Toward Easter - Daily Readings & Meditations for Lent 2025 - Day 41 / Holy Monday

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The sacred journey of Holy Week begins with a powerful meditation on fidelity. Today's reflection takes us to Bethany, where Mary anoints Jesus' feet with precious spikenard and wipes them with her hair. The fragrance fills the entire house – a beautiful metaphor for how genuine devotion spreads and touches everyone nearby.

At the heart of this meditation lies a striking contrast: Mary's selfless love against Judas's calculating betrayal. When Judas objects to this "waste" of expensive perfume, Jesus defends Mary, recognizing her act as preparation for his coming burial. "The poor you will always have with you," he tells them, "but me, you will not always have." Through this exchange, we glimpse Christ's special appreciation for contemplative devotion alongside active charity.

This Holy Monday presents us with a profound personal challenge. The meditation gently suggests that both Mary's fidelity and Judas's treason exist within each of us. Every sin represents a small betrayal, while each act of devotion mirrors Mary's loving gesture. As we journey through this most sacred week, we're invited to intensify our prayer life, give generously according to our means, and recognize Christ's presence in the poor around us. Whether through material help or through prayer, Holy Week calls us to examine where we stand between these two paths – contemplation and treason – and to nurture the faithful heart that pours out its most precious gifts at the feet of our Lord.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Sancte.
Sancte Amare morti decadas nosIn teisper avernus.
Good morning everyone, andwelcome to day 41 of Lent.

(00:34):
We are here on Holy Monday, sowe are within Holy Week here.
I hope you had a good PalmSunday yesterday.
So we are within Holy Week here.
I hope you had a good PalmSunday yesterday.
And today we will be talkingabout fidelity, and I think
everyone here with us at thispoint probably is aware of

(00:59):
everything I'm about to say.
But just in case, these arefrom Toward Easter, by Father
Patrick Tro trodeck.
You can get the book, uh, atthe link in the description
below.
Uh, you can find thesemeditations on youtube, in
rumble, as well as all the audiopodcast apps, uh, in locals,
and I'll put up an image onscreen.

(01:20):
You just listen while we, whilewe read, meditate.
And we'll get going here Mondayin Holy Week.
Fidelity From the Gospel of StJohn, chapter 12, verses 1
through 3.
Six days before the Pasch,jesus came to Bethaniah, where

(01:46):
Lazarus had been dead, whomJesus raised to life, and they
made him a supper there andMartha served, but Lazarus was
one of them that were at thetable with him.
Mary therefore took a pound ofointment of right spikenard, of
great price and anointed thefeet of jesus and wiped his feet

(02:07):
with her hair.
This second anointing is alltenderness, and so the fragrance
of this perfume fills theentire house.
It is holy charity which, underthe symbol of this precious
ointment, spreads like a balmthroughout the Overflows into
the adjoining chambers.
Hearts are pacified by it.

(02:31):
Not all, however.
Jesus allowed himself to beanointing.
He did not protest against thisaffectionate homage, ah no.
But someone is aggravated by it, judas, the future trader.
He does not understand.
It is a waste of money, nothingmore.

(02:52):
They could have sold thatperfume for 300 nari.
What a loss.
And hypocritically, he adds,the poor could have benefited.
Let her alone, says Jesus toJudas, the poor you will always
have with you to care for.
But me, who will have a thoughtfor me?
I am on my way to die.

(03:14):
This perfume is an earlyembalming.
I accept it.
It pleases me and I wish forthere to be always souls who
spread perfume over my wounds,who cover them with kisses and
tears.
The poor will not suffer by it.
Others will take care of them,and there also, it is I whom

(03:39):
they will be serving in theperson of the poor.
Lord Jesus, through Thy words Iunderstand the preferential
love which Thou bearest for thecontemplative life over all
other forms of life, and so Imake Thee a promise to live
closer to Thee during this weekby praying more in order to
console Thee for everything.

