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Parish News | Wednesday, July 26, 2017

A hardworking saint

Miami Shores parish is named for St. Martha

MIAMI SHORES | On July 29, the Church observes the feast day of the patron saint of St. Martha Church, known best for her hardworking ways and her close friendship with Jesus. A resident of Bethany, just across the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem, Martha was the sister of Mary and Lazarus, all of them mentioned in the Gospels.

One biblical story has the family hosting Jesus for dinner, Martha keeping busy with preparations as Mary listened to his teaching. Martha finally asked him to order Mary to help, only to hear him chide her gently: "Mary has chosen the better portion, and she shall not be deprived of it."

In the second story, Jesus came to see the sisters after Lazarus died. Amid her grief, Martha confessed her faith that Lazarus would return at the resurrection. Jesus replied that he himself was "the resurrection and the life" -- then raised Lazarus from the dead.

Martha was still busily serving others in the third Gospel story. When Jesus attended a banquet in Bethany six days before his last Passover, it was Martha who served everyone. Small wonder that she is known as patron saint of cooks and servants.

St. Martha Church, founded in 1970, was originally housed in the re-purposed Bikini Motel, off Biscayne Boulevard. The buildings were also used to shelter unaccompanied Cuban refugee boys. In 1983, the congregation moved to its current sanctuary, on the grounds of the archdiocesan Pastoral Center.

Among St. Martha's many visitors have been Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II. Its much-admired acoustics also made it a site for an annual concert series that began in 2003. (Performances now take place at Barry University). Visiting artists have ranged from jazz flutist Nestor Torres to violinist Mikhail Barash to Miami's New Philharmonic Orchestra.

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