And the whole house was filled with the aroma of that perfume (John 12: 1-11)

Biblical reflections by Mauro Leonardi*, priest and writer

Marta, Mary and Lazzaro discover the face of Christ in friendship with him. Being friends of Jesus means traveling with him the way of the service and the total gift of herself, like Mary who "wastes" a precious oil to grease his feet, then drying them with her hair. Judah, and many with him, do not understand the excess of love, which only Christ welcomes fully, because he himself is a gift without measure that redeems the life of the world.

From the Gospel according to John 12: 1-11

Six days before Easter, Jesus went to Betània, where he was there, which he had raised from the dead. And here they made a dinner for him: Marta served and there he was one of the diners.

Mary then took three hundred grams of perfume of pure nardo, very precious, sprinkled the feet of Jesus, then he won them with his hair, and the whole house filled himself with the aroma of that perfume.

Then Judas Iscoariòta, one of his disciples, who was about to betray him, said: "Why did not sell this perfume for three hundred denarii and did not give themselves to the poor?". He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and, since he kept the cashier, he took what they put in it.

Jesus then said, "Let her do it, so that she will keep it for the day of my burial. In fact, you always have them with you, but you don't always have me ».
Meanwhile, a large crowd of Jews learned that he was there and rushed, not only for Jesus, but also to see there that he had raised from the dead. The leaders of the priests then decided to kill there too, because many Jews left because of him and believed in Jesus.

* Mauro Leonardi (Como 1959) has been a priest since 29 May 1988 and has lived in Rome since then. He spends many hours of his day as a priest and prefers building bridges rather than raising walls. For years he has been writing stories, articles, essays and books that revolve around the relationship between man and God. Author of the blogLike Jesus. Abelis(Lindau) is his latest novel. The volunteers ofJonathan Projectthey thank him for wanting to share these reflections on the Word with us.