11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our Gospel is from Luke 7: 36-50 and it tells us about Jesus and the woman who approached and anointed Him with her tears and her perfume.  It also tells us about the specific reaction of Simon the pharisee, on the attitude of Jesus toward the woman. It was on such occasion that Jesus told him the parable of two debtors.

My dear friends, let us notice the two symbols related to a woman; one is her tears and the other is her perfume. 

A woman's tears express her pain as well as her joy, her fulfillment as well as her frustrations, her love and even her hatred. Any man should remember that the eyes of a woman is the doorway to her heart. When there are tears in a woman's eyes, all she needs is someone who can respect her feelings and understand what she has been through.  

A woman's perfume is so personal to her as she finds the chemistry of how a scent smells on her body. The scent expresses her age, personality, mood, etc. A woman's perfume which becomes her signature scent reminds a man of something about the said woman when he smells it.

In short, both the woman's tears and perfume speak of her essence, i.e., who she really is and what she has.

In our Gospel, these two symbols connected to a woman were offered to Jesus. The woman began to wet the feet of Jesus with her tears and anointed them with her perfume. This act of the woman indicates her submission to the Lord, an act of love. All she is and all she has she gave to Jesus. Jesus in return affirmed everything the woman did for Him saying, "Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much." 

This Gospel imparts to us a message that the Lord forgives those who love Him. In exchange for one's love of God, forgiveness is granted unconditionally (by God). To state this in other terms, how God forgives one's sins depends on how such person loves God. Love is the basis of the forgiveness of sins. To end, we are all called to act always with the love of God. In everything we do, we do it for the love of God. By so doing, we are assured of God's forgiveness. We can go in peace and live as better persons. Amen.