5th Sunday of Lent 2025 - (Third Scrutiny) - Raising of Lazarus

 

Two weeks ago, we heard the story of the woman at the well.  She encountered the Lord Jesus, who said to her, “I will give you living water, which alone can satisfy”.  She represents all of us, all thirsting for God. Jesus invites all people of all time to drink deeply of the living waters of God through Him.

Last week we heard of the man born blind.  Again, he is all of us, born in the blindness of sin.  We desire to do good and avoid evil, but it’s not always easy to see clearly. Sometimes our egos and our sinful attachments are so great, they blind us to seeing how God wants us to live rightly. Jesus says to the man born blind and to all of us, “I am the light of the world.”  If you want to see rightly, let the light of Christ and His teachings enlighten you.

These stories in John’s Gospel move toward a sort of crescendo. I am living water which quenches thirst. I am the light by which you see. And today Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He’s not just water, He’s not just light. He is Life itself. And he desire that His life might animate us in this life, that it might sustain us through death, and animate us in all eternity, including the resurrection.

One of my favorite quotations from the early Church fathers is from St. Ireneus of Lyons, who said, Gloria Dei Homo Vivens, “the glory of God is Man fully alive.”  Jesus himself said, I came that they might have life, and have it to abundance. Christ died, that we may live, free from sin, full of divine life.  God’s glory, what gives God happiness, is that we are fully alive.  Conversely, what saddens the heart of God is when we allow death to reign in us at any level: physically, emotionally, or spiritually.  Sin diminishes us, God restores life.

Next, week, on Palm Sunday, we’ll come to understand the price the Lord pays to defeat the powers of death in us. But on this fifth Sunday of Lent, we’re invited to consider how the Lord commands us to live.

Today, our three catechumens present themselves for the last of the three scrutinies. They do so because they want to live and they recognize that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. So, you’ll notice in the scrutiny prayers many references to life, being restored to life and raised to life, like Lazarus in our Gospel today.

We heard in our first reading about God’s desire to free us from the powers of the grave: “I will open your graves and have you rise from them…I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land” we heard in our first reading.

Our three Catechumens will receive the gift of new life in Baptism this Easter Vigil. They have heard that same promise that God made to Israel all those centuries ago, the promise of life, and through prayer and fasting and study have opened themselves to the fulfillment of that promise in them. Thanks be to God. They have heard the Lord calling them to come out of their tombs, like Lazarus. Thanks be to God.

Why follow Jesus Christ? Why seek baptism and faithfulness to him? The promise of being raised from the dead is a pretty good reason. Living forever in God’s kingdom of peace is a pretty good reason. And it’s not just an empty promise--the promise of some delusional California cult leader.

Resurrection: it’s really the ultimate argument against anyone who says all religions are the same. No. They aren’t. Show me a member of another religion who not only raised the dead but also rose from the dead.

“I will open your graves and have you rise from them. Here the Lord is not just speaking of the promise of rising from our graves on the last day, when he returns. The grave is also wherever the powers of sin and evil and death reign in us still: an addiction, a habitual sin, an inability or unwillingness to forgive, anger and bitterness, perversion, fear of leaving behind the comfortable to follow Christ more devoutly, lack of fervor for the spiritual life…the grave is whatever limits the life of God in you. Think of laying in a grave, there is no place to move, you are constricted, unable to move, tied up, and God says, from your graves, I will have you rise up.” 

In the Gospels, we have not one story, but three stories of Jesus raising the dead. We just heard the story of Lazarus; can you think of the other two? The first one is the daughter of Jairus. Remember the little girl who died in her home when Jesus was on the way to heal her?  The second is the son of the widow of Naim.  Jesus sees the widow weeping as they brought out the body of her son, and Jesus is moved to raise him from the dead.

St. Augustine offered a spiritual reading of these three encounters with the dead.

Because Jairus’ daughter dies inside her house, St. Augustine says that her death symbolizes the sort of spiritual death that remains locked up in us—the sort of sins that poisons us from the inside: the resentments, the old grudges.  They aren’t necessarily expressed in words or actions, they just sort of fester within us, poisoning our thoughts, and our wills, and our imagination.  These are the sins we do in private—though no sin is private to God, of course. Jesus raises this little girl, just as he wants to heal us from all of our interior sinful attitudes.

Secondly, the son of the widow of Naim.  He had died and was being carried outside the house to the cemetery. St. Augustine says, he symbolizes the sins that have begun to express themselves in action.  When the interior anger and resentment, selfishness and lust bubble over in words of actions. But Jesus forgives these too.

