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.
Let us find extravagant ways to love Jesus this week. Let us do things that fill the holy house of the Church with the fragrance of our devotion. After all, his love for us is extravagant. He himself is "a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (see Ephesians 5:2). We can learn from Mary the importance of devotion, of affection, of time spent near Jesus. We have many obligations in the world. But this Holy Week comes only once a year. We do not always have the chance to experience the presence of Jesus in this way. Let us fully avail ourselves of the blessings God makes available to us this week.
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
As we approach Holy Week we may be tempted to let our confidence or courage waver. We may be tempted to enter into the sufferings of Jesus as mere sympathy and forget about the victory that lies ahead. Jesus never forgets this victory. He endures the shame of the cross for the joy that is set before him (see Hebrews 12:2).
Let's not slip back into a mindset that is content with the way things are as long as we don't have to suffer alone. Let us see our suffering as ennobled, filled with meaning and light. We may have many tears to shed. This world is indeed filled with pain. But in the love and tenderness with which we join Mary in washing the feet of Jesus we do not indulge the pain or dwell on it. Neither, however, do we avoid it. We embrace it, but not for its own sake. We embrace the one who embraces pain for us. We do this, not in hopelessness, but in confidence.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
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