On this Monday of Holy Week let us reflect on how we can follow after the heart of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
For like Him we have been endowed with the Holy Spirit, how do we bring true justice to all that we meet; let alone our nation or the nations? Do we control our emotions and voices, so as not to come across as loud and boisterous.
Do we gently lead the downcast and broken hearted to our healer, our Lord? Do we bring encouragement and hope to those who are vulnerable?
Do we lead the lost back to Him so that their sins can be forgiven and their burden lifted?
Do we bring the light of Christ to the people who live in darkness?
How can we bring our loving tribute to the feet of our Lord, such that the perfume of our deeds permeate the air, and all around can smell the fragrance of our love for our Lord and for love of them.
Jesus remember be and lead me when the time comes into Your Kingdom. Amen
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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.’
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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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