March 30, 2015

Holy Mon

March 30, 2015:  Monday of Holy Week

See 11 connections with today,
and 6 with yesterday?
(Legend at bottom)

Listen

Highlights from Sunday
Read
  • Is 42:1-7  Here is my servant, my chosen one, upon whom I have put my Spirit; he shall bring forth justice.  The Lord, creator and lifegiver, says:  I have called, grasped, and formed you and set you as a covenant, to open the eyes of the blind and to release prisoners and those in darkness.
  • Ps 27:1-3, 13-14  "The Lord is my light and my salvation."  My foes stumble and fall.  I will trust, not fear; I believe I shall see the Lord's bounty in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord.
  • Jn 12:1-11  Jesus came to Bethany, where they gave him a dinner; Lazarus reclined at table with him.  Mary anointed Jesus' feet with costly perfumed oil and dried them with her hair.   Judas / Jesus: “Why wasn't the oil sold and the money given to the poor?”  (He held the money bag and used to steal from it.) / “Leave her alone.  You always have the poor, but you don't always have me.”  The crowd found out that he was there and came for him and Lazarus; many were believing in Jesus because of Lazarus.
Reflect
    • Creighton:  Imagine how Mary's tender anointing soothed Jesus in his emotional pain.  We're called to be Mary for one another....
    • One Bread One Body:  "Never enough":  The chief priests wanted to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus. When you choose death, one isn't enough; only Jesus and his followers have victory over death....
    • Passionist:  Christian tradition sees the 1st reading fulfilled in Jesus, though blindness and injustice are still among us.  May we be Christ in action today, giving light to those in ignorance and fear, helping free those shackled by selfishness and sin, wiping out oppression with love, drawing strength from the Lord, our "hope and salvation."
      Anointing of Jesus at a Pharisee's home
      Poussin
    • DailyScripture.net:  Mary did something only love can do:  she spent her most precious posession on Jesus; her extravagant love and gratitude moved her.  Oblivious to modesty, she unbound her hair to anoint him as no married Jewish woman would.  How do I show the Lord my love and gratitude?  Jesus showed extravagant love in pouring out his blood for our sake and anointing us with his Spirit.  Judas criticized Mary because of his greed, and perhaps because he imputed unworthy motives to her.  Judas was in charge of the common purse, likely because he was gifted in financial matters; our greatest temptations are likely to come in the area of our gifts.  Do I impute wrong motives to others?
      "Give us, Lord, lively faith, firm hope, fervent charity, and love of you.  Take from us all lukewarmness in meditation, dullness in prayer.  Give us fervor and delight in thinking of you and your grace, your tender compassion towards me.  Give us grace to labor for what we pray for...."  (St. Thomas More)
      Dress legend
      • 'Scales of justice' pin:  Servant of Yahweh will establish justice (1st reading)
      • 'Hand' tie pin:  "I have grasped you by the hand" (1st reading); 'Palm' Sunday (Sunday's celebration :-)
      • 'Eyeball' tie pin:  "I have set you... to open the eyes of the blind" (1st reading)
      • 'Clock' tie/bar:  "Wait for the Lord" (psalm); “My time draws near”; "Peter, you couldn't keep watch with me one hour?" (Sunday gospel); countdown to Easter
      • 'Silverware' tie bar:  They held a dinner for Jesus in Bethany (gospel)
      • '?' tie pin, 'coin' button:  Judas:  "Why wasn't the oil sold?" (gospel)
      • 'Wooden' suspenders:  wood of the cross
      • NEW 'Dogs' tie:  "Many dogs surround me" (Sunday psalm; another tie trumped it yesterday, and I had to show it off)
      • Purple shirt:  color of the day
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