Day Three

Please note that the blog reads bottom to top. If this is your firs time visiting the blog check out previous blogs by reading bottom up.

DAY THREE - Blessed are those who recognise
and value the unique talents of others, for they
shall succeed

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a
woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister
named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying.
But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and
asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work
by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha,
Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of
only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken
away from her" (Luke 10:38-42).

Mary and Martha are the most familiar set of sisters in the Bible. Like most
sisters, these two women had conflicts, which emerged because of their
different personalities, roles, and simply the fact that they were siblings.
The manner in which the story of Martha and Mary is told, depicting sister
against sister, could be seen as very negative; it seems to force us to
choose one way of being over another, and if we must choose, which
should it be? If we side with Martha, this must mean that we fail to value
the studious virtues that Mary represented.
Ancient tradition however depicts Saint Martha as a healer and dragon
slayer. It is a delight to have the "busy" sister reinstated in this way. Some
mystics reflect on the two women, including St Teresa of Avila who wrote:
“Believe me, Martha and Mary must be together to accommodate the Lord
and keep him with them forever; otherwise he will be served poorly and
remain without food."1
Are we in competition or do we encourage one another? Do our societies
encourage girls and women to succeed? Our world, our countries and our
organisations need to foster the development of talents, education and
leadership of all. A safe world has to allow as many as possible a stake in
decision-making and power.

1Quoted by Dorothee Sölle, Great Women of the Bible in Art and
Literature, Wm B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Mich.: 1994.


Today as we seek to empower girls and women in local communities and
across the world, we need to find new ways in which to share power and to
share roles. Most of us, both men and women, have something of both
Martha and Mary in us; as we reflect on the two biblical sisters we should
be encouraged to take on realistic and complex role models rather than
monochrome or dichotomous ones. Contemplation of Martha and Mary
should not lead us to despise or judge either of the sisters – even if the
gospel may seem to – rather we need to find a balanced interpretation.
Empowerment and gender justice are not about judgement but about
believing each of us, women and men, has gifts to contribute. Tools need
to be developed and resources made available so that girls and women
can continue to discover their leadership qualities and societies can learn
to value their contribution. Educate a girl and you educate a nation.
Perhaps as we move forward we will discover talents to tame some of the
dragons of poverty, hunger and illness in our own time.

Questions for personal reflection

How easy do we find it to work together and to respect and develop each
other’s talents?
Are we jealous of women who "succeed" and rise to the top, or do we
celebrate them as our sisters?
How easy do we find it to work in an ethos of cooperation rather than in
competition within our programmatic work?

Prayer
Great God, you listen and you judge,
may we tame the dragons of sexism and exclusion, which prevent girls
from getting education and hold women back from taking their full place in
our societies.
May we find the strength to work together in cooperation through the power
of your Holy Spirit.
Amen.

LAM Highlight:


Micro-enterprise and economic development is vital to creating sustainable change.
From developing self-sustaining service businesses (bookstores, clinics, schools) to micro credit programs designed to help individuals finance businesses ideas, to creating new businesses for target populations in need of employment, Economic Development activity can take on many different forms. Lam is committed to empowering women in Latin America to create an economically safe world for women. Here are some examples of work being done in Latin America



Venezuela - a bakery business run by a large church in Caracas to train adolescents, who have come through a street children's ministry to bake and sell bread and then to start their own small bakery businesses. The training is designed on a franchise model with the idea that a small bakery business, located in the right place, can be the foundation for these young people to support themselves independently.




Honduras - rural church businesses were started for employment creation in the town of La Florida: a bakery for women, and an upholstery business for men, supervised by a business committee from the San Pedro Sula mother church. The business plans for these two projects were developed with assistance from U.S. college students doing their required practicum for a degree in business administration