Sunday the 22nd of March 2026 - The Fifth Sunday of Lent

Ezekiel 37:12-14/ Ps 130(129)/ Romans 8:8-11/ John 11:1-45

Among the passengers onboard the Titanic when it met its fate after striking an iceberg was Father Thomas Byles, a catholic priest. Refusing places on the lifeboats Father Byles stayed on deck, hearing confessions, leading the Rosary, and praying with those facing death. Father Byles displayed an extraordinary calm, steady presence as he awaited his inevitable death. What gave this man the courage to remain on a sinking ship and pray rather than run? It was what Saint Paul described in the second reading today, a faith deeply rooted in the resurrection of Jesus that physical death has lost its ultimate power. Father Byles believed, in the most practical and personal way, that death was not the end. This is the hope we are invited to claim for ourselves today.

There are three things that sustain us through the challenging journey of life. They are faith, hope, and love. Saint Paul tells us that love is the greatest of these. It is the one virtue that goes with us through death and into eternal life. Linked with love is the gift of faith, it is faith that gives us the relationship we have with Jesus. It is from this faith that our hope is born, and what is this life without hope? If all we have is this earthly existence, and it ends with death, we are indeed the most unfortunate of beings. But we have the glorious hope given to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Through our Baptism, we are intimately joined with Jesus in His death. We die with Him so that we can rise with Him. Without our faith in this new life with the Spirit, we would be in a most hopeless situation. Everything we do, know, and love would ultimately come to nothing.7

Today, we are invited to consider life, death, and resurrection in the context of who Jesus really is. Jesus declares to us, "I am the resurrection and the life." St. Paul explained this perfectly in the second reading today, reminding us that the Spirit of God truly dwells in us. As he approached His passion and death, Jesus gave many powerful signs indicating exactly who He is and what His human purpose was. By giving Lazarus his life back, Jesus displayed His power to give life, a power that only God has.

Jesus also showed His human side. He displayed human distress at the death of his friend Lazarus and shared in the grief suffered by His friends. In this passage we see Jesus as both completely God and completely man. He wept not only because of the death of Lazarus, but he showed his personal solidarity with our human condition, and his sorrow for the fallen nature of humanity. Jesus wept over the depths to which we have fallen. He saw our broken state that required His personal, divine intervention and sacrifice. All the sacrifices offered by humanity throughout history could never be enough to redeem us from this condition. Only the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus can achieve that. This is from where our hope comes as we hear the readings today.

Bringing Lazarus back to life was not a true resurrection event as we understand it. True resurrection is the glorious transition from mortal life on earth to immortal life in heaven. Lazarus was returned to mortal life by Jesus. He would eventually have to experience death again in the fullness of his mortal life. Jesus had not yet opened the door to our immortal life, that would come through His own glorious resurrection.

The raising of Lazarus serves to display the mastery over death that Jesus has, proving His divinity to the world. We need to consider this as we look around and see that we live in a world gripped by a culture of death. Murder, abortion, assisted suicide, legal execution, war, and terrorism constantly surround us. There are so many examples of how our world is caught up in death. We can look deeper into how we break the great command not to kill. We might even be killing ourselves through drug or alcohol abuse, smoking, severe stress, or poor physical and eating habits. We might stand by as people die from poverty, hunger, homelessness, and disease. We see the horrors of human trafficking, poor healthcare, pollution, and countless other examples of exploitation. Everyone has an absolute right to live the life that God has given them. We are all responsible for each other. We must preserve the right to life for one another.

As we prepare to celebrate Easter, we should remember that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. He is God, and His Holy Spirit dwells within us so that we may truly live. The Easter mystery reminds us that Jesus has been victorious over all the death we see around us, including the physical death we must all go through. Jesus used the raising of Lazarus as a demonstration that He was who He claimed to be, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. Sent to give new, eternal life to all.

Jesus knew that this miracle on His way to Jerusalem would aggravate His enemies. It would lead them to call for His death. As the suffering servant of God predicted by Isaiah, Jesus had to pay reparation for all the sins ever committed by humanity through all time. It may have been this truth that moved Jesus to weep. The death of His friend Lazarus reminded Him of the enormity of the debt He was about to repay. It was a staggering debt that had brought death into the perfection of creation.

We can find ourselves bound like Lazarus in the dark trappings of death caused by sinfulness. We can be buried in the tomb of selfishness, weighed down by worry, fear, hatred, and guilt. But Jesus calls us to come out. He commands us to shake off the heavy bindings of sin and death. He wants us to emerge from whatever dark tombs we might find ourselves in today. When our sins lead us to believe all hope is gone, Jesus calls us out into the brilliant light of His resurrection. That divine light dispels every trace of sinfulness that binds us. Jesus called Lazarus out of his tomb, and He is calling us out personally now. This is the Good News of the Gospel. We are called out of our death in sin to a new life, a life that will lead to eternal resurrection in Jesus.

In a world gripped by death, let us look to Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life. Will we listen to His voice calling our name today? Will we step out of the darkness and into His glorious light? Let us pray that we will hear the call to come out and step towards the ultimate gift of eternal life.

God Bless Brendan