” It seems to me that it would have been quite reasonable for Martha to simply ask Mary for a hand, but Martha instead turned to Jesus and asked, “Don't you care that she's not helping?” - as if simply hearing her sister scolded by the Lord would affirm her frustrations enough to make her feel better about the chaos in the kitchen.
It seems to me that there is sometimes something similar going on when we share the latest crisis headlines on social media. We are often “anxious and worried about many things” and are implicitly asking our connections on the internet, “Don't you care?” as if the collective frustration of the internet will make us feel better about the problems of the world. If such a response was unwise for Martha as she dealt with things in her own home, such a response is even less wise for us as we deal with things in the news that are completely out of our control.
Jesus' words to Martha are helpful to us nonetheless: “There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:41-42) Listening to the Word of God - not the latest chatter online - is the one thing that is necessary in order to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Focusing our hearts on the goodness and providence of God, not on the evil and chaos in this world, is the “better part” for which we must strive.
When I find myself at a loss about what is going on in the news or in my own life, I often find peace simply by unplugging as much as responsibilities allow and, like Mary, sitting “beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak” (Luke 10:39). Read the Gospels, go to Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, or simply spend some time in quiet prayer at home, and you may find yourself refreshed.
St. Francis de Sales, in his classic book Introduction to the Devout Life offers this advice about anxiety that may be worth meditating on:
With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul... Anxiety proceeds from an inordinate desire to be freed from a present evil or to acquire a hoped for good. Yet there is nothing that tends more to increase evil and prevent enjoyment of good than to be disturbed and anxious... Whenever you urgently desire to escape from a certain evil or to obtain a certain good you must be especially careful both to put your mind at rest and in peace and to have a calm judgment and will. Then try gently and meekly to accomplish your desire, taking in regular order the most convenient means. When I say gently, I do not mean carelessly but without hurry, trouble, or anxiety. Otherwise, instead of obtaining the effect you desire you will spoil everything and cause yourself all the more trouble.
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