Today, in St. Scholastica's day, the Gospel presents us with the counterbalanced attitude of two women, two sisters that remain a symbol of the Church. One, busy with all the serving; the other, at the Lord's feet to listen to his words. Martha and Mary, two sisters that cannot be set apart. Two different attitudes we cannot divide. Every day becomes more important that both of them coexist in every Christian: hard work and contemplation. Both attitudes appear to be well defined in each sister. Martha the activist, Mary the contemplative. The two ways of being in defining persons' spiritual life.

Martha «welcomed him to her house» (Lk 10:38). These words appear in several places of the Holy Scriptures. How lucky of her to be able to welcome the Lord. I wish it could be said the same out of all of us, to openly welcome the presence of the Lord in our home, in our soul. We do it when we shameless defend His doctrine, when we are not ashamed to proclaim the Gospel by word of mouth and work. We serve our Lord when we strive to live by the demands of our religion. Let us repeat with Joshua: «As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord» (Josh 24:15).

Today, we recall the memory of St. Scholastica, the twin sister of St. Benedict, founder of western monasticism. Scholastica was born in Nursia (Italy), in the year 480. She was a nun who also founded a community for women near Monte Cassino. Like Mary, she chose contemplation.

St. Gregory the Great says of St. Scholastica that, «she was consecrated to God Almighty at a very early age, and she used to visit her brother once a year at a house near Monte Cassino monastery to confer on spiritual matters». Let us learn from this Sainte to elevate our conversations to a spiritual pitch and, as she did, to be contemplative, while still living in this world.