The third person Jesus raises from the dead, his friend Lazarus.  Lazarus had been carried out of the house and placed in a tomb.  By the time Jesus gets there, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days.  His sister, famously says, when Jesus instructs them to roll away the stone that blocks the tomb, “but Lord, surely, there will be a stench.”

St. Augustine says that Lazarus in his grave, symbolizes that evil, that spiritual death, that not only has come out of the heart in words and actions, but has established itself as a habitual.  Now, the anger, the hatred, the violence, the lust, have taken root, and have become such a part of my life and my activity, that, like Lazarus in the tomb, there is a stench, and it’s affecting the people around me.  That anger, addiction, selfishness or lust now affects the well-being of the family. Neighbors begin to avoid us because of our stench.

Jesus is of course able to heal those sins too, but like the others, there must be confession, there must be acknowledgement that these sins exist in me, and that I need a savior.

May we have the humility and honesty to recognize the need to be raised by Jesus, healed by Jesus, that we may truly live with him for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

July 29 2024 - Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus - Sibling Saints

 

We honor today three sibling saints who honored and served the Lord during his earthly ministry. In the household of Bethany, the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit and friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words and Lazarus, who promptly emerged from the tomb at the Jesus’ command, no doubt offered gratitude and friendship during Jesus’ later stay at Bethany.

These three saints offer several lessons in growing in sanctity. Like St. Martha, we are to serve others in practical ways, including generous hospitality. Like St. Mary, we are to listen attentively to the Lord, pondering his words, taking them to heart, spending time in his presence, particularly in Eucharistic adoration. And like St. Lazarus, we are to obey the Lord to come out of our metaphorical tombs and live in a state of gratitude.

St. Martha is a patron saints of homemakers and domestic workers. St. Lazarus is the patron of gravediggers. And St. Mary of Bethany, a model of listening to the Lord, is patron of spiritual studies.

In the Gospels, Jesus himself foretold a time when families and households would be divided over him. “From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. Father against son . …daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law” and so on. 

So many families in our modern-day experience division due to rejecting Jesus and his teachings. So we do well to, invoke Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus for our divided families. For these sibling saints show us that family unity is possible when there is mutual love and faith in Jesus. 

These sibling saints, enjoyed a real, personal, and human friendship with Jesus. In so many ways, this is exactly what Jesus wants with each of us. He wants us to know the sound of his voice, to spend time with Him, converse with Him, and trust Him in good times and bad. His light fills our lives when we draw close to him in prayer, service, and trust.

We grow in friendship with the Lord by inviting Him into the home of your souls every day and throughout the day. May these three sibling saints help us to deepen our Love for the Lord for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

- - - -  

For the Church, that like Martha, we may serve others generously and offer hospitality to those in need. Lord, hear our prayer.

For all who seek truth, that like Mary, we may listen attentively to God's word and spend time in His presence. Lord, hear our prayer.

For those struggling with doubt or despair, that like Lazarus, we may respond to Christ's call to come out of our tombs and live lives of gratitude. Lord, hear our prayer.

For families divided by disagreements over faith, that through the intercession of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, they may find unity in Christ's love. Lord, hear our prayer.

For all of us, that we may cultivate a deep and personal friendship with Jesus, inviting Him into our hearts and homes each day. Lord, hear our prayer.

For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, immigrants and refugees, victims of human trafficking, natural disaster, war, and terrorism, for the unborn, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Loving Father, we thank you for the example of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, who showed us different ways to love and serve your Son. Grant us what we need to know the benefit of their heavenly intercession and follow their holy example. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

5th Sunday of Lent 2023 - Jesus Wept and Raised the Dead

 You may have noticed something unique about the prayers at Mass during these last weeks of Lent. 

After the offertory prayer, the priest offers a prayer called the Eucharistic preface. You know the one. The priest standing at the altar prepared with the gifts of bread and wine, prays, the lord be with you, and you respond “and with your spirit”, lift up your hearts, we lift them up to the Lord, let us give thanks to the Lord our God, it is right and just.

And the prayer that follows that little dialogue is called the Eucharistic preface, the preface to the Eucharistic prayer. And normally, the Eucharistic preface is unique to the season—there are eucharistic prefaces for ordinary time, and advent, and lent, nuptial masses, and funerals. But there are a few Eucharistic prefaces that can be used only once a year, on a particular Sunday or feast.

