Apr 02 – Homily – Fr Jacinto: We are Lazarus

 

On the fifth Sunday of Lent, it is customary in many places to veil the sacred images in order to focus all our attention on Jesus and His upcoming death and resurrection. The resurrection of Lazarus in today's Gospel points towards that, even though Lazarus was raised back into mortal life, but Jesus into immortal and glorified life. To emphasize his power over death, Jesus waited so that when he reached the home of Lazarus and his sisters, Lazarus was dead and decaying. For it is one thing to raise the recently passed, but to raise the putrefying even more shows the power of God. But even though Jesus knew what he was going to do, He wept at the tomb of Lazarus. The only other time he wept was right before he entered into Jerusalem to suffer, weeping not for himself, but for those that he knew would reject Him. This is a moving insight into the heart of the God-Man and the reality of his humanity. Finally, this reminds us of our own personal mortality, but that God enters this world and breaks definitively the power of death over humanity. God's word to us is the same as to Lazarus: Come Out (from the tomb of death), Untie Him (from the bonds of sin), Let Him Go (to live the abundant life which starts here imperfectly and which we taste in the Eucharist). For, "Whoever eats[s] my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day" (John 6:54).
Ave Maria!

Mass: Sunday 5th Week of Lent - Sunday
Readings: 
1st: eze 37:12-14
Resp: psa 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
2nd: rom 8:8-11
Gsp: joh 11:1-45