On some calendars, today is the commemoration of St. Martha of Bethany. A few calendars also add the name of her sister Mary and even her brother Lazarus to the observance. This family of disciples lived in Bethany a village near Jerusalem and are mentioned in St. Luke 10:38-42, St. John 11:1-53 and St. John 12:1-11. Martha is probably the elder sibling and may have been a well-to-do single woman since she seems to be the owner of the house (only women in such circumstances were likely to be homeowners in the first century). In these accounts, Martha seems to be an active and practical person who focuses on service. In her realism, she remonstrates with Jesus about the death of her brother. Yet, Martha also makes a great spiritual confession of faith similar to the great confession of St. Peter. In John 11: 27, she affirms, "Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world."
So Martha is an important example. She is a person with a practical mundane outlook and a tendency to be anxious. Nevertheless, she is a hard-working, loyal, and loving disciple who by divine grace makes one of the greatest pre-Reurrection professions of faith in the Gospels.
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