Year A - 5th Sunday of Lent

5th Sunday of Lent – Year A

Gospel: John 11.1-45

• Lazarus was ill
  • He was resting
    • He is dead
      • Jesus wept
• Take the stone away
  • Unbind him let him go free
• In the episodes depicting events in the life of Jesus by Terry O’Donnell on the wall of the monastery chapel
  • There are strong contrasts between light and darkness, a theme important in John’s Gospel
  • A bright white light is prominent in the panels of the Transfiguration and that of the Resurrection, which lift them above their neighbours
  • The darkness is less obvious but more numerous
  • It is seen in night skies at the birth, and the visit of the Magi; the dark windows behind the Annunciation and at the Trial following the scourging and crowning of thorns, the doorway behind Bartimaeus, and the caves: behind the animals at the birth, then the tombs of Lazarus and then Jesus own empty ‘cave’.
  • Terry whenever he spoke to groups about his work emphasised the importance of these dark places, opposed to the light.
• When Jesus asks Lazarus’s family and friends to take the stone away he wants the light to shine into the darkness
  • We can think back a few months to the darkness we experienced when smoke covered much of the Eastern Seaboard, even if the fires themselves didn’t quite reach us
  • And then move forward to the dull days of rain, after such a dry few years, the much needed rain, but for some it came at a price, with floods
• When told of Lazarus’s predicament by his sisters, we’re told Jesus wept…
  • How many of us have also wept during these tragic events which have taken place: drought, fires, floods, and now a pandemic… at the horrendous stories of loss: of homes,  of lifestyles, of livelihoods, of family members, of friends
  • The placing in jeopardy of places of entertainment: cultural and sporting, of eating out, of shopping, of public transport
• And how many hearts are torn by the self isolation, and keeping of social distancing from one another, in order to flatten the curve…
  • People are already asking what will be the long term impact on our ways of working, of educating, of living…
  • There have been the mass sackings of tens of thousands, closed workplaces, massive injections of capital into the economy in feeble attempts to lighten the blow
  • There are strains on the health system: the risks to doctors and nurses, the shortages of respirators and masks and ICU beds, the lack of a viable vaccine, combined with the widespread search for one that will work
  • There is the risk to the life and health of remote communities, and especially our indigenous brothers and sisters, with scarce resources, but with distance providing both a barrier and a danger.
  • And in one of the few occasions in Australian the military have been called out to control the civilian population, especially in the area of Australians returning from cruises or overseas fulfilling the 14 day isolation requirement.
• When Lazarus eventually emerges from the tomb, Jesus invites those close to him to unbind him and let him go free!
  • Unbind him and let him go free! Powerful words…
  • During the week someone wondered what will be the impact on participation in parish life of the enforced closing and locking of our churches.
  • The people are free – but with all the darkness the Church in Australia has been forced to face these past few years, many have stood firm in the faith
  • These new tragic events we have already, and indeed continue to experience, cannot but get us thinking seriously about their meaning for us and our future.
  • About how we treat the planet, the impacts perhaps we had not thought of
  • About how desperate some parts of our world are for basic nutrition in the form of protein, and have made inappropriate choices with unforeseen consequences which has now touched the whole of humanity: from Royalty to Prime Ministers to President’s families, to almost everyone on the planet.
  • There was much speculation about what had happened to Lazarus: was he ill? Was he simply resting? Or, was he indeed dead.
  • Jesus words are so touching: unbind them let them go free.
  • Touching because they assume trust.
  • Freedom is of course a wonderful gift of God, but it brings risks
  • And Jesus, through His Spirit, continues to work in the darkness, freeing us all of assumptions we have come to depend on, and forcing us to face the future in a new way
• Be unbound, Go free
  • Christ is full of optimism, in the face of darkness, even his own death, and gives us confidence going forward, with much remaining to be done…
• Lazarus was ill
  • He was resting
    • He is dead
      • Jesus wept
• Take the stone away
  • Unbind him let him go free

Fr Bernard McGrath OSB PP

4th Sunday of Lent  Year A

How things change. Over the centuries people would have turned to the Church in times of natural disaster or war, joining its processions, celebrations and Masses, looking for consolation, hope and relief from their sorrows. But what can be done when the Church itself, as today, is part of the danger?  Gathering as a Christian assembly can be the source of the virus. The virus has struck. So if we cannot gather because of the virus, can we still offer thanks to the Father through Christ? To do this we must re-learn some basics of our faith:

1. Jesus is present with us. “I will be with you always”, Jesus promised. We must be attentive to God’s presence in our life. 

2. My room is basic place of prayer. “When you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father.” We must continue to be people of prayer, taking time each day to give time to God. 

3. Centre and summit.  We describe the Eucharist as the centre and summit of our Christian lives, but often it is the sole part of our religious lives. This crisis calls on us to build up the surrounding foothills by caring for one another and thanking God at home, as well as in the church. 

If we are not thankful for the meals we share at home, we are hardly ready to be thankful at the Great Thanksgiving that we call the Eucharist.

4. Every table is a sacred place

Jesus encountered people and taught at their tables. Every table is a place where we can encounter the Lord in those with us. “Where two or there gather in my name there I am in their midst”.

Living in an affluent society, we have eliminated words like scarcity, shortage and lacking from our vocabulary. We have forgotten that our world is finite and that the resources we have are not unlimited.

As Pope Francis says in Laudato si', "Happiness means knowing how to limit some needs which only diminish us, and being open to the many different possibilities which life can offer" (LS 223).

We will not be gathering as large groups for the next few weeks. Let's use this experience to rediscover that we are the Church; that the Church is not a building. Let's discover what it means to be Church.

Let us remember that we must be Eucharistic every day, but especially at meals. Let us remember that the Eucharist is not an object we get, take, receive or attend. 

And let us never forget that the Risen One is with us, interceding for us with the Father during these worrying times.

David Orr

(With help from Tom O’Loughlin. La Croix. 21.3.20)