Monday of Holy
Week
(Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11)
The woman spoke up at the request for intercessory petitions. She prayed, “For my son who is being sent to
Afghanistan in June.” She realizes that the
young man may be injured or even may encounter the unmentionable. In
today’s gospel Mary makes a similar gesture.
The passage describes two very different responses to
Jesus. Mary, the sister of Lazarus,
anoints the feet of Jesus with a liter of perfume and wipes them with her hair
in preparation for his burial. She recognizes
that Jesus is, as her sister Martha proclaimed earlier, “the Christ, the Son of
the Living God.” Judas, on the other hand, cannot recognize Jesus as the Savior
of the world. He is blinded by greed
which recognizes money as what needs saving.
Throughout the Gospel of John people
are faced with the same challenge. They have
to choose between Jesus as the way to life’s goal or take another path in life,
which will ultimately lead to dissolution.
Now that we have entered Holy Week we have to concentrate
on the choice before us. Let’s be sure
that following Jesus is not always easy.
At times it will mean going against not just what the majority of people
but even our own friends and family think.
The reason for doing so is, of course, that we have the joy and peace that Jesus’
companionship brings.
