5th Sunday of LentEzekiel 37:12-14 Rom 8:8-12 Jn 11:1-45 The Gospel this week end is this:
John 11:1-45 Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village ofMary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. 3 So the sisters sent word to him, saying, "Master, the one you love is ill." 4 When Jesus heard this he said, "This illness is not to end in death, * but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." 8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." * 11 He said this, and then told them, "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him." 12 So the disciples said to him, "Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved." 13 But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. 14 So then Jesus said to them clearly, "Lazarus has died. 15 And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him." 16 So Thomas, called Didymus, * said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go to die with him." 17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles * away. 19 And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. 21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 (But) even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." 23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise." 24 Martha said to him, "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 27 * She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world." 28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, "The teacher is here and is asking for you." 29 As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. 31 So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed * and deeply troubled, 34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Sir, come and see." 35 And Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, "See how he loved him." 37 But some of them said, "Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?" 38 So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. 39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the dead man's sister, said to him, "Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, "Father, * I thank you for hearing me. 42 I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me." 43 And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, * "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, "Untie him and let him go." 45 Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him. The first reading is this: Ezekiel 37:12-14 The++refore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people+! 14 I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the LORD. I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD. The second reading is this: Romans 8:8-12 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you. 12 Consequently, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh+, to live according to the flesh. MEDITATION: This Sunday tells of the Resurrection of Lazarus. There’s a little ‘problem’ which faces every single one of us: we’re going to die some day! The Sundays of Lent have dealt with the need to overcome temptations (40 days in the desert), to get to know God (the transfiguration), to quench our thirst for love (the Samaritan woman), and to revive our faith (the cure of the blind man). Today deals with physical death. Easter is a time to recall the Good News of the Resurrection of Jesus, but let’s not forget the fantastic part: He offers to bring us with him! The truth is that He brings us ‘within himself’. We’re all in his Mystical Body. The Gospel has much symbolism, as it does today: Jesus waits for two days before going to the tomb of Lazarus and you know what ‘the third day’ represents for us Christians: Jesus himself resurrects on the third ++d+ay. The second reading today has this: ‘The days are coming’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…’. Normal Jewish faith had many instructions about ho+w to organize our lives in the world, and the sisters of Lazarus today are keen to obey, but the resurrection of their brother today is a step of Christian truth that goes far beyond Judaism. I hope to take ‘a step forward’ in a wheelchair! + I think that this is relevant: ‘When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed sitting in the house’ (Jn 11:20), and once the message arrived to Mary that Jesus wanted her (Mary) to come and meet him, she went at once to meet him (Jn 11:28-29). Remember that when Jesus went to their house in Lk 10, Martha went out to the kitchen to prepare some food, and that was good of her, but Jesus was actually more pleased with the way Mary stayed talking with him (Lk 10:41). What I understand from