How can we count the cost of our Discipleship?
When our Master, our Lord and Saviour Jesus gave His ALL to us.
For our many sins, wavering faith and many shortcomings, He did not crush us or snuff us out like a worn dying candle flame. Instead He loved us as He breathed new life into us, to live in His light as He dispelled all darkness and freed us!
And so if we say we love Him are following Him, how have we honoured and cherished Him by our actions? Have we washed His feet with our tears of compassion for the poor, sick and suffering, downtrodden, orphans, widows, prisoners? Have we anointed His feet with our ‘nard’ that is our pure love for Him and for our brethren; such that our service perfumes the air of all those around such that they know it is sign of our Lord’s presence in us? In short have we truly taken up our cross to follow Him?
You are my light and my help Lord, I come to do Your Will. Amen
First reading
Isaiah 42:1-7 ·
Here is my chosen one in whom my soul delights
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom my soul delights.
I have endowed him with my spirit
that he may bring true justice to the nations.
He does not cry out or shout aloud,
or make his voice heard in the streets.
He does not break the crushed reed,
nor quench the wavering flame.
Faithfully he brings true justice;
he will neither waver, nor be crushed
until true justice is established on earth,
for the islands are awaiting his law.
Thus says God, the Lord,
he who created the heavens and spread them out,
who gave shape to the earth and what comes from it,
who gave breath to its people
and life to the creatures that move in it:
‘I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of right;
I have taken you by the hand and formed you;
I have appointed you as covenant of the people and light of the nations,
‘to open the eyes of the blind,
to free captives from prison,
and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.’
Gospel
John 12:1-11
‘She had to keep this scent for the day of my burial’
Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there; Martha waited on them and Lazarus was among those at table. Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was full of the scent of the ointment. Then Judas Iscariot – one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him – said, ‘Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contributions. So Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone; she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.’
Meanwhile a large number of Jews heard that he was there and came not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. Then the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus as well, since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.
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