Year C, Proper 11, Luke 10:38-42, To will one thing

To Will One Thing
A prayer by Søren Kierkegaard

Father in Heaven, what are we without you?

What is all that we know, vast accumulation though it be,

But a chipped fragment if we do not know you?

What is all our striving?

Could it ever encompass a world,

But a half-finished work

If we do not know you?

You, the One who is one thing and who is all.

So may you give

To the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing

To the heart, sincerity to receive this and this only

To the will, purity that wills only one thing

In prosperity, may you grant perseverance to will one thing

Amid distraction, collectedness to will one thing

In suffering, patience to will one thing.

You that gives both the beginning and the completion

May you early, at the dawn of the day,

Give to the young the resolution to will one thing

As the day wanes, may you give to the old

A renewed remembrance of that first resolution

That the first may be like the last

And the last like the first

In possession of a life that has willed only one thing,

To know God.

Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing

"Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."

Mary sat listening at Jesus feet, and there came to know God.

I think about the Church and its witness to the world.  We too, are distracted by many things.  How would we be received if we made this one simple resolve.

To will one thing.

To know God.

And to sit with Mary, at Jesus feet, will in the end lead us, with Mary, to the foot of the Cross.