Today we read from the Book of Genesis and in the Gospel of Luke about the Lord's surprise visits to our lives. The theme of hospitality is dominant in today's readings. But not the hospitality we normally speak about, that which we should feel in duty bound to manifest towards each other as humans. Here it's talk about the possibility and need of letting God in, to be part of our lives.

Since the beginning of Christianity, being 'in the world' and 'of the world' were two contrasting concepts, seen as almost mutually exclusive. Thomas Merton in the last century helped remarkably - so that today it is no longer that complex - to link together action and contemplation.

Few words are as misunderstood in the contemporary culture and way of living as the word spirituality. But now we speak, strangely enough, of a spiritual revolution and of a religion-less spirituality. Spirituality is no longer something on the fringes, an option for those with a particular bent. The story of the two sisters in today's Gospel exemplifies two different ways of praying, or even two contrasting views of Christianity itself. Like Martha, many of us are active and busy, and, even if good willing, we simply do not have the time to stop and learn to pray. Mary just sits at the Lord's feet and listens to Jesus talking. Perhaps for the common mentality she stands for those who choose contemplative life, indeed a rare breed today.

But just as there should be a place for both sisters in our lives, an active life as well as the quieter, more reflective life, so there is scope both for asking things in prayer as well as just listening at the Lord's feet. Our prayer so often expresses more our worries and fretfulness than our worship to God whom we believe to be the Lord of our lives. Both sisters seem to have something to teach us today, something to think about so that contemplation can be appropriately understood as what really gives colour to life, rather than as a luxury for the chosen few.

Our secularist culture had already prematurely certified God as dead long ago. But God is always there, whether we acknowledge it or not. Pascal writes that there is in the world enough darkness not to believe at all, and enough light to believe.

Our problem today is not between Christianity (or any other religion) and atheism, but between Christianity and Christianity. There are different brands of Christianity and we need to choose between Mary's and Martha's perception of relating to God.

Even in our parishes and in our churches, there are pirate copies of Christianity. There are perceptions that are not authentic; they are simply misconceptions. As in the musical world, pirated copies are substandard goods. Demand your right to high standards of goods and services!

I see today's Gospel as an explicit invitation to all of us to be aware of the negative impact that piracy can have on our perception of God, belief, life, and the meaning itself of all that exists. In our case it's not a secularist culture that is banning God from the horizon of life, but rather the brand of Christianity we continue to stick to.

Let us all claim our right to high standards in our communities. The story of Abraham at the oak of Mamre and the story of Martha and Mary in the Gospel can be eye-openers for those of us who never stop, who think that prayer is bigotry and out-moded, who are always busy going around with what there is to do in life without ever listening to the voice within and learning to be still because God is God.