Well, the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent are such days. And if you remember from the last two weeks, and as you’ll hear later in this mass, the beautiful Eucharistic prefaces correspond to the Lenten Gospels readings. 

So, two weeks ago, when we heard the Gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well, the Eucharistic Preface referenced that reading. Listen again to the beautiful preface. “For when Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for water to drink , he had already created the gift of faith within her; and so ardently did he thirst for her faith, that he kindled in her the fire of divine love.” So many profound theological insights packed into one simple prayer. Jesus thirsts for our faith, and even before we come to faith, God is at work, kindling in our hearts, love for God. This certainly makes us think of the catechumens, in whom God has been at work there whole lives to bring them here, to bring them to faith.

Then last week, when heard the Gospel of Jesus commanding the man born blind to go down into the pool of Bethesda to be healed. And then the Eucharistic Preface spoke of those waters by which we are healed of darkness and spiritual blindness. Listen to last week’s preface. It goes: “By the mystery of the Incarnation, Christ has led the human race that walked in darkness into the radiance of the faith and has brought those born in slavery to ancient sin through the waters of regeneration to make them God’s adopted children.”

Again, notice the connection with the Gospel and the rich and profound theological insights the Eucharistic Preface brings to mind. Like the man born blind, the human race without Christ walks in darkness, but sight is restored, it is regenerated through baptism, when we are made adopted children of God. Restored relationship with God brings healing, brings spiritual sight. 

In our Gospel for this fifth Sunday of Lent, we just heard the raising of Lazarus. And we are given the third of these special Eucharistic prefaces which correspond to the Lenten Gospel. Listen to these words: “For as true man, [Jesus] wept for Lazarus his friend and as eternal God raised him from the tomb, just as, taking pity on the human race, he leads us by sacred mysteries to new life.”

Again, how beautiful and theologically rich! We are given this reminder that Jesus was truly human. He wept. He had a heart that experienced human emotion. Sadness. Grief at the death of friend. He knows what it is like to grieve like we grieve. God, who is infinite and inaccessible light, took on human flesh and experienced pain, emotional and physical. 

And this is an important truth for us to ponder as we near holy week. Next week, as we read the Lord’s passion, we keep in mind, that Jesus’ suffering isn’t just for show, it wasn’t theater, he was moved by real love to undergo real suffering for us, the weight and penalty of every sin which warranted eternal separation from God, the venial and mortal of our lives, out of love for us.

But then, the Eucharistic preface, after reminding us of Jesus’ real humanity, then reminds us of Jesus’ real divinity. As a human like us, he wept, then as God, he raised the dead. 

Resurrection. It is the natural course of dead things to stay dead. Forever. To die and rot. That’s natural. Dead things and dead people cannot come back to life on their own. We only come back to life by the power of God. Science and medical technology can resuscitate things that aren’t really fully dead yet. Only “mostly dead” to quote the classic film. But once fully dead, a person or an animal is dead, beyond science and medical technology. Death is an absolute limit to our human capabilities. Lazarus was dead. He was rotting. There was stench.

And as eternal God, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. No religious leader, in any world religion, at any time, in human history, raised anyone from the dead, save Jesus. Because every religious leader, of any world religion, at any time, save one, was merely human. Even the Jewish prophets, through whom God worked a lot of marvelous things, never raised anyone from the dead. 

Why follow Jesus Christ? Why seek baptism and faithfulness to him? The promise of being raised from the dead is a pretty and living forever in God’s kingdom of peace is a pretty good reason. And it’s not just an empty promise. The promise of some delusional cult leader. Jesus shows us what God is capable of, what God longs to do. He’s done it before. And at Easter, we celebrate that Jesus Himself was raised from the dead. No other religious leader can make that claim either.

Resurrection: it’s really the ultimate argument against anyone who says all religions are the same. No. They aren’t. Show me a member of another religion who not only raised the dead but also rose from the dead. And then maybe we’ll talk.

But again, this beautiful reading and eucharistic preface about resurrection prepares us for Holy Week. Death doesn’t get the last word. And so as people of faith we willingly follow the Lord all the way to the cross. Because we know that the cross isn’t the end of the story. 

But it really makes you wonder, doesn’t it, why Peter and the other apostles fled in fear. They had witnessed the raising of Lazarus. They had been given this glimpse into who Jesus is. What were they afraid of? Well, we know that too, don’t we. Because, even though we’ve been baptized, and we have faith in the resurrection, we still flee from suffering for the kingdom; we flee into myriad sins because sin is the old comfort zone, the ingrained habit, the weakness of man that has yet to be brought to God to be healed.

