I’m reading “Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter” this lent and there’s another reading from The Gospel in Solentiname by Ernesto Cardenal. I’ve quoted a similar reading before from their advent book. They’re beautiful conversations.
They’re discussing the scene where Mary (sister of Martha and Lazarus) pours absurdly expensive perfume on Jesus. Maria’s comment astounded me on several levels:
William: But all that perfume. And the bottle. The alabaster bottle!
Padré: The alabaster bottle was sealed, and it had to be broken to use the perfume. The perfume could be used only once. And the Gospel says the whole house was filled with the fragrance of nard. It’s believed that nard was an ointment that came from India.
Teresita: Maybe a smuggler paid her with that.
Maria: Jesus was a poor man, too, and he too deserved to have the perfume poured on him.
The Gospel in Solentiname. I read it in “Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter”.