Tag Archives: Mary of Bethany

Here is love

Here is love that doesn’t bury grief, but anoints it, attends to it. Here is love that doesn’t count the cost, but pours itself out so that it is felt, sensed, perceived far beyond the feet that receive it: “the house was filled with the fragrance of it.” Here is love that inspires others to love. Continue reading

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How I discovered that I have no sense of smell

if my devotions appear lacking or incomplete,
charge it I pray to my imperfect property,
and not to my intent. Continue reading

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Anointing

They say that scent is the closest sense to memory; I wouldn’t know, but Jesus, enveloped in the memory of myrrh – his mother Mary eked it out, birth by birth – his mortality laid out end to end, Jesus … Continue reading

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Earth, oil, ashes, and a pound of precious nard

I have anointed people for death, and I think Mary was right to get in early, because when I return, a few days later, or a week, I do not come bearing precious nard. Continue reading

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