Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

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Gospel
John 12:1-11

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.

Reflection

I want you to focus on two people in this reading, Judas and Mary, and see them as the tension that we have in this world between good and evil, between people who have welcomed goodness into their lives, as Mary did in responds with an act of hospitality, washing his feet with oil was a sort of symbol of the way people would welcome guests to their home by washing their feet.

And then there’s Judas, angry, judgmental and a liar. So the question is, what do we do with evil in the world? Do we struggle with it? Do we give in to it? That's a question that's worth thinking about.

The Closing prayer

Father, you have given us the hope of a goodness that is flowing into us on a consistent basis of God dwelling inside of us, freeing us from the power of evil. Bless us with an awareness of the gift of redemption, the gift of power over evil. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

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