Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 25, 2024
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.
The line from today’s gospel, “But you do not always have me,” is challenging for me to grasp because my husband and I always tell our four children we will always be there for them. We even have a large sign in our nursery: “You will always have us.” A week before this past Christmas, my beloved grandmother departed this life at the age of 93. Her death was a very difficult time for me and left me grappling with that same concept of “but you do not always have me.”
The miracle of life and the abruptness of death is challenging for anyone to grasp, let alone our seven and five-year-olds, who were experiencing the death of a loved one for the first time. My husband and I tried to explain to our daughters that even though my grandmother may no longer be here physically, her love for all of us is present to us everywhere. She taught us all how to live a selfless and generous life, which we all strive to do every day.
In this gospel, we see Mary anointing Jesus’s feet with a bottle of costly perfume. We see Mary’s generosity and how, despite others’ judgments, she is not held back by the opinions of those around her. Mary loved Jesus so much that she did not care about how others would perceive the act of love, and because of this, her story, like my grandmother’s, lives on in those who strive to do likewise, even today.
This Holy Week, let us all strive to be as selfless and generous as Mary and seek to share whatever we have, not only our possessions but, more importantly, our time and love, with those around us.
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

Tradition has placed the feast of the Annunciation—the moment when Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel and conceived Jesus in her womb—exactly nine months before Christmas, on March 25. However, it is sometimes moved so that it does not fall during Holy Week, Easter Week, or on a Sunday.
The story of the Annunciation comes to us from the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Six months after the conception of John the Baptist, the angel Gabriel visited Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph, but not yet living in his household.
Gabriel greeted Mary by saying, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” She was confused and troubled, and Gabriel explained, saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Gabriel went on to explain that the Holy Spirit will come upon her, and “the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
Mary’s response to this incredible invitation: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Today’s feast honors the Incarnation by which Jesus takes on our human nature, and it honors Mary for her crucial role in that gracious movement: all of salvation hinges on Mary’s “yes” in this moment. By her “yes” we, also, are destined for divinity. It is her acceptance of God’s call to bear Jesus to the world that gives us the courage and strength to bear Jesus to the world. It is her cooperation with the Word of God that gives our own humanity a share in God’s glory.
See images and video from the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, and spend a few moments in prayer there, in this part of our online tour of the Holy Land.
Gabriel’s visit to Mary is depicted in the Basilica in both stained glass and in a painted mural. The Annunciation is also the namesake of the chapel in Pangborn Hall, and is represented symbolically in the stained glass image shown here.
On this feast of the Annunciation, let us say “yes” with Mary to God’s invitation to bear Jesus to the world!