Holy Monday

 

 Side Altar in the Church of Ars 

In today’s gospel passage, Jesus says: “You always have the poor with you but you do not always have me.” He said this to Judas Iscariot because Judas gets angry at the sight of Mary pouring a jar of expensive ointment over His feet and dried them with her hair to show her passionate love for Jesus. And it was also her gratitude for God’s mercy in raising Lazarus back to life again. We admire this expression of Mary’s love, because it is so generous and humbling. Jesus appreciates this. He even adds that the whole world will always remember what she has done for Him. But Judas is “scandalized.” For him, this is a terrible waste! The money spends for the perfumed oil can be used for the poor. But in reality Judas was a thief, selfish and greedy. He is the treasurer of the group but he used to steal the contributions.

What does Jesus mean with these words, ‘You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me’? Yes it is a fact that there are always poor around us. But Jesus wants to tell His disciples and us-- that Christianity is not exclusively only for the poor people and needy. Rather, “it is also a personal love exclusively to Jesus, a love that justifies many sacrifices.”

Actually, there is no conflict between concern for the poor and generosity in worship.  Many saints including St. John Vianney, said that the physical conditions of the church and of the materials used for worship, especially those which come in contact with the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, must be elegant and noble. They should be dignified.  St. John Vianney lived a very poor life. His clothes were tattered and he scarcely ate much food yet he purchased beautiful statues for the church and very nice vestments—because it was for the Lord. St. Francis of Assisi, who lived a deep life of poverty and loved the poor, always wanted the best for the church. Both of these saints understood, Our Lord’s comments, “You always have the poor with you but you do not always have me.”

But the problem with many of us is that we give so much importance to the one, like our concern for the poor but in the process we neglect something more important which is our personal prayer and meditation of our God. We should not deny or alienate us from our need to have a personal intimacy with Jesus.” which is most important.
During the remainder of this Lent, as we go through Holy Week, let us ask the Virgin Mary to help us to have that personal intimate relationship with Jesus, so we will be generous with our time with Him and be ready to make any sacrifice, He may ask of us.