Twenty Something

A monthly column for young adults

By Christina Capecchi   

Memo to Marthas: ‘There is need of only one thing’

Before cell phones entered our purses and pockets, a fitting room was a personal space. Sure, its halls hosted heated debates between moms and daughters, with friends waiting in the wings. But what happened inside a stall’s cramped quarters was a private exchange, an unflinching showdown between woman and mirror, birthing hard-to-swallow epiphanies like “I have gained weight” and “This looked better on the hanger.”

These days the fitting room is yet another place where busy women can be accessed. Rather than protest, we answer the call, half naked, elbow in shirt, hobbling.

Young adults have been raised on the notion that we can do and have it all – walk on the moon, become president, cure cancer and get weekly massages.

The key, we learn, is to multi-task. If you’re doing more than one thing, you’ll advance much more quickly. And if you want to be an All-Star multi-tasker, buy an iPhone.

Lofty as our ambitions are, we often feel crummy about their outcome. My friend reminded me of this in a recent e-mail. “Life has been crazy and stressful,” she wrote. “Just trying to juggle work, family, friends and myself. Dropping a lot of balls.”

Her e-mail arrived on a night when I was keenly aware of my own dropped balls. I felt as if I was attempting a lot but excelling at little. Worse yet, I was so preoccupied preparing to catch the next ball that I wasn’t really enjoying the one in hand.

Being present to the moment is harder than ever for young Catholics today. It defies our cultural training and dismisses our high-tech aids.

Our faith calls us to slow down and attend to each moment, “to be still and know that I am God.” The essence of spirituality, quite simply, is being awake.

Jesus was the ultimate single-tasker. Despite the weight of his earthly mission – to save humankind – he focused on the here and now. As a result, he touched countless souls.

When he encountered multi-tasking Martha, who was peeved by her single-minded sister, he gently rebuked her.

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things,” Jesus said. “There is need of only one thing.”

Profound wisdom is packed in that short sentence. We may covet or expect or demand many things, but we need only one. It is a pointed statement, a trumping of quality over quantity. Chasing “many things,” Jesus implies, distracts us from the heart of the matter.

There is need of only one thing: to attend to the giver of each grace-filled moment.

Christina Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights, Minn. E-mail her at christinacap@gmail.com.