"If you neglect Martha, who will serve Jesus? And if you neglect Mary, of what use to you will Jesus' visit be?"

"Do not neglect Mary for Martha, nor Martha for Mary.  If you neglect Martha, who will serve Jesus?  And if you neglect Mary, of what use to you will Jesus' visit be? . . .  [I]n this life it is never necessary to separate these two women."

     St. Aelred of Rievaulx, Sermon on the Feast of the Assumption, as translated by me from the French of Marie-Benoît Meeuws, OSB, "«Ora et labora»:  devise bénédictine?," Collectanea Cisterciensia 54 (1992/3):  205 (193-219).