John 11:1-45

Ezekiel 37:12-14

Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8

Romans 8:8-11

John 11:1-45

Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, 

the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

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.

So the sisters sent word to him saying, 

“Master, the one you love is ill.”

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.”

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when he heard that he was ill, 

he remained for two days in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to his disciples, 

“Let us go back to Judea.”

The disciples said to him, 

“Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, 

and you want to go back there?”

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.

But if one walks at night, he stumbles, 

because the light is not in him.” 

He said this, and then told them,

“Our friend Lazarus is asleep,

but I am going to awaken him.”

So the disciples said to him,

“Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.”

But Jesus was talking about his death, 

while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. 

So then Jesus said to them clearly,

“Lazarus has died.

And I am glad for you that I was not there,

that you may believe. 

Let us go to him.”

So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, 

“Let us also go to die with him.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus 

had already been in the tomb for four days.

Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away.

And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary 

to comfort them about their brother.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,

she went to meet him;

but Mary sat at home.

Martha said to Jesus, 

“Lord, if you had been here,

my brother would not have died.

But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,

God will give you.”

Jesus said to her,

“Your brother will rise.”

Martha said to him,

“I know he will rise,

in the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus told her,

“I am the resurrection and the life; 

whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 

and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

Do you believe this?”

She said to him, “Yes, Lord.

I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,

the one who is coming into the world.”

When she had said this, 

she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, 

“The teacher is here and is asking for you.”

As soon as she heard this,

she rose quickly and went to him.

For Jesus had not yet come into the village, 

but was still where Martha had met him.

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.

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.”

When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, 

he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, 

“Where have you laid him?”

They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”

And Jesus wept.

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”

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?”

So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.

It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.

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.”

Jesus said to her,

“Did I not tell you that if you believe 

you will see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone.

And Jesus raised his eyes and said,

“Father, I thank you for hearing me.

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.”

And when he had said this,

He cried out in a loud voice, 

“Lazarus, come out!”

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.”

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary

and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I praise you for your mighty works. I thank you for all that you have done for me. I adore you, for you are my Lord and my God. I humbly ask you to forgive my sins, and pour the grace of your sanctifying Spirit into my heart.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Preparing for Baptism: The Gospel during the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays of Lent is chosen especially for those preparing for the Sacrament of Baptism through OCIA. ON the Third Sunday of Lent, we read about Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman and the promise of living water. Last Sunday, we read about the healing of the man born blind through washing in the pool of Siloam at Jesus’ command. Today, we hear about the restoration of Lazarus to life. All three are images of Baptism. The living water of Baptism satisfies our spiritual thirst. The washing of Baptism brings us from blindness to seeing with eyes of faith. A person who is baptized dies with Christ as they are plunged into the waters and rises with Christ as they rise from the waters. Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Through Baptism, we enter the Kingdom. Through Baptism, we share in eternal life. Through Baptism, we see all things with the light of divine wisdom. Through Baptism, we emerge from the tomb and are restored to the divine life our first parents lost through sin.

2. The Exile: On Sundays during Lent, the Church recalls, in the First Readings, the great moments of the history of salvation. This year, we have contemplated the creation of Adam and Eve and their fall, the three promises made to Abram, the Exodus under Moses, and the anointing of David as King of Israel. Today, we contemplate Ezekiel’s prophecy concerning the end of the exile. When Ezekiel made his prophecy, Israel was in exile in Babylon, and was like a dead corpse in a tomb. Despite this, God promises: “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:12-14). Not only will God raise the dead to life, but Ezekiel also promises that the Spirit of the Lord will dwell in the hearts of the people of God. 

3. The Spirit of God Dwells in You: The Spirit of God is the focus of the Second Reading, taken from the Letter to the Romans. Paul’s understanding of our resurrection by the Spirit of God is rooted in Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones and of the people of Israel being restored to life. Paul contrasts those who are in the flesh with those who are in the Spirit. Romans 8:9 might be “the closest thing we have in Paul’s Letters to a definition of what it means to be a Christian. It is more than simply professing an apostolic creed or belonging to an apostolic church. A Christian is one who is indwelt with the Spirit. … The Christian lives in relation to Father, Son, and Spirit” (Hahn and Mitch, Romans, 131). Christians are both body and spirit and are suspended, so to speak, between the mortality of the Old Adam and the salvation of the New Adam. We are in a tension between death on account of sin and life on account of righteousness. “Thankfully, our present mortal condition is not permanent. Directing his gaze to the future, Paul reminds readers that the Spirit will not fully accomplish his work in believers until the resurrection of the dead” (Hahn and Mitch, Romans, 132). Just as the Spirit gives life to our spirits in the present, the same Spirit will give life to our bodies at the end of time. 

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, send forth your Spirit and renew the face of the earth. Vivify me with your Spirit. Make me docile to his inspirations so that I might be ever more conformed and united to you.

Living the Word of God: Holy Week will begin next week. What can I do to live the week better? Can I carve out time to attend Mass on Holy Thursday or spend time in adoration at my local parish throughout the night on Holy Thursday? Can I make plans to read the Passion of Our Lord on Good Friday and spend time in prayer, meditation, and contemplation? Can I put away distractions – news, social media, entertainment, unnecessary internet – on Holy Saturday and make it a day of family, prayer, charity, and worship? How can I be a better witness to the Resurrection and proclaim the true meaning of Easter?