St. Martha

Martha was the sister of Mary and Lazarus. We know most of what we know about St. Martha from the New Testament. Here it is apparent that she was a hospitable person, for she was very attentive in waiting on Our Lord when he visited her family. Her sister Mary on the other hand was sitting at the Lord’s feet, listening to him. Martha asked Jesus to order her sister Mary to get up and help her with the tasks of serving, but Our Lord replied that Mary had chosen the “better part and would not be deprived of it.” After Lazarus had died and been in the tomb for four days, it is Martha who first went to meet Jesus and affirmed her faith in His ability to raise Lazarus. Martha said “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus asked her if she believes He is the “resurrection and the life” and that those who live and “believe in me shall never die.” Martha replied “Yes, Lord I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.” Martha’s glorious affirmation of faith in Jesus is followed by something that must have been very much a part of her personality, for when the Lord told some men to remove the stone from the tomb of her brother, the cleanliness-minded Martha could not refrain from saying “Lord by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” The raising of Lazarus is found in John 11:1-45. After the Resurrection of Jesus, some sources recount that Martha and her sister Mary went with their brother Lazarus to evangelize Gaul, but there is no historical evidence for this and most modern scholars think it unlikely. St. Martha is the patron of cooks. Her feast is July 29.