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The Excellence of This Virtue
for her — to hide, to inebriate herself in activity. So
God could rightly say to her, “I don’t want all of your
scurrying around in the parish doing all that ‘good.’
I want your heart.” In all her activities, Martha was
constructing a salvation of her own — one in which she
was god and determined what was right and wrong.
God was constantly calling her to allow Him to heal
her, but she was rejecting that call. She didn’t know
Him because, until her conversion, she didn’t want His
love. She wanted her self-justification in anger and bitterness.
Thus, if she were to die in that sin, she would
have heard, “I don’t know you.” Did God want her to
do good? Of course, but He wanted her to do it out of
love of Him, not a false worship of self.
Martha’s “good works” before she came to know
and love God were not pleasing to Him. They were
a very dangerous distraction from God. They didn’t
please God, because He didn’t want the activity. He
wanted Martha. Now she is in a place to come to
know Him and to give herself to Him because she
loves Him.
The man who follows his own will, independently of
God’s, is guilty of a kind of idolatry. Instead of adoring
God’s will, he adores his own in a certain sense. The
greatest glory we can give to God is to do His will in
everything. Our Redeemer came to earth to glorify His
heavenly Father and to teach us by His example how to
do the same. St. Paul represents Him saying to His eternal
Father: Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, but a body
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