In your own life, what complications arise from your being impressionable? What practical resolution can you make in this regard — as an act of true Lenten repentance? - Daily Reflections April 14,2014

TO BE MISUNDERSTOOD   In general, we say Jesus suffered and was condemned to death by His contemporaries because they misunderstood Him. They thought He was out to destroy what Moses and the prophets labored on to inculcate in the hearts and minds of the covenanted people of Israel. Of course, in a way, Jesus was also misunderstood because of personal and selfish reasons in some of those who were around Him. Our Gospel today, for example, proclaims that the raising up of Lazarus — an event that could have made many believe and follow Jesus — was one immediate reason for the Jewish authorities to grow hostile against Jesus.        Misunderstanding never stops. Besides Jesus, Mary of Bethany, the younger sister of Lazarus and Martha, was also misunderstood. Though soft-spoken and silent, Mary’s simple ways were not easily taken in a positive light. Earlier (cf Luke 10:38-42), Mary’s brand of being hospitable to Jesus, by giving Him attention and time as she sat at His feet, was taken by the assertive Martha as a kind of sloth. Now, Mary’s act of anointing Jesus’ feet with fragrant oil is misunderstood by Judas Iscariot as a waste.        We, who read about Mary’s anointing of Jesus at Bethany, also misunderstand her. This story has made many to say that Mary of Bethany was a penitent, adulterous woman — all because we create impressions, and interchange details with other similar Gospel materials (cf Mark 14:3-9; Matthew 26:6-13; Luke 7:36-38). Fr. Domie Guzman, SSP   REFLECTION QUESTIONS: In your own life, what complications arise from your being impressionable? What practical resolution can you make in this regard — as an act of true Lenten repentance?   Lord, forgive me for the times I misunderstood people because of my being impressionable.