But that’s why the last part of that Eucharistic preface is so important: God, taking pity on us, leads us by the sacred mysteries to new life. Yes we are sinners. Yes, we are works in progress. And we recognize that as sinners we are being led to eternal life. And we so return week after week to the sacred mysteries, to the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is our pledge of eternal life. Christ promises that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood shall be raised on the last day. The Eucharist is the remedy for mortality, as our dear Patron St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote nearly 2000 years ago. Ignatius writes, “Assemble yourselves together in common; breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote that we should not die but live forever in Jesus Christ.” 

By these sacred mysteries, may we be strengthened in faith and love, healed of sin and selfishness, and live in firm and unshakeable hope in the resurrection through Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

5th Sunday of Lent - Third Scrutiny - Raised from the dead

 Two weeks ago we heard the story of the woman at the well.  She encountered the Lord Jesus, who said to her, “I will give you living water, which alone can satisfy”.  She represents all of us, all thirsting for God. Jesus invites all people of all time to drink deeply of the living waters of God through Him.

Last week we heard of the man born blind.  Again, he is all of us, born in the blindness of sin.  We desire to do good and avoid evil, but it’s not always easy to see clearly. Sometimes our egos and our sinful attachments are so great, they blind us to seeing how God wants us to live rightly. Jesus says to the man born blind and to all of us, “I am the light of the world.”  If you want to see rightly, let the light of Christ and His teachings enlighten you. 

These stories in John’s Gospel move toward a sort of crescendo. I am living water which quenches thirst. I am the light by which you see. And today Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He’s not just water, He’s not just light. He is Life itself. And he desire that His life might animate us in this life, that it might sustain us through death, and animate us in all eternity, including the resurrection. 

One of my favorite quotations from the early Church fathers is from St. Ireneus of Lyons, who said, Gloria Dei Homo Vivens, “the glory of God is Man fully alive.”  Jesus himself said, I came that they might have life, and have it to abundance. Christ died, that we may live, free from sin, full of divine life.  God’s glory, what gives God happiness, is that we are fully alive.  Conversely, what saddens the heart of God is when we continue to allow death to reign in us at any level: physically, emotionally, spiritually.  

Next, week, on Palm Sunday, we’ll come to understand the price the Lord pays to defeat the powers of death in us. But on this fifth Sunday of Lent, we’re invited to consider how the Lord commands us to live. 

The wages of sin are death, writes St. Paul. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were commanded by God, do not eat of the tree or else you will die. Death is the result of sin, of being separated from God who is Life and the Author of life. We allow death to reign in us, when we indulge in sin with our minds, when we indulge in sin with our hearts, when we indulge in sin with our bodies, when we indulge in sin with our wills. 

The powers of death take root in our minds when we contemplate revenge, when we entertain lusts, when we plot to satiate our greed or to manipulate others. The powers of death take root in our hearts when we fail to forgive, when we bear grudges, when we envy. The powers of death take root in our bodies when we misuse our bodies to hurt, to steal, to fornicate, to gluttonously indulge in food or drink. The powers of death weaken our wills when we choose selfishness, when we choose wrath, when we choose not to act when we should, when we choose diversions over spiritual duty and spiritual endeavors like prayer.

But Jesus commands us, come out of your tombs, stop allowing death to reign in you. Jesus took flesh that we might have life and have it in abundance. He wants life to reign in our minds—considering how we can use our time to serve the kingdom with our unique set of talents, how we can work together with our neighbor to evangelize, how we can instruct the ignorant and pass on the faith to the next generation. He wants life to reign in our hearts—in compassion, generosity, and courage. He wants life to reign in our bodies—using our physical strength to help the weak, to build beautiful Churches like this one, to make beautiful music to assist in worship. He wants life to reign in our wills—choosing selflessness, choosing peace, choosing forgiveness, choosing mercy.

Lent helps us to identify where we have allowed death to continue to reign in us, and to engage in the spiritual practices that allows the life of Christ to flourish. Where has spiritual death continued to take root in you? What has caused you to fall short of that vocation described by St. Ireneus of being fully alive?

Last week, I repeated the invitation to make a good Lenten Sacrament of Confession. Confession is the way designated by God, instituted by Christ, in which sin is to be forgiven—where souls dead in sin or diseased with sin may be restored to life. 

