Doing is the concern of the lawyer in today’s gospel as he asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Doing concerns us as well. It is what keeps us busy all day every day, scurrying from here to there, from one task to another, never allowing time for us to stop and smell the roses. Our culture rewards doing and looks askance at being still. Who has time to sit and rest in God’s presence, to walk with God in the garden “while the dew is still on the roses, to listen to the “still, small voice,” to hear the Word of God alive in our hearts, to reflect on all the ways God is working on our lives? Somewhere along the way we seem to have lost the recognition of the need for balance in our lives.

There will, of course, always be need for doing in the world around us. In the words of our psalmist today, we are called to: “Save the weak and the orphan; defend the humble and needy; rescue the weak and the poor; deliver them from the power of the wicked.” Yet, if we focus all our time and energy even on such important tasks in the world, we soon face burn-out. Our energy is exhausted; our bodies give out on us. The active aspect of our lives needs to be balanced by a contemplative aspect. Neither stands alone. We need to make room in our daily lives for some time with the Lord, to join Mary of Bethany sitting at his feet, feeding on his word (Lk.10:39). That is how we are nourished to do the work we are called to do.

Because it is our visible, active doing that is honored and respected in our culture, we tend to forget that the doing within is equally important for our well being, for a balanced life. For most of us then in today’s world, focusing our intention and commitment on our inner doing is what is needed to balance all the energy going into our doing out there. I suggest the answer to our title question: “What must I do?” is, in order to have a more balanced life, to take time just to be, to be in God’s presence, to “be still and know that I am God,” (Ps.46:10) offering ourselves completely, our bodies, minds and spirits, to the Lord, trusting God to use us as may be best for us and for the world.