Reflection
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
John 11:1 – 45
Martha was matter of fact and to the point. No accepting excuses from her. She said it like it was. ”Where were you when we needed you?” “It is truth in a friendship that gives it depth, and truth that makes it whole. It is truth that drives us to explore ourselves as well as the other, the other as well as ourselves. Truth makes possible the exposure of the soul and the riches of experience. It validates a person’s life… The Martha factor of friendship brings a woman’s experience into the light of new understandings…Any friendship that traffics in the truth of life is surely a holy one.
The Friendship of Women
Prayer
May I “speak the truth in love”
Ephesians 4:15
Action
Consider if you are able to speak the truth in stressful situations. Do you equivocate and avoid the facts? Can you “speak the truth in love” even when it is difficult?
Suggested Reading
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
John 11:1 – 45
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 4:15
At the time of Lazarus’s death, both Martha and Mary open their hearts in total trust in Jesus.
Pope Francis
A friend can tell you things you don’t want to tell yourself.
Frances Ward Weller
One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realize God.
Ramakrishna
Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
Buddha
Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
Mahatma Gandhi
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.
John F. Kennedy