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Pope Benedict XVI 
Homily of  02/04/2007 on the second anniversary of the death of the Servant of God, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II (trad. © Libreria Editrice Vaticana) 

"And the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment"


The Gospel account impresses an intense paschal atmosphere on our meditation: the supper at Bethany is a prelude to Jesus' death in the sign of his anointing by Mary, a homage she pays to the Teacher which he accepts as foretelling his burial. However, it is also an announcement of the Resurrection through the very presence of Lazarus restored to life (cf Jn 11,44), an eloquent witness of Christ's power over death. Not only pregnant with Paschal significance, the narrative of the supper at Bethany is imbued with an anguishing resonance filled with love and devotion, a mixture of joy and pain...

For us, gathered in prayer in memory of my Venerable Predecessor, the gesture of the anointing of Mary of Bethany is full of spiritual echoes and suggestions. It evokes John Paul II's shining witness of love for Christ, unreserved and unstinting. The "house", that is, the entire Church, "was filled with the "fragrance" of his love (cf. Jn 12: 3). 
Of course, we who were close to him benefited from it and are grateful to God, but even those who knew him from afar were able to enjoy it because Pope Wojtyla's love for Christ was so strong, so intense, we could say, that it overflowed in every region of the world. Was not the esteem, respect and affection expressed to him at his death by believers and non-believers alike an eloquent witness of this?...  The intense and fruitful pastoral ministry and, even more, the calvary of the agony and serene death of our beloved Pope showed the people of our time that Jesus Christ was truly his "all"... 

"And the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment." The Pope's sweet scent of faith, hope and charity filled his house, filled St Peter's Square, filled the Church and spread throughout the world. What happened after his death was for believers an effect of that "fragrance" which reached everyone near and far and attracted them to a man whom God had gradually conformed to his Christ...  May the Totus tuus of the beloved Pontiff encourage us to follow him on the path of the gift of ourselves to Christ through the intercession of Mary.

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