Mary has chosen the better part...

If you really wish to follow Christ, if you want your love for him to grow and last, you must be diligent in prayer. This is the key to the vitality of your life in Christ.

Without prayer, your faith and your love will die. If you are constant in daily prayer and in attendance at Sunday Mass, your love for Jesus will grow. And your heart will know such joy and deep peace as the world could never give you….

Nourish your day with as much prayer as you can and allowing for moments of particular intimacy with the Lord, whether individually or in a group. Only prolonged contact with him can transform each of us inwardly into a disciple of his.

Only by being nourished by long hours of prayer, meditation, concentration, and silent listening to God, will a believer be able to speak to other people about the Divine Mystery, to hand it on, and to bear witness to it in the presence of others….The Gospel reminds us of the need to pray continually and never lose heart (Lk 18:1). So every day, devote a little while to conversing with God, as proof of the fact that you sincerely love him; for love always seeks to be close to the beloved.

This is why prayer must come before everything else. People who do not take this view, who do not put this into practice, cannot plead the excuse of being short of time. What they are is short of love….

~Pope John Paul II

I found the above quote on the Web site for Madonna House. It is a combination of three short excerpts from talks given by Pope John Paul II, two of them to young people and one a homily given in Argentina in 1987. These words speak to today's Gospel (Lk 10:38-42) about Jesus visiting Martha and Mary in their home. Martha was doing what was expected of her -- serving their guest. Mary chose the better part -- being with their guest. Service and presence are not incompatible, but service with anxiety and worry makes presence impossible. As Pope John Paul the Great reminds us, "This is is why prayer must come before everything else." When I make prayer my first priority, being present with my beloved Lord and continually seeking his face and His strength (1 Chron 16:11), only then does my service become a true sacrifice of praise and a gift of God's presence to all. Dear Jesus, may I always seek to be close to You, my Beloved!