Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Rm 8:8-11
Jn 11:1-45 or Jn 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45
Lent is not about suffering and sacrifice. It's a corridor to new life. Good Friday is not about evil and pain and death. It's the door that Jesus opens to invite us into that new life.
Yes, suffering is part of the Lenten journey (and it can be experienced at any time of the year). Yes, Lent includes the sacrifices of fasting and abstinence, alms-giving and extra time in church. But these are just tools for the trip.
God uses our sufferings (if we let him) to help us grow in compassion, persistence, and ministry. We use our sacrifices to help us learn discipline (which is discipleship) so that we can purify our will and grow stronger in holiness. But the trip is not the destination.
Lent is all about reaching the resurrection: renewed faith, a new life free of old sins, reconciled relationships, and living in the Spirit of God more than ever before.
Which day is more important to your faith: Good Friday or Easter Sunday? That horrid day on Calvary was absolutely necessary for Easter, but we are living in the resurrection! Catholics are an Easter people. This means that nothing bad can ever happen to us that will not be transformed into blessings if Jesus is the Lord of our lives.
He proved himself to be the Resurrection and the Life we need by displaying his power over life and death. Now he wants to prove it again — to you and those who are watching you.
Reflect & Discuss:
1. We can personalize the first reading by understanding that God will open our graves (whatever is dead inside of us) and will place his Spirit of Life within us. How does the Holy Spirit help us discover healing and hope amidst our daily sufferings and dyings?
2. In the scripture from Romans, we are reminded again of the Holy Spirit within us. Since the Spirit is alive in you, what affect does this have on your Lenten preparations for Easter? What is being purified, strengthened, and renewed?
3. In the Gospel, Jesus proves his power over death just before he enters Jerusalem and heads toward Calvary. How does this prove to you that your own sufferings and sacrifices will not lead to permanent disaster?
Question for the Journey:
What needs to be resurrected in your life? What will you do this week to accept the death of what has ended so that you can prepare for the new life that Jesus is preparing for you?
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Hello, I’m Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, with the "Sunday Soundbite" for the Fifth Sunday of Lent.
Some years ago in a homily, I told of standing at the bedside of a priest-friend who was dying, and wrestling with one of the questions that naturally arise at such a moment: What really awaits us after death?
One of my parishioners wondered if I doubted the resurrection of the body. I reassured him that I did believe in life after death, but was simply being honest about what I felt as my friend was dying.
Today's Gospel of the raising of Lazarus is the last of the three stories we use to prepare candidates (catechumens) for Baptism at Easter and it's the most dramatic. Jesus calls Lazarus from the tomb, still tightly wrapped in his burial bands. "Untie him," Jesus commands, "and let him go free."
We speak of "being buried" in the waters of Baptism. Scripture scholar Raymond Brown suggests that Lazarus represents the ultimate challenge for those who are baptized in Christ: the encounter with death itself.
As I stood at the bedside of my dying colleague, I saw a look of peace on his face. Though he could not speak, he was testifying that he had faced the test and was ready to meet the Lord.
May each of us hear the voice of Jesus in our final moments of life, inviting us to come forth, and be set free.
•I wait with longing for the LORD, my soul waits for his word. (Psalm 130:5)
•…the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you. (Romans 8:11)
•She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” (John 11:27)
Reflection:
•How does the Spirit act in your life?
•Is Jesus the center of your life?
You, Lord, were within me, while I was outside. It was there that I sought you. I rushed headlong upon these things of beauty that you had made. You were with me, but I was not with you. They kept me far from you, those fair things which, if they were not in you, would not exist at all! You called, you cried out, you shattered my deafness: you flashed, you shone, you scattered my blindness: you breathed perfume, and I drew in my breath and I pant for you: I tasted, and I am hungry and thirsty: you touched me an I burned for your peace.
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