The One Thing Necessary

“If you don’t remember anything else, remember this one thing!”

A parent may use these words to emphasize an essential piece of advice given to a child. An employer may do the same when entrusting an employee with an important project. The implication: if this one thing is overlooked, no matter what else is accomplished, the goal is missed; the project failed. On the other hand, if you do just this one thing, success is assured.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could know the “one thing” in the spiritual life which would assure spiritual “success”—holiness and eternal life, our life’s mission fulfilled? In fact, we can. And Jesus Himself told us what it is.

ONE THING TO RULE THEM ALL

The scene is set. Jesus has been welcomed into the home of Martha and Mary. Ever the diligent hostess, Martha anxiously dashes about serving the Lord and her other guests. Meanwhile, Mary sits quietly at Jesus’ feet, enraptured, hanging on His every word—and appearing to Martha to be slacking off.

Martha’s patience runs out. She determines to enlist Jesus’ help to rouse her inconsiderate sister: “Tell her…to help me!” (Lk. 10:40). But Our Lord responds: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things: one thing is needful. Mary had chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (Lk. 10:41-42). Although the correction is gentle, Martha is stunned into silence. Jesus’ words reverberate in her mind: “Only one thing is needful.”

Some might argue the point. Aren’t there other necessities in life, such as eating and drinking?! Yes, of course. But Jesus is emphasizing that “man shall not live by bread alone but by every world that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mt. 4:4). God is our life. Everything flows from him, even our most basic needs. Apart from him, we are lifeless, withered branches (cf. Jn. 15:5).

The “one thing” upon which our life depends is preserving our “connection” with Jesus, the true Vine. Imitating Mary, we must turn the central part of our being, our very heart, toward the Lord with loving attention. As we wait and listen, treasuring His presence, He shares His life with us. And if we consistently choose this “good portion,” we’ll be able to say to Jesus “…[even] in life’s noisiest hour, there whispers still the ceaseless love of thee” (Samuel Taylor Coleridge).

In his book Saint Mary Magdalene: Prophetess of Eucharistic Love, Fr. Sean Davidson comments: “Mary has discovered the one thing that is really necessary or needful…the one thing indispensable or essential for anyone, namely, to contemplate and love the Lord.” Do this and your life will be a success in the eyes of God because your fellowship with Him will lead to loving obedience and inner transformation. It will open your heart to all He wants to do in and through you. And abiding firmly in the Vine, you will eventually, inevitably, bear much fruit (cf. Jn. 15:5).

If we miss this one necessary thing, we’ve missed everything.

I NEVER KNEW YOU

In the highly regarded book endorsed by Raymond Cardinal Burke, In Sinu Jesus, a Benedictine monk reports that he learned this same lesson from Our Lord:

Seminarians are taught many things, some useful, others less so, but are they taught to love Me [Jesus], to give Me their hearts, to remain in My presence, to seek My Face, and to listen to My voice? If they are not taught these things, they will have learned nothing useful, and all their efforts will remain shallow and sterile. Woe to those who allow men to pass through their institutions without teaching them the one thing necessary!

This admonition applies not only to seminarians but to every disciple of Christ—and those who guide and teach them. If we don’t make it a priority to give our hearts to Jesus, to seek His presence and to listen to His voice, our lives will “remain shallow and sterile.” Worse, if we deliberately disregard the call to an intimate relationship with Jesus, we risk hearing those chilling words: “I never knew you” (Mt. 7:23).

Thankfully, those who choose “the good portion”—quality time with Jesus—never have to hear those distressing words. So, practically speaking, how can we do this?

IN HIS PRESENCE

We may be tempted to envy Mary. How we would love to have Jesus come to our home! We forget, He is always with us. How can we become more aware of His presence—and become more present to Him?

Remember: Jesus is truly with you. St. Teresa of Avila said the most common mistake we make in prayer is failing to recognize we are addressing a living Person who’s right with us. In her book Miracles Do Happen, Sr. Briege McKenna says: “We forget, sometimes, that Jesus is a living person who waits for us.” The commitment we make to pray is not to “a project, but to a living person, that living person is Jesus who is always there.”

We experience Jesus’ presence most profoundly in the Blessed Sacrament. These are precious times. But what if we are unable to be in His Eucharistic Presence as often as we’d like, due to health conditions or other circumstances of life?

If the outward expression of your love for the Lord is hindered in this way, be assured that your love is not hindered. As Jesus explained to Venerable Consolata Bertrone: “When one desires only to love, then everything that obstructs that love becomes meritorious.” Jesus promises to transform these hindrances “into graces and blessings for souls” (Jesus Speaks to the World).

Furthermore, the Benedictine monk previously mentioned offers great encouragement, reportedly given to him by Our Lord: “If you cannot come before My Eucharistic Face, you can be transported there spiritually by an act of desire coming from the depths of the soul. Ask Me to transport you to those tabernacles in the world where I am most forgotten. …I will transport your soul into My presence…” (In Sinu Jesu).

Similarly, St. Pio of Pietrelcina advised those who couldn’t get to a church to: “Fly with your spirit to the tabernacle…embrace the Beloved of our souls, even more than if you had been permitted to receive Him sacramentally.”

Finally, remember to enter the tabernacle of your own soul where Jesus—in fact, the Most Holy Trinity—dwells. Fr. Dominic M. Hoffman, O.P., writes: “On the altar He [Jesus] is before us. In the soul He is within us. In both cases it is the same one true God” (The Life Within: The Prayer of Union).

So, let us enter the sacred enclosure of our hearts and meet Jesus there, knowing that we are doing what matters most in life, “the one thing necessary.”  

Image from Wikimedia Commons