Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 11, 2022
Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him, said,
“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages
and given to the poor?”
He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.
In my house, Holy Week is usually an intense time. Easter Sunday is the holiest day of the year, so we spend the week leading up to the Resurrection preparing our hearts and our home for the grand celebration.
We have embraced Holy Week as an opportunity to get rid of all of the unnecessary clutter that accumulates throughout the year. This has meant deep cleaning even the most remote corners of our modest house in the past. It was a tradition born out of a desire to start fresh on the Resurrection and enter into this season of renewal feeling unencumbered by the past.
This year, my wife and I decided that we would not spend Holy Week scrubbing the floors and reorganizing the kitchen. We concluded that it would be best for us to go easy on the cleaning and instead focus on preparing our hearts and minds, and those of our three small children, for the Easter feast.
Today’s gospel passage reminds me exactly why we chose to refocus: “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Here, Jesus reminds us of the importance of living in the present moment, open to God working in our life.
Mary gets it right. She seems to understand well that Jesus will not be with them forever, and the best thing she can choose is to attend to him, serve him, and love him. She understands that the most important thing happening right now is sitting near Jesus.
This Holy Week, we hope to be like Mary and allow ourselves to stop and savor our time with the Lord. We pray that we will come to know and love him more deeply as we serve him more fully from the heart.
Prayer
God Almighty, having just yesterday commemorated the passion of Jesus your Son, we continue in this Holy Week to learn of the mixture of friendship and betrayal, of intimacy and hypocrisy, that marked those final days of your Son’s earthly ministry. Help us to be attentive to Christ these days as we remember his forthcoming suffering and death. May we imitate Jesus’ own attentiveness, courage, and faithfulness. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Stanislaus, one of the most famous Polish saints, was born in Poland in 1030. His parents were from a noble family, yet they were childless until their fervent prayers were answered with the birth of Stanislaus. As a result of this gift to their prayer, they dedicated their new baby to the service of God.
He was educated and ordained a priest, and his bishop gave him a prominent position in the cathedral in Krakow. He was an eloquent preacher and a great example of holiness—his words and actions inspired both laypeople and clergy. People came from all over for his advice.
The bishop offered to step down from his office so that Stanislaus could lead the Church there, but the saint would not hear of it. When the bishop died, though, the pope named him bishop of Krakow in 1072. As bishop, he continued his preaching and made regular visits to the people under his care. It is said that his house was crowded with poor people and that he maintained a list of widows and other people in crisis so that he could regularly offer them assistance.
The king of Poland at the time, Boleslaus II, was a cruel man known for his savagery in war and in the way he ruled his people. Stanislaus tried to correct the king, noting the scandal that his behavior caused, but he did not change his ways. When the king forcefully kidnapped the wife of a nobleman, the Polish nobility turned to government and Church leaders to do something. No one wanted to offend the king and incur his wrath, but Stanislaus was not afraid. He threatened the king with excommunication.
When the king did not release the nobleman’s wife, Stanislaus formally excommunicated Boleslaus. When the king tried to enter the cathedral for Mass, the priests would not celebrate the liturgy in his presence by order of Stanislaus. Boleslaus tracked Stanislaus down, found him in a chapel outside the city, and ordered his guards to kill him. They refused, and he entered the chapel with his own sword and killed Stanislaus.
Stanislaus’ body was cut to pieces and thrown about the countryside to be eaten by wild animals. Legend has it that eagles protected the remains until they could be collected and preserved as relics, some of which rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. He is the patron saint of Poland, and his image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.
St. Stanislaus, you are the patron saint of Poland who was not afraid to stand up to a cruel king—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Stanislaus is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed February 21, 2025.