Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus

Lives of the Saints

by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. edition

[1894]

July 29.—ST. MARTHA, Virgin.

1. JOHN tells us that “Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus,” and yet but few glimpses are vouchsafed us of them.

First, the sisters are set before us with a word. Martha received Jesus into her house, and was busy in outward, loving, lavish service, while Mary sat in silence at the feet she had bathed with her tears.

Then, their brother is ill, and they send to Jesus, “Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick.” And in His own time the Lord came, and they go out to meet Him; and then follows that scene of unutterable tenderness and of sublimity unsurpassed: the silent waiting of Mary; Martha strong in faith, but realizing so vividly, with her practical turn of mind, the fact of death, and hesitating: “Canst Thou show Thy wonders in the grave?”

And then once again, on the eve of His Passion, we see Jesus at Bethany. Martha, true to her character, is serving; Mary, as at first, pours the precious ointment, in adoration and love, on His divine head.

And then we find the tomb of St. Martha, at Tarascon, in Provence. When the storm of persecution came, the family of Bethany, with a few companions, were put into a boat, without oars or sail, and borne to the coast of France. St. Mary’s tomb is at St. Baume; St. Lazarus is venerated as the founder of the Church of Marseilles; and the memory of the virtues and labors of St. Martha is still fragrant at Avignon and Tarascon.

Reflection.—When Martha received Jesus into her house, she was naturally busy in preparations for such a Guest. Mary sat at His feet, intent alone on listening to His gracious words. Her sister thought that the time required other service than this, and asked our Lord to bid Mary help in serving. Once again Jesus spoke in defense of Mary. “Martha, Martha,” He said, “thou art lovingly anxious about many things; be not over-eager; do thy chosen work with recollectedness. Judge not Mary. Hers is the good part, the one only thing really necessary. Thine will be taken away, that something better be given thee.” The life of action ceases when the body is laid down; but the life of contemplation endures and is perfected in heaven.

Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus Memorial Ex 24:3-8 (400)/Jn 11:19-27 or Lk 10:38-42 (607).

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/martha-687
CATHOLICISM SAINTS ST. MARTHA

*St. Martha

This is a  black and white antique illustration of Saint Martha, sister of Lazarus and Mary Magdalene. Martha is depicted overcoming a dragon with the cross. According to the Christian Golden Legend, Martha moved to France with Mary Magdalene and captured a dragon man-slayer near the Rhone River.

St Martha is commemorated on July 29 in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church (together with her siblings Mary and Lazarus) and in the Calendar of saints of the Episcopal Church. Martha is remembered (with Mary and Lazarus) in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 29 July.

Martha (Hebrew: מַרְתָּא) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to Jesus resurrecting her brother, Lazarus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha

St Mary of Bethany is a biblical figure mentioned only by name in the Gospel of John in the Christian New Testament. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Martha, she is described by John as living in the village of Bethany, a small village in Judaea to the south of the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem.

Medieval Western Christianity identified Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene and with the sinful woman of Luke 7:36–50, very common for that time period. This influenced the Roman Rite liturgy of the feast of Mary Magdalene, with a Gospel reading about the sinful woman and a collect referring to Mary of Bethany. Since the 1969 revision of that liturgy, Mary Magdalene’s feast day continues to be on 22 July, but Mary of Bethany is celebrated, together with her brother Lazarus, on 29 July, the memorial of their sister Martha. In Eastern Christianity and some Protestant traditions, Mary of Bethany and Mary Magdalene are considered separate people. The Eastern Orthodox Church has its own traditions regarding Mary of Bethany’s life beyond the gospel accounts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Bethany

St Lazarus of Bethany (Latinised from Lazar, ultimately from Hebrew Eleazar, “God helped”), also venerated as Righteous Lazarus, the Four-Days Dead in the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the subject of a prominent sign of Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death. The Eastern Orthodox and Catholic traditions offer varying accounts of the later events of his life.

In the context of the seven signs in the Gospel of John, the raising of Lazarus at Bethany – today the Palestinian town of Al-Eizariya in the West Bank, which translates to “the place of Lazarus” – is the climactic narrative: exemplifying the power of Jesus “over the last and most irresistible enemy of humanity: death. For this reason, it is given a prominent place in the gospel.”

The name Lazarus is frequently used in science and popular culture in reference to apparent restoration to life; for example, the scientific term Lazarus taxon denotes organisms that reappear in the fossil record after a period of apparent extinction. There are also numerous literary uses of the term.

A distinct character of the same name is also mentioned in the Gospel of Luke in Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus, in which both eponymous characters die, and the former begs for the latter to be resurrected.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_of_Bethany

To stress the family spirit of the home in Bethany where Jesus loved to stay, Pope Francis has established the memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus, replacing the previous memorial of Saint Martha.

https://opusdei.org/en-us/article/july-29-memorial-of-saints-martha-mary-and-lazarus/

On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.  

2 Cor 13:2B–4