(Audio)
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.
As we enter Holy Week let us reflect on how we can lavish love on Jesus even to the degree that those around us might think it wasteful.
“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages
and given to the poor?”
This week more than any other we need to put Jesus first in our hearts.
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.”
Jesus himself is the one who will bring about the victory of justice. Let us show him with our love and devotion that we are all in with him. We need to learn that no matter what he is asking of us it ordered toward that victory. Even if Jesus asks of us one thing that would seem to force us to neglect others let us believe that Jesus neglects no one and that no one is ignored or excluded from his perfect plan. If Jesus calls us to spend our time, talent, or treasure in one place and not another it is not because he doesn't have a plan for that other place as well. This trust is what we need to love him lavishly like Mary did. Our own lives can become a fragrant aroma to God.
For we are the aroma of Christ for God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing (see Second Corinthians 2:15).
If we don't put the LORD first our pretenses of caring for the poor prove to be empty excuses to avoid change and conversion. We are sometimes guilty of this. The victory of justice is something we so often fail to reach. So let us approach the one in whom that victory is assured. Let us rely on him to see us through.
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
We are first brought for prisons and dungeons and blindness to freedom and sight. Only once we receive the grace of enlightenment do we learn how to share in the victory of justice God won in Christ. Our lives can become a fragrant aroma that fills the whole world, which reveals the glory of God in Christ.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
Though war be waged upon me,
even then will I trust.
Have we been living victorious lives thus far? Some of us more, others less, but none as much as Jesus desires for us. Let us receive the freedom and enlightenment he offers and, in humility, bring all of our treasures to him. We are called to pour them out affectionately and with heartfelt sincerity, not merely gritting our teeth and bearing it as we do. As he loves us, and as we recognize this love, our hearts are opened and freed to offer love in return.
No comments:
Post a Comment