＊＊＊Perfect love covers a multitude of sins. 

      God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him.＊＊＊

 

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

Isaiah 42:1-7

  Here is my servant whom I uphold,

My chosen one in whom I delight. I have put my spirit upon him, and he will bring justice to the nations.  He does not shout or raise his voice proclamations are not heard in the streets.   A broken reed he will not crush, nor will he snuff out the light of the wavering wick.

He will make justice appear in truth.  He will not waver or be broken until he has established justice on earth; the islands are waiting for his law.   Thus says God, Yahweh,

who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread the earth and all that comes from it, who gives life and breath to those who walk on it:   I, Yahweh, have called you for the sake of justice.

I will hold your hand to make you firm; I will make you as a covenant to the people, and as a light to the nations,   to open eyes that do not see, to free captives from prison, to bring out to light those who sit in darkness.

 

Ps 27:1, 2, 3, 13-14

The Lord is my light and my salvation.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

John 12:1-11

 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where he had raised Lazarus, the dead man, to life. Now they gave a dinner for him, and while Martha waited on them, Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus.

Then Mary took a pound of costly perfume, made from genuine spikenard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair. And the whole house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

 Judas Iscariot – the disciple who was to betray Jesus remarked, "This perfume could have been sold for three hundred silver coins, and the money given to the poor." Judas, indeed, had no concern for the poor; he was a thief, and as he held the common purse, he used to help himself to the funds.

 But Jesus spoke up, "Leave her alone. Was she not keeping it for the day of my burial? (The poor you always have with you, but you will not always have me.)"

 Many Jews heard that Jesus was there and they came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests thought about killing Lazarus as well, for many of the Jews were drifting away because of him, and believing in Jesus.

 

Gospel Reflection：

An Early Eucharist

 Lazarus died and was raised. Jesus will die and be raised as well. But to go through that baptism unnerves even the Son of God, as we will learn shortly in Gethsemane. Jesus needs to be with the one whom he raised, to find consolation, hope, and courage. We don't find them talking.

They don't have to. The presence is enough; the hearts are communicating. How fitting that the entire scene unfolds at the dinner table, the last supper with the family, an early Eucharist! Mary is so filled with love that it overflows as perfume with which she washes and wipes his feet.

Does it inspire Jesus to do the same with his other loved ones, his disciples, at the next last supper? Perhaps. That's what love does – to wash up, to wipe up, to feed up, to eucharistize. Only hearts full of love can grasp its value; Judases cannot.