Monday of Holy Week
Intentions: That all people will turn away from sin, living instead with compassion and justice, and embracing God’s gifts of faith, hope, and love.
Today’s Gospel | John 12:1-11
Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.
Reflection
In Willa Cather’s novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop, Bishop Jean Latour and Father Joseph Valliant are discussing having listened to another priest tell the story of the miraculous appearances and image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As Father Valliant extols the effect on the faithful of such an event, Bishop Latour quietly reflects, “The Miracles of the Church seem to me not to rest so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always.”
In John’s Gospel, Jesus chides Judas for his criticism of Mary, who anoints Jesus’ feet with a very expensive oil. What Jesus says to Judas has been interpreted in different ways, most often as a premonition of his own death on the cross and burial. However, there is another way of understanding this moment. The story of the anointing at Bethany presents a juxtaposition of people who either are or are not attentive to who and what are in their midst. While Mary gives herself to the moment in complete faith, Judas closes himself to the moment out of impatience and conceit.
The lesson here is that our best response to the presence of God is simple attentiveness. God as the source of all goodness seeks to give us what we need to serve him. If we are so anxious to do good that we overlook God’s graciousness and rush off to create our own, then our work is no longer connected to his. Even if we have the best of intentions, what we do will not be grounded in God, but instead in ourselves.
As Holy Week begins, we are invited to deepen our awareness of God. It is a time for reflecting on how we can be more fully awake to God’s presence and activity in our lives. Through our prayer, fasting, and service of others, we can pay greater attention to God so that “our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always.”
Prayer
Eternal Father, you sent to us your son that we might learn how to live without duplicity. In this Holy Week, teach us to live without wanting to control, to do for others without seeking to possess them, loving friend and enemy alike without limits or conditions. May we follow Jesus’ call to be poor in spirit, letting the knowledge that we are trying to do your will be our peace and our nourishment. Help us to turn away from our sinfulness and return ourselves to you, always aware of your presence and always obedient to your will. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.