St. Paul warns the Church in his first letter to the Corinthians about a particular type of sin that brings death to the souls and death to the Church, that of the sacrilegious reception of Holy Communion.  St. Paul writes, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died”

“Some have died.” In other words, some who have failed to examine themselves and confess their sins, and took communion anyway, have died the eternal death. It is the law of the Church going back to the very beginning, that mortal sins must be confessed prior to the reception of Holy Communion. Please, that life may flourish in you, if you have mortal sins, including previous sacrilegious receptions of Holy Communion, go to Confession. 

In his very first homily as Pope, Pope Francis spoke about the importance of repentance. “God never tires of forgiving us,” he proclaimed. “It’s we who tire of asking for forgiveness.” Then he prayed, “May we never tire of asking for what God never tires to give!” God never tires of raising us, like Lazarus, from the dead. Calling us to emerge from our tombs. He never tires of breathing new life into us.

This is true in our own lives, and also the life of our parish. Authentic revitalization in this parish will only come when there is sincere spiritual revitalization. That’s why I take Lent and Confession and the invitation to prayer so seriously. God wants to raise souls to new life. That’s the mission of the parish. To be a place where souls can receive life. To help us like Lazarus to be raised to new life. To help us be like Martha and Mary in today’s Gospel who brings Jesus to their brother who was dead. We have family members and neighbors whose souls are dead and rotting, who we must lead to Jesus by our prayers and penances and personal invitations. We should never pretend, that just because it’s 2022, that some sins are now okay. And repentance is optional.  I know, it’s unpleasant to think that some souls are in danger of hell. But that should motivate us all the more to pray and evangelize.

“I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land” we heard in our first reading. God has given us His spirit, He’s given us his life, and he’s given us this land, this parish territory, that we may make His life, his glory, his love known, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

5th Sunday of Lent 2021 - Jesus raises the dead to new life

Two weeks ago we heard the story of the woman at the well.  She encountered the Lord Jesus, who said to her, “I will give you living water, which alone can satisfy”.  She represents all of us, all thirsting for God. Jesus invites all people of all time to drink deeply of the living waters of God through Him.

Last week we heard of the man born blind.  Again, he is all of us, born in the blindness of sin.  We desire to do good and avoid evil, but it’s not always easy to see clearly. Sometimes our egos, our sinful attachments are so great, they blind us to seeing how God wants us to live rightly. Jesus says to the man born blind and to all of us, “I am the light of the world.”  If you want to see rightly, let the light of my life and my teachings enlighten you. 

These stories in John’s Gospel move toward a sort of crescendo. I am living water which quenches thirst. I am the light by which you see. And today Jesus speaks the greatest of the “I am” statements.  He says, “I am the resurrection and the life” without which you are not fully alive nor will you experience the life of the resurrection. 

What is our God interested in?  Life!  One of my favorite quotations from the early Church fathers is from St. Ireneus of Lyons, who said, Gloria Dei Homo Vivens, “the glory of God is Man fully alive.”  Jesus himself said, I came that they might have life, and have it to abundance. Christ died, that we may live, free from sin, full of divine life.  

God’s glory, what gives God happiness, is that we are fully alive.  Conversely, what saddens the heart of God is when we continue to allow death to reign in us at any level, physically, emotionally, spiritually.  

God speaking through in Ezekiel in the first reading says, “I will open your graves and have you rise from them.”  He’s not just speaking of our final resting place here.  Whatever grave you are in: perhaps an inability to forgive someone, perhaps a jealousy, an inability to grieve the loss of a loved one, or an addiction, or habitual sin, whatever is limiting your life.  Think of laying in a grave, there is no place to move, you are constricted, unable to move, tied up, and God says, from your graves, I will have you rise up.”  God wants life for us.  Jesus , the incarnate Word of God speaks this truth, “I AM the resurrection and the life.”  We are made to have His life in us.

There are three people raised from the dead, given to life, by Jesus in the Gospels.  The first one is the daughter of Jairus. Remember the little girl who died in her home when Jesus was on the way to heal her?  The daughter of Jairus. The second is the son of the widow of Naim.  Jesus sees the widow weeping as they brought out the body of her son, and Jesus is moved to raise him from the dead.  The third is of course, Lazarus.

St. Augustine offered a reflection on these three raisings.  Augustine says these three raisings stand for three types of spiritual death from which we can be raised by Jesus’ love and mercy.

