Meditations for Holy Week: Monday

"Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord." 
—Psalm 27:14

Monday of Holy Week is a day of waiting. Just as in the Christmas carol we sing, "Let every heart prepare Him room," we must also prepare our hearts for the sorrows of the Sacred Triduum.

Even though Monday can be the most hectic day of the week, don't forget to carve out some quiet time for yourself today. Get up a little earlier to do the readings for the day. Find a quiet place to sit at lunch and read your favorite spiritual book. Gather your family to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet or the Rosary at the end of the day. These are all excellent examples for integrating the spirit of Holy Week into your day.

As we reflect on today's readings, especially recalling how Our Lord raised Lazarus from the dead, let us ask Jesus to raise us above any obstacles that prevent us from drawing nearer to Him.

GOSPEL READING FOR MONDAY OF HOLY WEEK

Mary Anoints Jesus

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

The Plot to Kill Lazarus

When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

PASSION MEDITATION FROM ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI

"That which most inflamed St. Paul with the love of Jesus was the thought that he chose to die, not only for all men, but for him in particular: He loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. Yes, he has loved me, said he, and for my sake he gave himself up to die.

And thus ought every one of us to say; for St. John Chrysostom asserts that God has loved every individual man with the same love with which he has loved the world: ‘He loves each man separately with the same measure of charity with which he loves the whole world.’ So that each one of us is under as great obligation to Jesus Christ for having suffered for every one, as if he had suffered for him alone."
 

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This article has been updated and was originally written by our staff and published in April 2012. © The Catholic Company. All rights reserved.