these readings, is that the Trinity want us to have a real personal contact with them, not just to have us do some good ‘work’ but to have some personal prayer. That involves personal contact in our hearts and our minds which is deeper than sound and vision! Jesus comes to the house of all of us, since ‘the Word became flesh and lived among us’ Jn 1:14), and He keeps coming, but do we welcome him? It’s interesting that the Gospel today bes Jesus moved to tears (Jn 11:35). I presume that it wasn’t because of the physical death of Lazarus, since he knew that Lazarus would resurrect, but rather I presume that it was so that the mourning on-lookers would realize that Jesus too was a human-being like them moved by sentiment or perhaps it was that he was lamenting the on-lookers’ lack of faith. Jesus cries also when he looks overJerusalem in Luke 19, saying “What a pity that you didn’t learn the way to peace” (Lc 19:41). The name Jerusalemmeans ‘place of peace’. Jesus is totally divine and all-powerful yet moved to tears, because he’s also a man with emotions. Why should we do whatever we can to spread faith in Christ? Because even though God is Almighty God and it’s Him that sustains life, He needs our collaboration. Humanity still doubts a lot (agnosticism) or just refuses to believe (atheism). Many think that baptism is just a little family celebration for the new baby and that’s good, but it’s actually of huge significance. It represents the opening of the doors to Eternal Life. Another thing is whether or not the child will go through the door when he or she grows up. If we’ve been baptized, then we definitely do have the potential. But it still has to be ‘activated’. It’s there ‘in potential’. That’s why at Easter we ‘renew’ our baptism’. When a teacher in a school was announcing that the superior had died, he said that the headmaster ‘had gone to a better life’, and one of the students responded “To a life that’s even easier for him?”. A mother once told her young son that she had bought him a lovely blackboard on which he could write the sums and the spellings that he was learning at school. The son wasn’t very keen but said a respectful ‘thank you’. Later-on he was writing in front of his delighted mother and they had a friendly conversation about many things – including about faith in God. The youth asked “What are we going to be doing in Heaven?”. Thinking that he was enjoying his new present, she said “We’ll be enjoying ourselves like now but with God”. So the youth decided that he wasn’t very keen to go to Heaven! There’s a person much better to quote: the Son of God! “I hope, Father, that where I go, they may also be with me and that they too may share in the glory which you have given to me before the foundation of the world” (Jn 17:24). If God loves us, why do we have to go through the ugliness of physical death? The Bible puts it like this: ‘Because of the envy of the devil death entered the world, and those whom he controls experience it” (Wisdom 2:24). God is Love, so He won’t impose, and that means that humanity can reject Him with a big “No” and that’s the fruit of the existence of a reality called ‘the devil’. Jewish faith doesn’t speak of ‘Eternal Life’ itself, but of the way life endures through descendants that will give glory. Jesus clarifies the situation for us beyond that! And He reveals to us the truth of Life after death beyond what the best science in the world could reveal. The symbolism of our Christian baptism is based on that. Back in time, the person was completely submerged in the water and then emerged from it symbolizing our rebirth to Life after death. How is it that a bunch of uneducated fishermen and a tax-collector could bear so much fruit, even though faced with severe persecutions? Because the experience of the resurrected Christ was no fable! For the same reason I became a missionary. At 27 years of age, when I was in perfect health, I once drove the car for a whole night without a rest and with plenty of coffee and afterwards I had two epileptic attacks (tonic-clonic). I had read that if one has the onset of epilepsy at that age, then there’s a 70% probability of a cerebral tumour, and yet I didn’t feel really frightened… because I had come to really believe in Eternal Life. Anyway, a CAT scan (tomography) showed no defect in my cerebrum and it turns out the attack was probably due to the hypoglycaemia provoked by so much coffee while driving all night, and life went on as before! The MS didn’t start until aged 30. In many ways, the MS has turned me into a person that’s more ‘conscious’, because sometimes we forget that our life in the world isn’t