Monday of Holy Week
With Palm Sunday yesterday, we began what is known as “Holy Week,” which includes the last of Lent and the Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. We are now quickly moving toward Jesus’ passion and death; we are hastening toward Jerusalem. Today’s first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah is one from the Old Testament that our Church has always understood Christologically. In other words, although it was written before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, we look at this passage as applying to Christ.
Jesus is God’s servant, the chosen one, who is filled with the Spirit and brings justice to the earth. But while we can understand how this passage applies to Christ, it was not always obvious to those around him. Expectations for a Messiah ran high, and Jews waited for the man who would establish justice and restore the Jews to peaceful governance. They wanted “the victory of justice” (Is 42:6), but they expected it to be dramatic. They wanted a Messiah who could defeat their enemies, oust the Roman government, and demonstrate power and authority.
It’s no wonder, then, that many people missed the victory of Christ. What kind of Messiah was Jesus? In our gospel passage from John, Jesus indicates his death. Mary of Bethany, sister to Martha and Lazarus, anointed Jesus’ feet in a foreshadowing of his burial. Our Messiah, our Savior, the Chosen One, is the one who accepts death in order to free us. The justice he establishes is not of the earthly sort, but of the heavenly sort, and his Kingdom will never end. For in willingly embracing his death, Jesus has sealed an everlasting covenant with his own blood. But the victory of justice does not end with this unjust and undeserved death. No, it ends with the resurrection. This is the ultimate victory of justice; in the end, God triumphs. What looks like defeat is actually victory.
Mary of Bethany, ever attentive to Jesus, had some sense of what to come. She recognized Jesus as her Messiah, and she seemingly understood that Jesus was a different type of Messiah than what had been expected. She unflinchingly used her costly perfumed oil on Jesus’ feet, a sign of her unreserved love for the chosen one. Mary did not calculate the cost or divide her gift so as to keep some for herself. No, she gave EVERYTHING to Jesus because she realized that no gift could be “wasted” on Jesus.
In the words of the Catholic singer Danielle Rose (now Sister Rose Therese), Mary’s act of anointing was a way of saying “You deserve to receive all of my love/ anything less, Lord, would not be enough.” In these last days before the Triduum, we must make these words our own. Jesus, the chosen one, deserves to receive ALL of our love – not just the little piece we’re willing to give. Every day, every thought, every action... must be done out of love for Christ. Even our Lenten penances must be done out of love; we willingly and joyfully make sacrifices because we acknowledge our sin and we want to give our very lives to Christ.
On this Monday of Holy Week, let us take some time to be grateful to God for the week that lies ahead. In this mysterious week that celebrates our redemption, we are called to respond to God’s love with our own love. Today, and always, may we acknowledge to Jesus our Christ: “You deserve to receive all of my love – anything less, Lord, would not be enough!”
- Maria Morrow