Smell

When Saint Simon Peter denied Him three times before the cock crew, did Christ smell that nard and did He remember Peter’s love?

Annointing the Feet of Jesus (Ann Lukesh)

I have been reflecting on the anointing of Christ’s feet before His passion and death on the Cross…

We are told the story in the Gospel that Mary – one of the women who loved Christ – anointed His feet with a pound of nard.  This would have cost an entire year’s wages.  And the woman anointed His Feet with her hair.

“Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, ‘Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?’ This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it. Jesus said, ‘Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.’” (John 12:1-11).

And I have been reflecting on that, because that anointing – that love – must have pleased Christ.  He knew what was to come.  He could sense the evil bearing down on Him.  How many Evil Ones would have prowled the earth in those days, hoping to deter Christ from His sacrifice by tormenting Him even more than could be endured.

And even then, Christ was comforted by Mary – who had been described as a sinner, who had repented.

And I have been thinking about this.  When Christ was standing before the unjust judges, when He was being tried (unjustly) and beaten and harassed and tormented.  When He was being scourged at the pillar could He smell the Nard on His Feet?  Was there a faint smell of that perfume as He endured the stench of deceit?  And did it comfort Him – that smell?  Was He soothed – even a little – by that one sweet thing in the midst of all that betrayal?  When Saint Simon Peter denied Him three times before the cock crew, did Christ smell that nard and did He remember Peter’s love?

And after the crucifixion, when He was brought down from the Cross, and when His Mother held His lifeless Body in her arms, did she also smell that nard?  Did that remembrance of respect during His lifetime comfort her in some way?  Did that smell remind her of happier times?

And I have been thinking about this today, because I am ashamed that I have never anointed Our Lord’s Feet with nard.  I am ashamed to say that I have never tried to leave some sweet smell of goodness with my Beloved for the times when He is saddened by sin.

I am ashamed to say that I have never tried to love my Beloved as Mary loved Him as she ignored the men at the table and focused all her attentions on Him.

And I am ashamed to say that I more often have the attitude of Judas, stingily considering the cost of everything that I offer so as to avoid offering anything at all.

And when I think about that today, I am saddened, because Christ is my Beloved and I have not show love for Him…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.