All Saints Parish

March 27th–

 
Pray With Us - 

   Each Day - 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
     Prayer to the Blessed Mother (Hail Mary, Hail Holy Queen, Memorare)

   Fridays During Lent - 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
     Stations of the Cross (Resources online)

Saturdays - 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm
 The Rosary
 
FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT - March 29, 2020
Ezekiel 37: 12-14; Romans 8: 8-11; John 11: 1-45
GOD’S ANSWER TO DEATH AND GRAVE IS A NEW LIFE
The readings for the Fifth Sunday in Lent are peppered with the theme of life. The promise of a new life to a desperate and hopeless people (the first reading), the promise of the spirit of God that will infuse life into the people living in death-dealing situation (the first reading), the declaration that the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies (the second reading) and the actual raising of dead Lazarus to life from the darkness and the gloom of the grave (the gospel) help us to understand the theme of life from different perspectives. This week’s scriptures can be so challenging in our situation today and can be personally inspiring seen and read from the prism of Faith.
The first reading, taken from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, begins with God’s solemn proclamation, “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.” From the context of the passage it is obvious that the grave here is not actually a grave, but refers to the exile, its hopelessness, hardship and the loss life and their livelihood. What is very striking is that God does not just promise to make his people rise from their graves, rather promises to put his spirit in them that they will live. God’s life-giving action is twofold, that it removes his people from the depressing, discouraging, desperate and the hopeless situation and that it infuses the life principle, the breath of God, the Spirit, within them.
Saint Paul, in today’s second reading, makes a reference to “the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead” affirming that only this Spirit can give life to the mortal bodies. The Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead that Paul talks about is the power and might of God that emptied the tomb and brought life out of the grave is beyond any doubt. It is this power or might of God dwelling within us that can truly make us alive.
In the gospel we see Jesus standing before the grave of his friend Lazarus. I invite you to all see today, with all of your questions, doubts about God, his presence with us, his delay in intervening in this situation (let us not forget that we see Jesus does not immediately come to Bethany even after being told that his friend Lazarus is sick and dying) where God ultimately stands. In their brokenness and misery of the exile God stands with his people through the prophet and the promise. In the gospel, Jesus is not only standing at the tomb with the sisters who have lost their beloved brother, but weeps with them over the death of his friend. It is also important to acknowledge that the people who mourn the death of their nation and the destruction of their religious places, especially the Temple and the sisters who have buried their brother and grieving at the loss someone like Jesus or Ezekiel to stand with them in their situation, where they are and to speak to them of the power and might of God. Some of us may ask, when we are all suffering, living in difficulty fear and distress what is the purpose of someone speaking about the power of God and His Word? I encourage you to read the first scripture, if possible, the whole chapter 37 of Ezekiel, and the gospel with this question again. I am sure you will see that the promise of God and his presence doing two important things that we need today for our situation. First, there is this powerful message to all of us today:  Misery, gloom, hopelessness, dry bones, dejection, death, grave, weeping, and the stench of the decomposed body, all of these can just drive home one point, that is, the forces contrary to life are at work and there is an absence of life. What is God doing at this time? He sends Ezekiel or Jesus. To do what? To speak in his name. In the gospel we see this so clearly. Jesus spoke to people gathered at the tomb. “Take away the stone.” What a great command it is. Remove all that will hinder one from experiencing life, which is God’s gratuitous gift to all. Take away everything that will not allow one to live fully and completely. This is the first step for life to begin. It is a stark reminder that we all have a lot more to do to protect the value of life. The second command is to the person concerned. “Lazarus come out.”  The person who is at the grave is being asked to respond to what God is asking. In the light of these two commands, I invite you to ask yourselves, what is the response God wants from us as a community, and what is the response God expects from me as an individual.  
Fr. Paul.
 
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