Monday of Holy Week
Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11
One of the things I find so interesting about a master artist is that, in their hands, even the simplest thing can acquire a depth I would never have seen or imagined.
The Evangelist John is such an artist. In his hands, even a simple alabaster jar full of perfumed oil comes to symbolize the whole Christian life.
How so?
On one level, it’s just a jar. An earthen vessel, fragile and limited. But on a deeper level, isn’t that us? Each created with a deep, interior space that only God can fill.
And the perfume – again, on one level a rare, costly aromatic. But more deeply, how like God’s grace! Once poured into us, its fragrance waits to be poured out upon the world.
Pouring is exactly the action featured in the readings. First, Isaiah sees a mysterious Servant as a vessel filled with the Spirit of God: the oil poured in. Then, in the gospel, Mary pours the oil on Christ, recognizing him as that Servant who, not crying out, not shouting, will soon pour out his Spirit for the life of the world.
It is in the imitation of Christ that we are the alabaster jar. The oil is the grace of God poured into us at Baptism, strengthened and renewed at this altar, given not to be kept, but to be poured out so that others may live.
I think Mother Teresa understood this. She and her sisters included this prayer every day after Communion: “Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance wherever I go… let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus.”
Of course, we cannot spread that fragrance unless we too are broken open and poured out, so let this be our prayer this Holy Week:
Lord, we pray that whatever is “breaking” or happening in our lives right now — in our families, our health, our hearts — may it not be wasted. Rather, may it be Mary’s alabaster jar. May the fragrance of God’s grace poured out by our service fill not only this House but the entire world.
Mark 10:45 