Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

“Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, the house was filled with the scent of the ointment” (John 12: 3) As I listened to today’s Gospel being read on this Monday of Holy Week, my mind returned to the day of my Perpetual Profession back in June 2011. The text of the Gospel was that used for the liturgy of the rite of Profession. It is a passage from John’s Gospel where a woman anoints the feet of Jesus with precious ointment (John 12:1-8). The story of Jesus’ feet anointed with tears and perfume by a sinful woman is a love story, pure and simple. Not some cheap romance or TV soap love but one of complete and oblivious donation! As I stood on the threshold of complete dedication to Christ in religious life, I saw this biblical woman’s gesture and felt Jesus  saying to me: “Louise, are you ready to do the same? To be this self-emptying gift of prayer and joyful love, unafraid of stares or conflict from an often uncompr...

On the 29th of July, as Church we celebrate the liturgical feastday of St. Martha, a celebration marked in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox churches, and commemorated by the Lutheran Church and the Anglican Communion. Personally, I always feel that Martha gets a bit of a raw deal, something like St. Thomas. She is remembered for fussing about and being anxious and yet we forget that hers was a great acclamation of faith “I believe that you are the Lord, the one who is to come”. This is quite similar to St. Thomas who is renowned for his disbelief and wanting to touch the wounds of Christ before He would believe. Yet from him we have one of the most poignant prayers, “My Lord and my God”. As we reflect upon the Bethany scene of Mary and Martha, with Martha being somewhat admonished for fretting and worrying, Jesus says to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part.” There is...

Bethany scene Design by Sr. M. Angelica Ballan, pddm For today's liturgy, we are presented with the scene of Mary and Mary who welcome the Lord into their house at Bethany. Mary ‘sat and listened’. This was the usual posture of a disciple of any teacher in the ancient world. However the disciples were usually male, so Mary must have been quietly breaking the rule that reserved study for males, not females. Maybe this was also a fact which irked Martha. She was not merely asking for help. She was also demanding that Mary keep to the traditional way of behaving. For years I used to think that this Gospel was something like the Enneagram or the Myer Briggs personality tests: "Am I ‘a Mary?" or "Am I a ‘Martha?".  Yep, I was convinced, I was a ‘Martha’, running around all the time doing bits and pieces. Making sure everyone has what they need, trying to anticipate what is happening next to make sure everything is ready. Martha was the micro-manag...