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by Mark Sedrak
On Wednesday of Holy Pascha Week, our Lord Jesus Christ spent the day in Bethany
at the residence of Simon the leper. There, a woman, anointed our Lord’s
blessed body with fragrance.
The Anointing at Bethany
Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to
him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his
head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and
said, "Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum,
and the money given to the poor." But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why
do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you
always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this
ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever
this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told
in remembrance of her." (Matthew 26:6-13)
Mary, as an indication of her great love, anoints Jesus’ feet and wipes His feet
with her hair. By this she not only gave an indication of her devotion, but she
also expressed the holy service of other souls faithful to God. By our Lord’s
feet is represented the humility of His Incarnation. We anoint His feet when we
proclaim with due praise the mystery of the Incarnation which he took upon
Himself. Paul bears witness to this, saying, “Thanks be to God Who always causes
us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the fragrance of the knowledge of
Him by us in every place.”
We anoint the Lord’s feet when we spread the praise
of His name by living uprightly, when we revivify His poor by a word of
consolation; and we wipe the feet of these same ones with our hair when we share
some of what is superfluous to us to alleviate the wants of the needy.—Venerable
Bede
The judgment of God will be decisive and final in the day when the angels will
separate the evil doers from amoung the righteous and the sinners will be thrown
into the burning fire. May the Lord God have mercy upon us. – Shenouti the
Archmandrite
See Also:
Wednesday
in Holy Week
The figurative lamb is now to make way for the true one;
the Pasch of this year will substitute the reality for
the type; and Jesus' Blood, shed by the hands of wicked
priests, is soon to flow simultaneously with that of
victims which have been hitherto acceptable to God only
because they prefigured the Sacrifice of Calvary.
Last Supper celebrated a day late, physicist claims in
book
The Last Supper is commemorated a day late, a Cambridge University physicist
claims in his new book, according to reports in the Sydney Morning Herald and
the Belfast Telegraph.
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