4th Sunday of Lent
H. Francisco Posada, L.C.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christ, our King, Thy Kingdom come!
Preparatory prayer (to put me in the presence of God)
Lord, may I trust You more because You are my hope and my strength. Help me to learn to put my whole life in your hands and love you until death.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to John 11:1-45
At that time, Lazarus was sick in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who once anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. The sick man was her brother Lazarus. So the two sisters sent to Jesus and said, “Lord, the friend whom you love so much is sick.
When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not end in death, but will serve for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”.
Jesus loved Martha, her sister and Lazarus. However, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Teacher, just now the Jews wanted to stone you, and are you going back there?” Jesus answered them, “Is there not twelve hours in the day? He who walks by day does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world; but he who walks by night stumbles, because he lacks the light”.
He said this and then added, “Lazarus, our friend, has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up. Then his disciples said to him, ”Lord, if he sleeps, he will be healed.“ Jesus was talking about death, but they thought he was talking about natural sleep. Then Jesus said to them openly, ”Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Now, let us go over there.“ Then Thomas, who was nicknamed the Twin, said to the other disciples, ”Let us also go, that we may die with him.“.
When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two and a half miles away, and many Jews had gone to Martha and Mary to console them for the death of their brother. As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I am sure that God will grant you whatever you ask of him”.
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again”. Martha answered, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he has died, yet shall he live; and whoever is alive and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She answered him, “Yes, Lord. I firmly believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world.”.
After he had said these words, he went and fetched his sister Mary and said to her in a low voice, “The Master has come and is calling you.” When Mary heard this, she immediately got up and went out to where Jesus was, for he had not yet come to the town, but was in the place where Martha had found him. The Jews who were with Mary in the house, comforting her, seeing that she got up and went out in haste, thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there, and followed her.
When Mary came to Jesus, when she saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who were with her weeping, he was deeply moved, and asked, “Where have they laid him?” They answered him, “Come, Lord, and you will see him.” Jesus began to weep, and the Jews said to him, “Truly, how he loved him! Some said, ”Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him who was born blind, have kept Lazarus from dying?.
Jesus, still deeply moved, stopped before the tomb, which was a cave, sealed with a stone. Then Jesus said, “Take away the stone”. But Martha, the sister of him who had died, said to him, “Lord, it smells bad already, for it has been there four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” Then they rolled away the stone.
Jesus lifted up his eyes on high and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always listen to me; but I have said this because of this crowd around me, so that they may believe that you have sent me.” Then he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out of there!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped in a shroud. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, that he may walk.”.
Many of the Jews who had gone to Martha and Mary's house, when they saw what Jesus had done, believed in him.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Lazarus' death became a sign of Christ's power. The people reproached Jesus for having let him die, considering that he had already worked great miracles and his power was palpable, but Jesus had something else in mind. Just as in his life not to suffer, to shun death was not an option, he wanted to teach the Jews this lesson. It is true that Lazarus was his friend and that his death does not go unnoticed because he mourns his loss, but he wants to show that God has the last word, that in our life we may experience suffering and death, but He will not leave us alone. If we put our trust in Him He will not let us down.
The death and resurrection of Lazarus, the friend of Christ, became an example of what happens to those who deeply love God. Not even death can separate him from Him. In human terms, death can cause us despair and immense pain to which Jesus is not indifferent; but if we have faith, we can trust that God is present even in times of such pain and helps us to overcome this separation.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Not even death can do it. Let us take each day as a true opportunity to renew our love for God that leads us not to lose hope that, with Him, we can overcome even death.
«Jesus has illuminated the mystery of our death. By his behavior, he authorizes us to feel pain when a loved one leaves us. He was «deeply troubled» before the tomb of his friend Lazarus, and “burst into tears”. In this attitude of his, we feel Jesus very close to us, our brother. He wept for his friend Lazarus. And then Jesus prays to the Father, the source of life, and orders Lazarus to come out of the tomb. And so it happens. Christian hope is based on this attitude that Jesus takes against human death: it is present in creation, but it is nevertheless a scar that disfigures God's design of love, and the Savior wants to heal us.»
(Audience of H.H. Francis, October 18, 2017).
Dialogue with Christ
This is the most important part of your prayer, prepare yourself to talk with much love with the One who loves you.
Purpose
Propose a personal one. The one that involves the most love in response to the Beloved... or, if you believe that this is what God is asking of you, live what is suggested below.
Pray a Hail Mary for the dying.
Farewell
We thank You, Lord, for all Your benefits, You who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
Christ, our King!
Thy Kingdom come!
Most prudent Virgin, Mary, Mother of the Church.
Pray for us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
