“Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany.” (John 12,1)

This year again the Franciscan friars went to Bethany, to bless the perfumed unguents that will be used on Good Friday during the funeral rite of Christ, celebrated by the Jerusalem parishes at the Holy Sepulcher.

The unction for Jesus

“It is a very picturesque and important celebration. It is a celebration that has at its center the gesture of the perfumed unction by Mary. I would therefore like to linger and simply reflect on the meaning that unction has for Jesus, the meaning it has for Mary and the meaning it should have for us.” These were the words used by the Custos of the Holy Land, Fra Francesco Patton, to begin his homily during the celebration.

"In the first canto of the Servant of the Lord, this mysterious and prophetic character in whom we can make out the Messiah, is precisely the servant and the elected one, he who is consecrated by the unction of the Holy Spirit for a specific mission: that of bringing to all nations the law, the light and the alliance. The Lord’s Servant is thus called to reveal to all nations on earth the will of God, through his word which illuminates and gives hope to the whole of humanity; he is also called to act so that the alliance, i.e. the pact of friendship with God,  is not something exclusive that would concern only one people to the detriment of other peoples, but something inclusive which concerns the whole of humanity."

The unction for Mary

The Custos then brought our attention to the figure of Mary, and on her gesture of washing Jesus’s feet with fine perfumed oils and aromas.

“In the Gospel that we have just listened to, Mary of Bethany is in front of Jesus and,  with her gesture, seems to be the only person who has understood him. Before Jesus, who incarnates love that is given in full, she has the courage to carry out the gesture of pouring an exaggerated amount of perfumed oil on to his feet.”

“Mary has the courage to dry Jesus’s feet with her hair, surprising and scandalizing those who would like to itemize and even rationalize love. With her gesture, Mary expresses that love is stronger not only than social but also religious conformity. Mary also expresses that love is stronger than death and like the most precious oil of nard it can fill a whole house with hope, just as love can fill the lives of each one of us, that of our communities, the Church and the history of humanity.”

The unction for us

The homily then concluded with a message for the people of God, a message for Holy Week which we are preparing to live and celebrate.

“Today we are the ones in front of Jesus. The Word of God which we have listened to is speaking to us. Perhaps sometimes perhaps we are also among those who are scandalized by the style of Jesus and we would like him to solve problems by shouting, hitting and extinguishing them.

Sometimes it is also the voice of Judas that speaks in us, which cannot understand the value of the gratuitousness of love and even uses the category of alms to cover the narrowness of its heart.

Sometimes, we succeed like Mary, in surprising ourselves and others, not in declaring in words our love for Jesus but in expressing it in a surprising way, in perhaps even a scandalous way, in order to reveal that for us nothing and nobody is more important than Him.”

The celebration then came to a conclusion with the unction of those present with the perfumed oils that had just been blessed, a sign of the union with Christ, his funeral, his new alliance and the message that his Easter has for the whole of humanity.