Day 5 - Novena to St. Marie Magdalene
Scripture Passages:
Read from the Gospel of Matthew 26:6-16
Read from the Gospel of Marc 14:1-10
Read from the Gospel of John 12:1-8
"Meditation
"This time, Lazarus is alive and celebrating with those assembled at table, Martha is serving without recrimination, Mary is no longer crying and pours her perfume not only on Christ's feet but also on his head.
"'A whole flagon of perfume poured on his body'. Here we have one of the motifs of Jesus' death: for Judas, this is the straw that broke the camel's back! He will seek out the chief priests and arrange with them to hand over Jesus for thirty pieces of silver: ten times less than the perfume he thought would bring three hundred silver pieces...!
"'You annoint my head with oil, my cup overflows' Ps 22:5. Inspired but without fully knowing, Mary has just accomplished in a prophetic manner one of the rites of Christ's burial, and his preparation for Easter. She brought precious perfume as did the Magi at the manger who offered gold to the king of kings, incense to the God-made-man, and myrrh to the crucified.
"'The house was filled with the odor of perfume:' the universal church, filled with the fragrance of Christ, celebrates this royal anointing to the end of time."
(Here are some of my thoughts on this reflection. But again, do your own first before going on.)
I have just returned from Vespers and the Eucharistic Adoration which follows. There is 15 minutes before the dinner bell is rung. But I had to come up and jot a few things down.
All of life and faith is in this passage. There is family life around the table; there is service, devotion, commitment, love. There is prophetic ritual and personal prayer. There is also jealousy, deceit, betrayal; and there is redemption. Sometimes we forget that faith exists in everyday life. We forget that we cannot bracket faith as our culture demands. Faith is alive when it shapes and forms everything we do in family, community, church. I am finding that this is even a more serious problem here in Europe than in USA. It is not just a weak faith, or alienation of church. It is a conscious rejection of church and an anti-church and anti-clericalism that must now be the center of evangelism in this part of the world.
Closing Prayer:
O Lord, our God,
you who inspired Ste. Marie Magdelene
to pour expensive perfume onto the body
of your Son as a preview of his burial;
grant to us, by her prayer and example,
to seek only to please you
and to pour the fragrance of Christ
upon those around us.
He who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
AMEN!
