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Mark 14:3
While [Jesus] was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.

To ponder
Passion involves a transformation in which love of others, the desire to heal, to offer comfort and hope … take on a radically new character. When we allow authentic passion to have its way, we can return to love, and life, and service with new verve and feeling. The experience of passion wounds with the fire of love and opens the door to utter fullness of humanity in God. - Elizabeth A. Dreyer, Passionate Spirituality


Only love
It is impossible for me not to love this unnamed woman, for her heart flows with the love I most want to feel. She grasps the handle of the jar in her right hand, her left caressing the stone curve of the body, balancing the weight. Without a word, she kneels beside Jesus and pours out the oil, her eyes never leaving the darkness of his hair. There is no one else in the world for her in this moment, just she and Jesus … and the lavish love spilling from her heart, more extravagant than the oil she pours. Why such love? What moves her to such excess?

Only love can do this, the love that wakes within when the soul is one with the heart of Christ. The silent passion in her eyes is a holy gift from the one who is God’s love for us now and always. The very sight of her draws us to kneel there, beside Jesus, and share her work, hoping we might become as beautiful as she.

Prayer
Awaken holy passion in our hearts, O Lord that, overwhelmed with love, we may give ourselves to you and be transformed in your likeness. Amen.

(from: “A Story to Tell: Devotions for Lent” Bekki Lohrmann, Harvard Stephens Jr., Lydia Posselt, David L. Miller; Augsburg Fortress, 2020)

 

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