10/04/2011 - 5TH SUNDAY IN LENTEN SEASON - Year A
1Reading Ez 37, 12-14 Psalm 129 2Reading Rom 8, 8-11 Gospel Jn 11, 1-45
Our Faith can be a mystery. We might be convinced that we believe and profess
our Faith, and then we come to realise that, in truth, we don't believe! Such
is Martha: she says that she believes, and solemnly declares her faith with
words that even Jesus himself sees them as true and exemplary, and then, when
the Lord tells them to roll away the stone, she is the first who opposses that
the Word is not to be done. She believes that Jesus is the Son of God, but holds
on more to her human experience: someone who has been dead for four days is
not to be disturbed by anyone, not even Jesus, even if he is the Christ! With
similar attitudes, even we can make inactive and useless our faith, even so,
make it difficult to God to do his wonders in our life story.
Today's liturgy would like to wake us up. "Behold, I will open your graves
and raise you from your graves, my people, " says God through his prophet.
With these words he wants to give us hope. God is able to surprise us, to do
new things, unheard of, we never even dreamed of. What will we do? Obey his
voice, follow its suggestions, and we'll see newness of life, we will see that
his Word is really a seed that led to unexpected life.
"Take away the stone, ""Lazarus, come forth. " If no one
had obeyed the first of these words of Jesus, which seems absurd to us, he could
not pronounce the second. When someone obeys him, Jesus can make himself understood
by the dead, he can speak to them and pass on life to them. Graves and tombs
around us ... friends, relatives, neighbors and fellow travelers make us suffer
because we see them closed in themselves, incapable of communion, and still
slaves of the things that pass, tied to reality of no value and no future. "Take
away the stone," Jesus seems to say. Have hope, do not give up. Highlight
the poverty of that one who lives like a slave on nothing, and allow the Lord
to make reach his voice beyond. The Word of Jesus can be heard by the dead,
and it seems that's what they expect to step forward. But, then again, they
need to be helped to loosen the bandages, that they may see the light.
The situation in the world, and the Church in it, is never desperate. There
is Jesus among us. He enters to have part, risking his life to get close to
the tomb to bring out one who is already among the dead. He does it to help
the disciples to believe in him: it is they who must get out of their unbelief,
which is a situation similar of the dead in the tomb. Who does not believe in
Jesus, in fact has no life, is unable to enter into communion with others, do
not enjoy the spiritual joys, and has no strength to accept and carry the cross
and sees no meaning for his life other than the purely material . Today, looking
at Lazarus coming out after four days since his death, we turn the eyes of our
heart on the one who calls him and begin to believe, or strengthen our confidence
in him and in his Word.
It is necessary and useful to underline a detail. Before giving the order to
the dead, Jesus ordered those around him to remove the stone and, after Lazarus
came out, Jesus still orders to men, disciples or others. And these the one
who can work together for the new life with Jesus, we can be the ones, can be
me! I offer myself to him in these last days of Lent to help someone find Jesus,
to take some steps in obedience to him: I will help someone to be present for
a celebration or a prayer, to celebrate the sacrament of confession, to live
the celebrations of the Easter Triduum , so that they can receive the Spirit
of God, who only works where Jesus is present there. Let us renew and strengthen
our faith, therefore, repeating the words of love with Martha: "I believe
that you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world! " to
those who are with him to release him from bandages. Jesus does not work alone,
but calls others to help him out.