Because Jairus’ daughter dies in her house, St. Augustine says that her death symbolizes the sort of spiritual death that remains locked up in us, the sort of sins that poisons us from the inside: the resentments, the old grudges.  They aren’t necessarily expressed in words or actions, they just sort of fester within us, poisoning our thoughts, isolating us from others 

The soul suffering from this sort of spiritual death might say, “Lord, I’m a good person, I don’t do a lot of evil things, so I must be fine”.  All the while there is anger and resentment and impatience stewing within. In this persons life you’ll see some broken, unmended relationships, and a lot of missed opportunities to go out in the life of the Spirit. Jesus raises the daughter of Jairus, dead in her house, , just as he wants to heal us from all of our interior sinful attitudes to increase in us the life of generosity and compassion.

Secondly, the son of the widow of Naim.  He had died and was being carried outside the house to the cemetery. St. Augustine says, the widow’s son symbolizes that spiritual death, that sin, that comes out from the heart and the mind and has begun to express itself in action.  Anger, resentment, impatience expressed in words and actions and gestures.  Jesus approaches this person too, and offers new life, a new way of interacting with others. 

The third person Jesus raises from the dead is our friend Lazarus.  Lazarus has been carried out of the house and placed in a tomb.  By the time Jesus gets there, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days.  When the Lord instructs them to roll away the stone that blocks the tomb, his sister, famously says, “but Lord, surely,  there will be a stench.”

St. Augustine says that Lazarus in his grave, stinking and rotting, symbolizes that evil, that spiritual death, that not only has come out of the heart in words and actions, but has established itself as a habitual part of one’s life.  Now, the anger and the hatred and the violence and the lust and the greed, have come out, and have become such a part of my life and my activity, that, I have begun to stink, and it’s affecting the people around me—one’s family, one’s community, one’s nation or the world—depending on one’s position of influence. I think of the Hollywood Elites, Popular Musicians, and politiians..who, well, just stink, who set such bad example, especially for children. But Jesus offers new life to these souls as well. 

So we have these three types of sin, the interior, the exterior, and that…well…stinkiest, ugliest sort of sin.  I remember reading that Saint Christina, whose relics are stored at our diocesan Cathedral, by the way, would become nauseated when she was in the presence of people whose souls were dead and rotting because of mortal sin.

But, at the heart of today’s Gospel, is that Jesus does come, even to the grave of Lazarus, and he brings him back to life.  Jesus goes even into the furthest, smelliest, ugliest souls and invites us back to life.  

From time to time, a priest hears someone say, “Father, believe me, what I’ve done is so bad, even God can’t forgive me.  Don’t talk to me about confession because that won’t help.”  Not true. Nobody, not even those who are entrenched in evil are beyond the reach of the forgiving power of Christ.

Now looking at our own life, we might not be Lazarus, but it is highly unlikely that any of us are without a bit of grave rot. For those powers of death are always seeking to reclaim territory lost to Jesus. So the saints recommend frequent Sacramental Confession, to claim our lives for Christ once again.

This Wednesday, a guest priest and I will offer confessions from 5 to 8 here in the Church. If it’s been more than a year since your last confession, you are over due. 

Notice, too, that Martha and Mary, lead Jesus to the tomb of Lazarus. There are likely souls, who are dead and rotting, who we must lead Jesus to by our prayers and penances. We should never pretend, that just because it’s 2021, that some sins are now okay. And souls can live without a living relationship with Jesus Christ. It cannot be done. I know, it’s unpleasant to think that some souls are in danger of hell. But that should motivate us all the more to pray and evangelize.

For the Lord is willing to go to the deepest darkest places in order to bring forgiveness and healing and new life, but sometimes he wants us to lead him there.

May our conviction that he is the resurrection of life spurn us on in our Lenten journey to Easter, in the journey from sin and selfishness to new life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

July 29 2019 - St. Martha - Spiritual Growth is Possible

If we only read the Gospel story about Jesus’ first visit to the home of Martha and Mary in Bethany, we might wonder why the Church considers Martha a saint at all. After all, she comes into the room complaining and controlling. She seems to have missed the point of Jesus’ visit. Sure, she is busy with the demands of hospitality, but that doesn’t make someone a saint.

Well, today we get another part of the picture. We read today from St. John’s account of Martha’s encounter with Jesus. Mary and Martha had sent news to Jesus that Lazarus had died. Jesus announced to his disciples that he wished to return to Bethany, but his disciples object, due to the recent threats on Jesus’ life; nor do they understand why Jesus would want to go anyway.