going to last very long. When a new Pope is elected in Rome, white smoke is emitted from the special chimney and the phrase is said “así transit Gloria mundi” (“that’s how mundane glory moves away”). And it’s true! So let’s help Christ. Think of today’s Gospel: “The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, "Untie him and let him go free." (Jn 11:44). Is it asking us to help untie many people in the world today? Ezekiel proclaims that it’s no joke that God opens tombs.St Paul tells us that the Spirit is calling us also. In the Gospel today, Mary and Martha tell Jesus: “The one that you love is ill”. The Trinity also are sending that message to us today: “The ones that we love are ill”… “so please help to heal their faith”. Once there was a medical student (me) who was very moved when he saw patients die and he became a missionary priest because he believed the words of Christ: “Those who believe in me will not die”. It’s common throughout the world to celebrate birthdays, but the Church celebrates the ‘feasts’ and ‘memorials’ of the saints on the day of the year when they died (if it is known). That’s because it’s considered to be the day when, as fruit of their time on earth, they reached the supreme victory – when they at last entered paradise! Perhaps Lazarus wasn’t jumping for joy because he realized that he’d have to ‘wait for the bus’ for a few more years! ...... Dara. En ESPAÑOL: Domingo 5º de Cuaresma: Ezeq 37:12-14. Rom 8:8-12. Jn 11:1-45. Este domingo es de la resurrección de Lázaro. Hay un problema que nos espera a todos: ¡vamos todos a morir algún día! Los domingos de Cuaresma han tratado de la necesidad de superar las tentaciones (40 días en el desierto), de conocer a Dios (la transfiguración), de apagar nuestra sed de amor (la samaritana) y de reavivar nuestra fe (la curación del ciego). Hoy trata de la muerte física. Pascua es un tiempo para revocar las Noticias Buenas de la resurrección de Jesús, pero no olvida la parte fenomenal: ¡Él nos lleva con Él! La verdad es que Él nos trae 'dentro de si'. Estamos todos en su Cuerpo Místico. El Evangelio tiene mucho simbolismo como hoy: Jesús esperó dos días antes de ir a la tumba de Lázaro y sabéis lo que representa 'el tercer día’ para nosotros Cristianos: El propio Jesús resucitó al tercer día. La segunda lectura de hoy dice esto: "Los días están viniendo, dice al Señor, cuando yo concluiré una nueva alianza con la casa de Israel... '. La fe judía normal tenía muchas instrucciones sobre cómo organizar nuestras vidas en el mundo, y las hermanas de Lázaro hoy son perspicaces en obedecer, pero la resurrección de su hermano es un paso grande de la verdad cristiana más allá del Judaísmo. ¡Espero tomar 'un paso adelante' en mi silla de ruedas! Creo que esto es pertinente: 'Cuando Marta oyó que Jesús estaba viniendo, ella fue a encontrarle, pero María se quedó sentada en casa' (Jn 11:20), y una vez que Marta había enviado el mensaje que Jesús quería que ella viniera, María fue en seguida a encontrarle (Jn 11:28-29). Recuerda que cuando Jesús fue a visitar a su casa en capítulo 10 de Lucas, Marta fue a preparar algo en la cocina que era bueno de ella, pero Jesús estaba más contento con la manera en que María se quedó hablando con él (Lc 10:41). Lo que yo entiendo de estas lecturas, es que les gusta a la Trinidad tenernos en contacto real con Ellos no solamente haciendo algún trabajo bueno sino al orar. Pero eso supone un contacto en nuestros corazones y nuestras mentes ¡que es más profundo que por sonido y visión! Jesús vino a la casa de todos nosotros, desde que 'la Palabra se hizo carne y vivió entre nosotros' (Jn 1:14), y Él sigue viniendo, pero ¿le damos la bienvenida? Es interesante que el Evangelio describe a Jesús de hecho movido a lagrimas hoy (Jn 11:35). Supongo que no fue por la muerte física de Lázaro, ya que sabía que Lázaro iba a resucitar, sino que fue para que la gente llorando vieron que él era uno más como ellos o quizá por la falta de fe de la gente lamentando. Llora Jesús también al mirar sobre Jerusalén en Lucas 19, diciendo “Que pena que no habéis sabido cual es el camino que llega a la paz” (Lc 19:41). Jesús es totalmente divino, sin embargo movido a lágrimas, porque también es un hombre con emociones. ¿Por qué todos debemos hacer lo que podemos para extender la fe en Cristo? Porque aunque Dios es Dios Todopoderoso y es el que da la vida, Él necesita nuestra colaboración. La humanidad todavía duda mucho - en el ateísmo y agnosticismo. Muchos piensan que el bautismo no es más que una pequeña celebración familiar del recién nacido. Eso es bueno, pero realmente debería ser mucho más. Representa la apertura de las puertas a la Vida Eterna. Otra cosa es si el niño pasará por la puerta cuando él o ella crezcan. Si hemos sido bautizados, entonces tenemos ciertamente la potencia. Pero no está todavía en acción. ¡Está 'en potencia'! Por eso en Pascua queremos todos renovar nuestro bautismo. Cuando el maestro en una escuela estaba hablando de un superior que se había muerto, dijo que el superior había ido 'a una mejor vida', y uno de los alumnos contestó: “¡¿A una vida aún más fácil?!”