Holy Monday
Archives http://enkindlefire.blogspot.com
Readings http://www.pcentral-online.net/blog7/2007/04/01/holy-monday/
“Mary…anointed the feet of Jesus and dried
them with her hair…”
The gospel account for Holy Monday tells the story
of Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus
(whom Jesus raised from the dead), who took a
liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine
aromatic nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and
then dried them with her hair. With this gesture,
Judas protested telling Jesus that the money could
have been given to the poor. Jesus however took
the side of Mary and told Judas that “the poor
will always be with you, but you do not always
have Me.” Then the gospel account ends with the
large crowd of Jews who followed Jesus because
they wanted to see Lazarus whom He had raised
from the dead. The chief priests then plotted
how to kill Lazarus also because the people were
turning away from their leadership and believing
in Jesus because of His miracle with Lazarus.
This gospel account helps us to reflect on where
we really set our hearts on. There is a contrast
between Mary of Bethany, who sets her heart on the
person of Jesus; and there is the other person of
Judas, who sets his heart on the money and making
it appear that he was concerned for the poor. Once
a year, we are called to really assess our hearts
and see what treasures we place in it. Do we place
Jesus in our hearts by caring for our families and
our loved ones and working hard so that the companies
we serve can help many people? Or do we set our
hearts on material things, most especially on money
more than our relationships with others and with
God? We can see where our heart is onto when we
enter into the gospel scene and see how we react
to Mary’s gesture and to Judas’ statement.
Throughout the year, as we work for our family and
household, we sometimes get tempted to set our
hearts on money and material things. Though this
is to be expected in our very modern world, we can
however strengthen ourselves to resist the tempting
of the Evil One to set our hearts on money and
material things alone. We need not wait for a Holy
Week to reset our center in God and to reprioritize
our values: setting God as foremost, and with family
and the rest of our concerns along the line. We
can do this by deepening our spiritual life, more
particularly going to confession regularly and
attending a Eucharistic celebration during a weekday
- if not daily. Reading the Bible, spiritual books,
and taking time for solitude - like visiting the
Blessed Sacrament - are also one of the spiritual
activities we can perform to help set our hearts
on God and keep Him as the center of our life.