Jesus insists on the visit, and upon meeting Martha we find her full of, not unbelief, but belief. Rather than staying at home like her sister Mary, Martha goes out to Jesus. She affirms her belief that Jesus is a messianic miracle worker, she knows that God is with him.  And when the Lord reveals that he “is the resurrection and the life” she affirms her belief in this as well.

The Gospels portray Martha open to spiritual growth, open to the revelation of Jesus’ deepest identity and mission. Unlike the Pharisees, closed, resistant, prideful, Martha is open, willing to be corrected, and she makes the leap of faith.

Here is a Saint who knows what it means to grow, to change, to deepen in faith, to serve, to welcome the unexpected guest, to make holy requests of Jesus, to trust in God at the death of a love one.
Many of us have family members and friends who are busy about worldly things, who like Martha in Luke’s Gospel, are missing out on the one necessary thing, the deep intimate communion with Jesus Christ which leads to eternal life. But, like St. Martha, spiritual growth is possible, conversion is possible, belief that Jesus is the “resurrection and the life” is possible for them as it was for her.

May St. Martha help all of us attain that spiritual growth God wants for us, may we, like her, run out to meet Jesus with our needs, may we acknowledge always and everywhere that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may be open to constant growth in faith, hope, and love.
For the conversion of all who resist belief in Jesus, for the conversion of hardened sinners, atheists, and agnostics.
That those who grieve may find comfort and consolation in Christ.
For the needs of all the sick and suffering, all those undergoing surgery, and those who will die today.
For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, all of the souls of purgatory, and N. for whom this mass is offered.
Incline your merciful ear to our prayers we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of the faithful. Through Christ Our Lord.

Holy Week 2018 - Monday - Charity in the house of Bethany

The Gospel presents two very different attitudes towards Jesus: symbolized by Mary, Martha and Lazarus on one hand, and Judas Isacriot on the other.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus recline with Jesus, serve Him and anoint Him. Lazarus is gratefully aware that Jesus had raised him from the dead and wants to share that joy with others as he invites everyone to a banquet in his home to meet Jesus. Mary lavishly shows her love and affection for Jesus by anointing his holy feet with expensive perfumed oil and drying his feet with her hair.

But not Judas. Judas snickers, Judas sneers, Judas mocks. Judas wants to get rid of Jesus.

The Church is to embody the spirit of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary: serving Jesus, bringing people closer to Jesus that they may share with him in the banquet of life, lavishly pouring out our very best, our very selves to honor and love Jesus.

And very often, the world is like Judas Iscariot. Sneering and snickering at the Church, mocking the Church, trying to turn people away from the Church’s lavish worship of the Lord.

But we must not be embarrassed in our lavish worship of Him, we must not hold back from lavishly serving him, and we must not be hesitant in inviting those who hunger for his goodness, his truth, and his beauty, to the table of the Lord.

What seems like an incredible waste of time and money to the world—our service, our worship, our efforts, is an expression of our immense gratitude for what the Lord has done for us, the blessings he bestows upon us, and the immensity of what he suffers for us, which we meditate upon later this week.

Each of us does well today to reflect upon how we can show our gratitude to the Lord, how we can serve the Lord, and how we can bring others to know the Lord, even perhaps to soften the hearts of the Judases of the world, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That God may be pleased to increase faith and understanding in the catechumens and candidates who approach the sacraments of initiation in the coming Paschal Solemnity.

That those in need may find assistance in the charity of faithful Christians and that peace and security may be firmly established in all places.

For strength to resist temptation, and the humility to sincerely repent of sin.

That through fasting and self-denial, we may be ever more conformed to Christ.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

Homily: 5th Sunday of Lent 2017 - Rotting souls raised to life

 On this fifth Sunday of Lent we hear another of these magnificent stories from the Gospel of John.  Two weeks ago we heard the story of the woman at the well.  Caught up in a rhythm of sin and thirsting for God , she encountered the Lord Jesus, who said to her, “I will give you living water, which alone can satisfy”.  She represents all of us, all thirsting for God, but all to often trying to quench that thirst in all the wrong places.

Last week we heard of the man born blind.  Again, he is all of us, born in the blindness of sin.  Our minds so often clouded and confused, even in our attempts to live righteously.  Jesus says to him and to all of us, “I am the light of the world.”  If you want to see rightly, be grafted on to me.
 
