The Mystery of Christ
The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience

by Father Thomas Keating

Chapter 2 Part XI

The Easter-Ascension Mystery

The Anointing of the Body of Jesus

     Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate's permission to remove the body of Jesus. Pilot granted it, so they came and took the body away. Nicodemus (the man who had first come to Jesus at night) likewise came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes which weighed about a hundred pounds. They took Jesus' body, and in accordance with Jewish burial custom, bound it up in wrappings of cloth with perfumed oils.
    In the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish Preparation Day, they laid Jesus there, for the tomb was close at hand.
[John 19:38 - 42]
From the Gospel of Passion Sunday

    The text describes Nicodemus and the holy women anointing Christ's body with a generous portion of myrrh, aloes and perfumed oils in accordance with the Jewish custom.

    We have already become acquainted with the symbolism of perfumed oil through the story of Mary of Bethany and her anointing of Jesus six days before his death. Oil is one of the symbols that appears frequently in the Old Testament as well as in the Gospel of John. In the Old Testament, the sick were anointed with oil, and kings and prophets were anointed with chrism (perfumed oil). In the sacrament of baptism, the catechumen is anointed with oil; in the sacrament of confirmation, the anointing is conferred with chrism (perfumed oil). The latter implies not only the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, symbolized by the anointing with oil, but also the perception of the presence of action of the Spirit, symbolized by the delicious odor of the perfume.

    When Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus with the perfume of great price--smashing the bottle and emptying the entire contents over him--she was affirming that he was no ordinary guest. She manifested her awareness that the Spirit had been imparted to Jesus not just in part, as was the case of the kings and prophets, but completely. She perceived that Jesus' sacred body was filled with the most costly perfume that ever existed, the Holy Spirit. Like the alabaster jar that she broke and emptied over his head, his body, too, was about to be broken and its sacred contents were to be poured out over the whole human family for its salvation.

    Thus the outpouring of the Spirit as the fruit of Christ's sacrifice on the cross is magnificently expressed by Mary's lavish gesture. The text states that Jesus' body was anointed with a hundred pounds of myrrh, aloes and perfumed oils. Jesus' prophetic praise of Mary's action was thus thoroughly fulfilled: "What she has done is in anticipation of my burial."

    In Christ, matter itself has become divine. At the moment of Christ's rising from the dead, the Holy Spirit rushed upon his body, anointing it with the fire of divine love, penetrating his sacred flesh until it was totally transformed not only into pure spirit, but into the divine nature itself. The entire material creation is now Christ's body. When we celebrate the Eucharist, we are celebrating the glorification of the entire cosmos, present in some mysterious manner in the glorification of Christ's body. It is only a question of time until the fullness of that revelation becomes manifest.

    In the Paschal Vigil, the liturgy makes extensive use of fire, which is a source of light, heat, and energy. The New Fire, symbolizing the Holy Spirit poured out over the world in the outpouring of Christ's blood, is blessed at the beginning of the Paschal Vigil. From that fire, the Paschal Candle, symbol of Christ's body waiting to be raised from the dead, is lit. When the celebrant touches the flame taken from the New Fire to the Paschal Candle, symbol of the glorified Christ, the eternal event of Jesus' resurrection becomes our own inner experience.

    The assembly gathered for the Vigil walks in the darkness as the Paschal Candle leads the way to the sanctuary. This procession reenacts the deliverance of God's people from its oppressors in the Red Sea. Moses was sent to save his people from the bondage of Egypt. God said to him, "I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry . . .therefore I have come down to rescue them." Ex. 3:7 - 8

    In his passion Jesus equivalently says to us, "I have seen the affliction of the human family, and I have come down to free you for the full reception of the Spirit and the complete transformation of your nature into the divine--body, soul, and spirit."

    In that sacred procession, reliving by faith the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea and identifying with Christ's descent into Sheol through the waters of the Great Abyss, all our sins are once again utterly destroyed. As we enter the church, we receive a parted tongue of flame from the Paschal Candle, symbolizing a share of the Spirit. As we listen to the Exultet, the ancient hymn of thanksgiving changed by a representative of the community, the candle we hold in our hands represents the light of faith in Christ's resurrection rising as an invincible conviction in our hearts. It is at that moment that the Alleluia is intoned.

    The Alleluia is the song of ecstatic love, joy, praise, adoration and gratitude all rolled into one. It proclaims the triumph of God over death in every form. It is our response to the resolution of Christ's double-bind. As he passes into his glorification, he incorporates us into his own glorified body and shares with us his own happiness, the joy of eternal life. The Alleluia is the song of resurrection. It is the cry of those in whom the inner resurrection is taking place. Faith and confidence in Christ explode into the experience of divine union.

More information can be obtained by reading the book The Mystery of Christ by Fr. Thomas Keating.  It is offered in our Book Store.