Palm Sunday
“Amen, I say to you, wherever the Gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
Mark 14:9
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord – Mark 14:9
“Amen, I say to you, wherever the Gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
Additional Reading(s) today: Mark 11:1-10; Isa 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mark 14:1-15:47
Today’s Lenten Reflection
As Holy Week begins, we find Jesus “in the house of Simon the leper” as a woman breaks open an alabaster jar filled with perfumed oil and pours it over Him, much to the chagrin of a cadre of people indignant over something they do not understand. Is it any wonder Jesus scared people? Look at the crowd He ran with. Look at the way He welcomed the unwelcome. He pushed people’s buttons by allowing things that they themselves did not want to allow; by being someone they did not want Him to be. This is precisely how we go from palm branches to nails, from shouts of “Hosanna!” to shouts of “Crucify Him!” in the span of a few days. I love how, in the midst of the dinner scene, Jesus not only praises the woman’s actions but also says they will be memorialized for all time. And here we are two thousand years later, reading about the woman and the alabaster jar of oil. We may even be contemplating what lengths we would be willing to go for Him if He were to sit down at our table today. Would we be the one giving Him our best, our everything? Or would we be the one shooing away the woman anointing Jesus with all our expensive perfumes and oils? In other words, would we the cynic, the one judging everyone else, or the mystic, the one willing to see through the eyes of love and understanding? Every day it is our choice.
Lenten Meditation
In her book Wisdom of the Body, Christine Valters Paintner reminds us that the woman in today’s Gospel message was likely marginalized, shunned, poor, and in need of her own healing. “But rather than believe what others think of her or allow that to curtail her, she steps forward in a bold and extravagant way. She listens to her heart and allows the tears to flow.” Listen to your heart today. What is it saying right now? What is it urging you to do? Can you be bold even when the world wants you to cower? Do it. Pour the perfume and give God your very best — your everything! — and see how life transforms when you allow faith to take over.
Lenten Prayer
Jesus, You see past the earthly mask to what lies in our heart. See our goodness even when we cannot see it ourselves. Most Merciful Father, help us also to be present to Your Son this week. Help us to never forget the line of our soul: “Truly, this man was the Son of God!” Amen.
Today’s suggested penance
*Make a holy hour with your family (or alone) to pray for the graces of Holy Week.
“Do not abandon yourself to despair [or unbelief]. We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!” –Saint John Paul II
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