Tuesday: Holy Week

Now there was a virtuous 
and righteous man named Joseph who, 
though he was a member of the council, 
had not consented to their plan of action.
He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea
and was awaiting the kingdom of God.
He went to Pilate 
and asked for the body of Jesus.
After he had taken the body down,
he wrapped it in a linen cloth
and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb
in which no one had yet been buried.
It was the day of preparation,
and the sabbath was about to begin.
The women who had come from Galilee with him followed behind,
and when they had seen the tomb
and the way in which his body was laid in it,
they returned and prepared spices and perfumed oils.
Then they rested on the sabbath according to the commandment.

 Luke 23:50-56

Simply put, the reason Jesus came to this world as the perfect gift was to die and rise, pouring out his love and life upon the world.

In the Love of Jesus

Father Lenny Zamborsky
April 16, 2006

For Reflection:

From where he was hanged on the Cross, Jesus poured out his very being upon the world, reminding me that in the Diocese of Cleveland this is the evening when the bishop and priests gather to celebrate the Chrism Liturgy, blessing the oils to be used sacramentally throughout the time of Easter until next year’s Holy Week. 

Oil is an ordinary but essential staple of human life. Blessed, oil becomes sacramental, gently poured for healing of body and soul in the beautiful Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Poured out oil marks each of us in Baptism and Confirmation as kingly children of God and fills us with the Spirit of the Living God, sent out to build God’s Kingdom on Earth. At Ordination, priests are anointed to be faithful shepherds and gentle teachers to their Flock.

At Jesus’s birth, Joseph, his father, wrapped the newborn in swaddling clothes and laid him gently in the manger. At his death, Joseph, his friend, wrapped his lifeless body in burial clothes and laid him in the tomb. As the faithful women disciples went to prepare the oils to anoint Jesus’s body, I bow my head as I ponder Jesus as gift to us – Sacrament of Love.