. Una madre dijo una vez que había comprado un regalo muy bueno para su joven hijo: una pequeña pizarra en la que podía escribir las palabras y la matemática que estaba aprendiendo en la escuela. El muchacho no era muy perspicaz pero respetuosamente dio gracias. Después estaba escribiendo ante su mamá encantada y la conversación amistosa empezó sobre muchas cosas incluso sobre la fe en Dios. El muchacho preguntó “¿Qué vamos a estar haciendo en el Cielo?”. Pensando que él estaba disfrutando de su nuevo regalo, ella dijo “Disfrutando como ahora pero con Dios”. ¡El muchacho pensó entonces que quizás no estaba deseando mucho el cielo! Hay una persona mucho mejor para citar: ¡el Hijo de Dios! “Deseo Padre, que donde voy, ellos también estén conmigo y que pueden compartir la gloria que me has dado antes de la fundación del mundo” (Jn 17:24). Si Dios nos ama, ¿por qué tenemos que pasar por la fealdad de la muerte física? La Biblia lo pone claramente: “Por la envidia del diablo la muerte entró en el mundo, y los que él posee lo experimentan” (Sab 2:24). Dios es Amor, entonces no impondrá, y eso significa que la humanidad puede rechazarlo con un gran “No” y eso es fruto de la existencia de la realidad llamada 'el diablo'. El Judaísmo no habla de la Vida Eterna en sí, sino de la supervivencia a través de descendientes que darán gloria. ¡Jesús clarifica la situación para nosotros más allá de eso! Y Él nos revela la verdad de la Vida después de la muerte más que podría hacerlo la mejor ciencia del mundo. El simbolismo de nuestro bautismo cristiano está basado en esto. Originalmente la persona fue sumergida completamente en el agua y emergió de ella como un símbolo de nuestro renacimiento a la vida eterna. ¿Cómo pudo un manojo de pescadores incultos y un cobrador de impuestos dar tanto fruto incluso ante las persecuciones severas? ¡Porque la experiencia del Cristo resucitado no era ninguna fábula! Por la misma razón yo me hice un misionero. A los 27 años de edad, en salud aparentemente perfecta aunque habiendo manejado un automóvil toda la noche, tuve dos ataques epilépticos (tónica-clónica). Sabía que un ataque de epilepsia a esa edad significa un 70% de probabilidad de un tumor en el cerebro; sin embargo no sentía miedo en absoluto porque realmente creo en la vida eterna. Sin embargo, una tomografía no mostró ningún defecto y esto significaba que el ataque fue probablemente debido a la hipoglucemia provocada por el café al conducir toda la noche, y ¡la vida fue adelante como antes! La esclerosis múltiple no empezó hasta la edad de 30. De muchas maneras, la esclerosis me ha hecho hacerme consciente porque a veces nos olvidamos de que la vida en el mundo no va a durar mucho tiempo. Cuando se elige un nuevo Papa, humo blanco sale de la chimenea especial y la frase se dice “así transit gloria mundi” (“Así es como se va la gloria mundana”. ¡Y es verdad! Entonces que ayudemos a Cristo. Piensa en el Evangelio de hoy: 'El muerto salió, envuelto en una tela y Jesús les pidió: desatadle y dejarle ir libre.' (Jn 11:44). ¿Está pidiéndonos que ayudemos a desatar a muchas personas en el mundo de hoy? Ezequiel proclamó que no es ningún cuento que Dios abre las tumbas. San Pablo nos dice que el Espíritu está llamándonos. En el Evangelio de hoy, María y Marta comunican a Jesús: “El que amas está enfermo”. La Trinidad también nos envían la palabra a nosotros hoy: “Los que amamos están enfermos”… “entonces por favor ayuda a sanar su fe”. Una vez un estudiante de medicina (yo) estaba muy conmovido al ver morir a los pacientes y llegó a ser sacerdote misionero porque creyó las palabras de Cristo: “Los que creen en mí nunca morirán”. Es común por todo el mundo celebrar los cumpleaños, pero la Iglesia celebra las fiestas y conmemoraciones de los santos en el día del año en que murieron (si es que es conocido). Es que se considera que es éste el día cuando, como fruto de su tiempo en el mundo, alcanzaron la victoria suprema - ¡cuando entraron finalmente en el paraíso! ¡Quizás Lázaro no estaba saltando de alegría porque sabía que le tocaba 'esperar el bus' durante unos años más! Comments are closed.
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