Martha and Mary

"...the contemplative life and the active life have always been contrasted as springing from contrary thoughts and aspirations. Contemplation gathers in, action gives out; the one seeks for light, the other longs to bestow its possession on others... but real life does not admit of such a separation... Thought and action have the same Father... The monk works with his hands or undertakes some apostolate; the great doctor has his hospitals; the artist his exhibitions... Action should have a limit and give place to solitude, because external action disturbs the soul while silence calms it. But carried too far, silence in its turn has a disturbing effect... [one can] lose one's balance.."
A.G. Sertillanges, O.P., 'The Intellectual Life" trans. Mary Ryan, Washington, DC, The Catholic University of America Press, 1998, pp62-63

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