What a beautiful, intimate, tender, moment, we’ve just heard
described on this Monday of the Holiest Week of the year, when Mary anoints the
feet of Jesus, and washes them with her hair.
We had met Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus,
previously in the Gospel. She sat at the
feet of Jesus, listening, contemplating his face. When Martha complained that Mary wasn’t
helping with the household tasks, Jesus said, that it was Mary who had chosen
the better thing. “Few things are needed in life,” Jesus said, “and really only
one thing.” To sit at the feet of Jesus, to learn from him, and to love him, is
the one thing necessary in this life.
When we come to the judgment of our life, it will not matter
how much many we made, the size of our house, the number of friends we’ve had,
the number of trophies and awards. The
only thing that will matter is: did we do the one necessary thing that Mary
did, did we learn from Jesus and love him.
I was talking to the third graders last week about the
events of Holy Week, and we talked about the scene from our Gospel today. “Why
did Mary take a jar of perfumed oil that cost thirty thousand dollars in today’s
money and pour it all out and wash Jesus’ feet with it?” I asked the third
graders. And one of the children raised
their hand and gave the perfect answer: “Because he is God.”
During this Holy Week, our love and affection for Jesus
should fill the room like the fragrance of ointment. It should be detectable by those we meet. Time
spent contemplating the face of the Lord, this Week, meditating upon his love
for us, his suffering, his humility, his patience, his unutterable beauty and
glory should change us. This is our task
this week, the one thing necessary: to give Jesus the best we have in adoring
Him, in contemplating Him, in following Him, for the glory of God and salvation
of souls.
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