Monday of Holy Week – First Person Reflection in the Ignatian Way

You rode into Jerusalem with crowds cheering

Today, Mary anoints your feet

Judas grumbles over the cost of the perfume

We will have poor with us always, you say

But Jesus, you came to serve and to save the poor

Now people will use your words against us

The elites will say they don’t have to do anything

Ah, I am beginning to understand

We will have the poor with us always

Only we will misunderstand the meaning

Those who consider themselves rich

Those who consider themselves to be self-made

Those who build bigger barns to store their riches

They are the ones who are poor

They are the ones who don’t see the need for you

Blessed are the poor in spirit

For they shall be comforted

You are with us

We only have to open the eyes of our hearts

Ah Judas, this is a gift to Jesus from Mary

What the poor need is our love and solidarity

The poor must be recognized as human beings

They must be recognized as children of God

That recognition begins with us

We may not always have you with us physically, Lord

But you will be with us always in Spirit

Even until the end of the age