Reflection for Sunday 6th April 2025

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

Isaiah 43.16-21, Philippians 3.4b-14, John 12.1-8

We are moving ever closer to Holy Week now — just one Sunday away from Palm Sunday — and the tone of the readings begins to shift. There’s an intensity building, a sense that the Lord is drawing nearer to His Passion, and we are invited to walk more closely with Him.

In the Gospel, we are given a tender moment in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Mary pours out an expensive jar of perfume, anointing Jesus’ feet in a deeply personal act of love and devotion. Judas sees only waste. But Jesus sees something else — a prophetic act, a preparation for His burial. Love like Mary’s doesn’t calculate. It simply gives.

There’s something profoundly Eucharistic in this gesture. Mary takes what is precious and pours it out for Jesus. In the Mass, we take bread and wine — simple, yet symbolic of the work of our lives — and offer them back to God. And in return, He offers everything to us in the Body and Blood of Christ.

St Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, shows us the way of discipleship that follows Mary’s kind of love. He counts everything as loss compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ. All the accolades, the achievements, even his religious credentials — they mean nothing without Christ. “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal.” Lent is exactly that: a holy pressing forward.

And then Isaiah reminds us of God’s promise: “I am about to do a new thing.” It’s easy to get stuck in old patterns, to assume the wilderness is forever. But God is always at work, even in desolate places. He can make rivers run through dry ground and open paths where we saw none before.

This week, perhaps we are being invited to let go of what holds us back. To pour out our love without reserve. To trust that, even in Lent’s dry terrain, God is preparing something new and beautiful.

As we draw closer to Calvary, may we also draw closer to the One who gave Himself for us. Like Mary, may our love be extravagant. Like Paul, may our gaze be fixed on Christ. And like Isaiah, may our hearts be open to the new thing God is doing in us — even now.

Blessings and prayers,

Emma