You're listening to Encounter, a collection of sacred meditations to help you encounter the divine

presence of God throughout your day.

It is Wednesday of Holy Week.

Yesterday, Jesus spent the day in the temple debating religious leaders, and tomorrow,

well, that will be the last Passover meal.

But tonight, he spends time in Bethany at the House of Simon the Lepper.

I want you to imagine Jesus sitting at the supper table with his disciples?

A woman named Mary comes over and anoints Jesus' head and feet with costly perfume.

The disciples become indignant. Why did she waste the oil?

Well, tonight, the confusion is over perfume.

Tomorrow night, the excitement will be over wine and bread.

So what's the problem?

What is the confusion?

It's about disarray and disorder, misplaced loyalties.

St. Augustine observed that even love can be disordered when it seeks ultimate happiness

in temporal and finite stuff,

even finite stuff like perfume and wine and bread.

So what things in your life lead to a deeper communion with God?

What things lead to something more akin to life.

Well, I pray this meditation from Luke chapter 22 will help you remember how we tend to spoil any good thing of God, human that we are.

But by His grace, we can find order again, somewhere deep, somewhere inside of us.

Guided by the Holy Spirit, we can take the first steps to address our problems by first reflecting on the chaos. So rest here as we begin. Settle here as the Holy Spirit opens your heart to what is

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