I love today’s gospel with Mary anointing the feet of Jesus and drying them with her hair. What a beautiful act of love and humility. She is criticized for her actions, using this expensive oil, three hundred day’s wages, to anoint the feet of Christ. But Jesus comes to her defense. He tells Judas to leave her alone and again speaks of his impending death. Jesus defends Mary just as he defends the outcast, the lowly, the leper, the lame, the brokenhearted, those persecuted because of him and all those in bondage. This is why he came.
As we enter into Holy Week, are we willing to journey with Christ on the road to Calvary? Are we ready to enter into his suffering and his crucifixion and be truly united with him? I’ve read this question (or similar ones) in many places the past few days. What does it really mean? How can we enter into Christ’s crucifixion? One way is to meditate on the Stations of the Cross. We see the great love of laying down one’s life for another. We hope that somehow we may come to know the price of our redemption. While the cross has become a symbol of hope for Christians, it should also disturb our conscience. God endured this torturous death because of our sins, my sins. It is my sin that drove the nails into his wrists, my sin that pierced his side from which his blood poured out for my redemption.
Christ made the Cross a sign of God’s saving love for all humanity. As we unite with him we pray for the courage necessary to walk this journey with him. We are called to carry each other’s burdens so we pray to be Christ to others. We ask God to not allow us to turn away from those who are crushed by the cross of illness, loneliness, hunger, grief or shame. But to lift up the weight of their cross and place it on our shoulder and extend a hand to raise them up again.
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