As we near the end of Lent, these stories in John’s Gospel move toward a sort of crescendo.  He is living water, he says, “I am the light”.  And today Jesus speaks the greatest of the “I am” statements.  He says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

What is our God interested in?  Life!  One of my favorite quotations from the early Church fathers is from St. Ireneus of Lyons, who said, Gloria Dei Homo Vivens, “the glory of God is the human being fully alive.”  Jesus himself said, I came that they might have life, and have it to abundance.
Christ died, that we may live, free from sin, full of divine life.

God’s glory, what gives God happiness, is that we are fully alive.  Conversely, what saddens the heart of God is when we continue to allow death to reign in us at any level, physically, emotionally, spiritually.

We heard in our first reading about God’s desire to free us from the powers of the grave: “I will open your graves and have you rise from them.”  Of course, this can refer to the resurrection of our bodies when Christ returns. But he’s not just speaking of our final resting place here. The grave also wherever the powers of sin and evil and death reign in us: an addiction, a habitual sin, an inability or unwillingness to forgive, anger and bitterness, perversion, fear of leaving behind the comfortable to follow Christ more devoutly, lack of fervor for the spiritual life…the grave is whatever limits the life of God in you. Think of laying in a grave, there is no place to move, you are constricted, unable to move, tied up, and God says, from your graves, I will have you rise up.”

God’s desire to raise us to new life, can be seen in our wonderful Gospel story of the raising of Lazarus. But, Lazarus is not the only story of Jesus raising the dead in the Gospels. There are three raisings. Can you think of the other two?  The first one is the daughter of Jairus. Remember the little girl who died in her home when Jesus was on the way to heal her?  The second is the son of the widow of Naim.  Jesus sees the widow weeping as they brought out the body of her son, and Jesus is moved to raise him from the dead.  The third is of course, Lazarus.

St. Augustine offered a spiritual reading of these three encounters with the dead.

Because Jairus’ daughter dies in her house, St. Augustine says that her death symbolizes the sort of spiritual death that remains locked up in us, the sort of sins that poisons us from the inside: the resentments, the old grudges.  They aren’t necessarily expressed in words or actions, they just sort of fester within us, poisoning our thoughts, and our wills, and our imagination.  These are the sins we do in private—though no sin is private to God, of course. Jesus raises this little girl, just as he wants to heal us from all of our interior sinful attitudes.

Secondly, the son of the widow of Naim.  He had died and was being carried outside the house to the cemetery. St. Augustine says, he symbolizes the sins, that have begun to express themselves in action.  When the interior anger and resentment, selfishness and lust bubble over in words of actions. But Jesus forgives these too.

The third person Jesus raises from the dead, his friend Lazarus.  Lazarus had been carried out of the house and placed in a tomb.  By the time Jesus gets there, Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days.  His sister, famously says, when Jesus instructs them to roll away the stone that blocks the tomb, “but Lord, surely, there will be a stench.”

St. Augustine says that Lazarus in his grave, symbolizes that evil, that spiritual death, that not only has come out of the heart in words and actions, but has established itself as a habitual.  Now, the anger, the hatred, the violence, the lust, have taken root, and have become such a part of my life and my activity, that, like Lazarus in the tomb, there is a stench, and it’s affecting the people around me.  That anger, addiction, selfishness or lust now affects the well-being of the family. Neighbors begin to avoid us because of our stench.

There was a saint, Saint Christina would become nauseated when in the presence of someone who had an unrepented mortal sin. She could sense that their souls were dead and rotting.

So we have these three types of sin, the interior, the exterior, and that…well…stinkiest, ugliest sorts of sin.  But, at the heart of today’s Gospel, is the message that though our sins are foul, Jesus draws near to us, to bring life. Jesus goes to the smelliest, ugliest soul and invites them back to life.

From time to time, a priest hears someone say, “Father, believe me, what I’ve done is so bad, even God can’t forgive me.” But, our Gospel today says, “false, wrong!”  Nobody, not even those who are entrenched in evil are beyond the reach of the forgiving power of Christ.  He goes into those deepest darkest places, to bring us out of the disgusting muck of sin.

Jesus wept for Lazarus, under the sway of the powers of death.  It breaks God’s heart when we aren’t fully alive.  He doesn’t weep out of anger with us; he weeps when sin and death take his friends.

This Thursday, we will have a penance service. Through Sacramental Confession new life is available to the most hardened sinner. Every Catholic should go to Confession during the Lenten season. If you’ve already confessed, thanks be to God. If you haven’t come and allow Jesus to raise you out of the grave of sin and dysfunction, to release you from the constrictions of the grave, and to the new and flourishing life of grace, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.