March 29, 2010
Monday of Holy Week
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, 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. Isaiah 42:6-7
Then Judas the Iscariot, one (of) his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. 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.” John 12:4-9
Piety
Dear Lord, help me keep my eyes on you. You are the incarnation of Divine Love, you are the expression of God’s infinite compassion, you are the visible manifestation of the Father’s holiness. You are beauty, goodness, gentleness, forgiveness, and mercy. In you all can be found. Outside of you nothing can be found. Why should I look elsewhere or go elsewhere? You have the words of eternal life, you are food and drink, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You are the light that shines in darkness, the lamp on the lampstand, the house on the hilltop. You are the perfect Icon of God. In and through you I can see the Heavenly Father, and with you I can find my way to the Trinity. O Holy One, Beautiful One, Glorious One, be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Guide, my Consoler, my Comforter, my Hope, my Joy, my Peace. To you I want to give all that I am. Let me be generous, not stingy or hesitant. Let me give you all – all I have, think, do and feel. It is yours, O Lord. Please accept it and make it fully your own. Amen.
(By Henri Nouwen in A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee. This prayer was written on Monday of Holy Week – April 9, 1979 – during his second extended stay at the Trappist Monastery in the Genesee Valley of upstate New York.)
Study
Martha is still serving. Mary is still at the feet of the Lord.
Today, rather than just listening in contemplative fashion, she now adds action to minister to the Lord. Mary anoints with oil these blessed feet that will stand before Pilate and Herod.
These are the same holy feet which will walk into the Garden at the Mount of Olives to pray. These are the same blessed feet of our Savior which will march up to the place of the Skull. These are the same feet which will be pierced by the nails driven by the Roman soldiers.
These are the same feet that will rise on Easter Sunday, enter the locked room on Pentecost, walk to Emmaus, and have breakfast with the disciples along the banks of the Sea of Galilee.
Although Mary wants to bring comfort to Jesus, the tension of Holy Week begins to build with today’s confrontation with Judas. Mary may be able to massage away the stress of the day but she can not change the path where these feet will tread. However, in everything Jesus does this week, he will assure us that he will always be with us just as the poor are…through the sacrifice of the Mass that recounts his Holy Thursday Passover, the Passion of Good Friday and the joy of the Resurrection.
Action
How can we assure that Jesus always has a place in our life? What can we do to participate in the victory of justice? Perhaps our role is in the simple act of comforting one who is under stress with what the week ahead holds. Perhaps our role is to take a more active role in being a light for people in darkness.
