Holy Week helps us to behold God’s anointing with gratitude
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“Jesus proceeded on His journey up to Jerusalem” (Luke 19:28). Jerusalem is the place of fulfillment for Jesus. But, as the place of fulfillment, it’s also the place where opposites clash: fault and compassion; sin and love; earthly power and heavenly glory; death and life.
Each of us, too, is invited to continue on our journey to the place of our fulfillment. Sometimes we do that faithfully; sometimes we do it reluctantly. How might we do it more deliberately as disciples of the Lord?
Let me suggest two ways, both rooted in the theme of anointing. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me” (Isaiah 61:1). Ancient Israel was anointed to be a light to the nations. Ancient kings were anointed to lead God’s people, and David was the greatest of them. As Davidic messiah, Jesus was anointed to bring salvation. In the sacramental economy, the oil of chrism is anointed so that we might be incorporated into Christ’s anointing. In turn, each of us is anointed — both externally and internally — for the mission God gives us.
In this sense, anointing is a source of hope as we walk in the footsteps of Jesus and proceed on our journey to our own personal Jerusalem. God has sent us into the places of fulfillment; we will suffer the clash of opposites in our own lives. We can have confidence in God’s anointing during the trials we face.
But anointing is also a challenge. How so?
Consider how Mary anoints Jesus’ physical body, using a liter of perfumed oil worth 300 days’ wages (John 12).
Now consider the question: If Jesus’ mystical body — the Church — is spiritually anointed by our actions and attitudes, what “odor” are we giving to the body of Christ? Are we anointing His body with compassion or arrogance? Service or cynicism? Trusting or grasping? We see both options in ancient Israel, in the crowd that greeted Jesus on Palm Sunday and then called for His crucifixion on Good Friday, and in our own hearts.
Holy Week’s readings allow us to consider anointing as a historical reality (the anointing of ancient kings and the anointing of Jesus), as a sacramental reality (the blessing of oil and the anointing of the baptized, the confirmed and the ordained), and as a spiritual reality (the anointing of each of us for the mission God gives us). Anointing is a source of hope, because we can have confidence that God pours out His blessing on us. Anointing is also a source of challenge, because it asks us to live up to and into the graces we’ve received.
So let’s pray that our celebration of Holy Week will help us to behold the anointing of God with gratitude, to receive the anointing of God with docility and that our actions and attitudes would anoint the Church as the mystical body of Christ with a pleasing odor.
