Giving God The Best Series

Monday of 29th Week in Course

We celebrate here the one who died for our sins and was raised by the Father for our justification. The celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice turns us into the opposite of the miser remembered in the Gospel, whom Joachim Jeremias believes was a real person whose tragedy was known to Jesus’ listeners. The rich man thought only of himself. His surplus wealth was not shared with the Temple, or with the poor, or even with his family. He wanted to keep it all for himself, to benefit his generous personal retirement plan. But he died, and his death was all for himself, and did not profit him an iota.

The death of Jesus, by way of contrast, won infinite benefits for the entire world. St. Paul teaches in Romans that because we are one with Jesus in baptism, we are coheirs with him of all the riches of God. And this Eucharistic banquet we celebrate is the foretaste of that great everlasting wedding banquet in the presence of God.

The Holy Father points in Ecclesia de Eucharistia to the action that preceded and prepared for the Calvary sacrifice. Mary of Bethany, out of love, empties out her retirement account and purchases a jar of ointment I estimate as costing about $10,000 and anoints Jesus with it. The disciples, particularly money-grubbing Judas, complain about the expense. “Why this waste?” they ask.

“But Jesus' own reaction is completely different. While in no way detracting from the duty of charity towards the needy, for whom the disciples must always show special care ­ "the poor you will always have with you" He looks toward His imminent death and burial, and sees this act of anointing as an anticipation of the honor which His body will continue to merit even after His death, indissolubly bound as it is to the mystery of His person.

Like the woman who anointed Jesus in Bethany, the Church has feared no "extravagance", devoting the best of her resources to expressing her wonder and adoration before the unsurpassable gift of the Eucharist. No less than the first disciples charged with preparing the "large upper room", she has felt the need, down the centuries and in her encounters with different cultures, to celebrate the Eucharist in a setting worthy of so great a mystery. In the wake of Jesus' own words and actions, and building upon the ritual heritage of Judaism, the Christian liturgy was born.

So when we celebrate, we carefully prepare everything so it shows forth the difference between the secular outside and the sacred inside. The vestments are special; the music is high class in every sense of the word. Particularly in the words, which are almost always directly taken from Scripture. In fact, the entire liturgy is infused with the Word of God.

Now, we don't neglect what we do to give the obedience of faith to the command of Jesus. We take care of the poor in our daily lives. We make certain to educate the next generation of Christians in the faith, and we daily look for opportunities to share the love of Christ and the joy of being His disciples. In other words, in everything we do, worship, service, outreach, we always give our best because the Father gave us His best, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit.