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By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic
Artwork at the entrance to St. Martha's sanctuary illustrates the elements of the Eucharist: wheat stalks for bread, grapevine for wine, chalice and consecrated Host. The picture is both carved and painted.
Blue-eyed Madonna and Child smile at St. Martha Church, Miami Shores.
Painting of a lamb fronts the altar at St. Martha, Miami Shores. The lamb, with its feet bound in preparation for sacrifice, echoes the dramatic style of the 17th century Spanish painter Francisco de Zurbarán.
Statuette of Our Lady of Charity illustrates the 17th century story of the three men who found her image floating in the Bay of Nipe, off Cuba. This image is at St. Martha Church, Miami Shores; another replica is at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami.
A dove descends in a faceted-glass window, in a common symbol for the Holy Spirit of God coming to live within a person.
Baptismal font at St. Martha's bears a mosaic of two Christ symbols. The staurogram, combining the Greek letters Tau and Rho, is an early symbolic crucifix. The fish represents a Greek word, Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma, meaning "ichthus," or "fish." Early Christians used it as an acronym for Iesus Christos, Theou Uios, Soter, or "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior."
Jesus emerges from the tomb in this faceted glass window at St. Martha's.
Christ appears in a sunburst, raising his hands in blessing. This bas-relief is at the south entrance to St. Martha Parish, Miami Shores.
"Neither do I condemn you," Jesus tells an adulteress in this faceted-glass window. In the Bible story, he saves the unnamed woman from a stoning with a challenge to her accusers: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." But then he advises the woman: "Go and sin no more."
Framed room key in a hallway at St. Martha's parish center reminds members of St. Martha's original home in a motel.
A page from a 13th century pocket Bible from Paris is among several historic manuscripts on a wall. The Gothic Latin text is written on animal vellum. The text is Deuteronomy 4:11-5:23, which includes the Ten Commandments.
Photography: Jim Davis
MIAMI SHORES | On July 29, the Church observes the feast day of the patron saint of St. Martha Church, known best for her hardworking ways and her close friendship with Jesus. A resident of Bethany, just across the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem, Martha was the sister of Mary and Lazarus, all of them mentioned in the Gospels.
One biblical story has the family hosting Jesus for dinner, Martha keeping busy with preparations as Mary listened to his teaching. Martha finally asked him to order Mary to help, only to hear him chide her gently: "Mary has chosen the better portion, and she shall not be deprived of it."
In the second story, Jesus came to see the sisters after Lazarus died. Amid her grief, Martha confessed her faith that Lazarus would return at the resurrection. Jesus replied that he himself was "the resurrection and the life" -- then raised Lazarus from the dead.
Martha was still busily serving others in the third Gospel story. When Jesus attended a banquet in Bethany six days before his last Passover, it was Martha who served everyone. Small wonder that she is known as patron saint of cooks and servants.
St. Martha Church, founded in 1970, was originally housed in the re-purposed Bikini Motel, off Biscayne Boulevard. The buildings were also used to shelter unaccompanied Cuban refugee boys. In 1983, the congregation moved to its current sanctuary, on the grounds of the archdiocesan Pastoral Center.
Among St. Martha's many visitors have been Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II. Its much-admired acoustics also made it a site for an annual concert series that began in 2003. (Performances now take place at Barry University). Visiting artists have ranged from jazz flutist Nestor Torres to violinist Mikhail Barash to Miami's New Philharmonic Orchestra.