(03:59):
Thou sufferest from thecoldness of human hearts who do
not love Thee enough, especiallynot in our day.
I also want to detach myselffrom the goods of this world
which, to offer, hinder me fromliving in thy sweet company.
And now a prayer from FatherGabriel of St Mary Magdalene

(04:21):
Divine Intimacy, volume 2, page225.
In the name of the Father andof the Son and of the Holy Ghost
.
Amen.
O Lord, before thy most holybody is disfigured by thy
passion, I desire, with Mary ofBethany, to render it my humble
and pious homage.
In the name of the Father andof Son and the Holy Ghost, amen.

(04:50):
And our first thought of the dayis from St Vincent de Paul O
Savior, o Savior, what shallbecome of us if we attach
ourselves to the goods of thisearth?
No-transcript.

(05:22):
We have three resolutions.
The first let us intensify ourprayer life and live today a
little more in the presence ofGod, by preceding our time of
prayer with a moment of silence.
The second resolution let usgive alms according to our means

(05:45):
.
And the third resolution let usthink of the fact that Christ
is in the poor and wretchedpeople whom we encounter more
and more often in the streets ofour cities.
If we cannot always give themmoney, at least let us say three
Hail Marys for them.
And that is it for the readingfor today.

(06:24):
We see in the meditation so mostof the meditation was once
again taken from the Dominicanliturgy by Father DA Mortier and
we see how.
We see within it, how theanointing of the feet of Christ

(06:47):
with the spikenard is an earlyembalming.
So we see Christ preparing forGood Friday here.
And of course we see thehypocrisy of Judas.
Of course we see the hypocrisyof Judas and of course, christ
replying that the poor we willalways have with us, as opposed

(07:10):
to not having Christ with ushere on earth always.
And we're reminded how, howmuch Christ values the
contemplative life and with, youknow it, beginning.
Well, yesterday being thebeginning, but today being

(07:33):
Monday and Holy Week, we have towork hard to spend more time in
contemplation this week ofChrist's coming passion on
Friday.
But we also see here the starkdifference, kind, of the two

(07:56):
paths laid out for us, two pathslaid out for us.
We see the fidelity of Mary ofBethany, with her anointing of
Christ and using of thatspikenard, and we see the
treason of Judas.
On the other hand, we have toremind ourselves that we have
both of those within us, right?

(08:17):
You know, when we sin, wecommit treason against Christ
and we have to ask and pray.
You know, especially now, thisweek, at Holy Week, that the
traitor within us is destroyed,dies, and that we become more

(08:40):
like Mary of Bethany.
And you know we can do that bythe resolutions that Father
gives us, intensifying ourprayer life today and this week,
giving alms according to ourmeans and, if we're unable to
give alms to the poor, at leastpraying for them, one of those

(09:13):
things that, where I live, we'repretty sheltered from, at least
seeing the effects of poverty,or really seeing a lot of stark
and extreme poverty itself.

(09:40):
Just reminded of this weekendwhen we went down to, you know,
do, to, uh, some larger cities,to, to visit family you know we
don't see very often anyways um,homeless people where we are,
just because there's really no,no services to provide for them
up by us.
So, not to mention, of coursethe weather is hard on them up
here and there's just nohomeless people.

(10:04):
So when we go down to largercities, it's something that, of
course, I'm reminded of, but mykids aren't exposed to it up
here.
So when we do go down to largercities and they see it, they
often have lots of questionsabout it, and if I do have money

(10:27):
on me, they often ask me togive money to any homeless
people that we see.
But Matty has, he has reallygood instincts and, um, whenever
we do, whenever he does notice,um, you know, a homeless person
, he, uh he does ask us to prayfor them and I'm very proud of

(10:50):
him for that.
Um, so that's good, but anyways, uh, yes, let's start
intensifying our prayer lifetoday, uh, in preparation for
the passion, and tomorrow, onHoly Tuesday, here we will be
talking about silence.
So I hope you have a great daytoday, step up your prayer, give

(11:13):
alms if you can, and I will seeyou tomorrow, thank you.