HOMILIES

Dear Audience,
For better understanding of the spiritual message behind this homily I kindly remind you to first read and contemplate the biblical texts before reading or listening to my preaching - a human reflection on the Word of God!

Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year A)

Mar 22, 2026

397

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First Reading

A reading from the Book of Ezekiel (37:12-14)

Thus says the Lord God: O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus you shall know that I am the Lord. I have promised, and I will do it, says the Lord.

(P) The word of the Lord.
(R) Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalms of David (130: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8)

(R) With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication. (R)

If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered. (R)

I trust in the Lord; my soul trusts in His word. More than sentinels wait for the dawn, let Israel wait for the Lord. (R)

For with the Lord is kindness and with Him is plenteous redemption; and He will redeem Israel from all their iniquities. (R)

Second Reading

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (8:8-11)

Brothers and sisters: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through His Spirit dwelling in you.

(P) The word of the Lord.
(R) Thanks be to God.

Gospel

A reading from the holy Gospel according to 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 Jesus 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, 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.

(P) The Gospel of the Lord.
(R) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily

An elderly woman's husband was about to be buried. Family, relatives and friends gathered at the funeral parlour for the wake. When the pallbearers were carrying the casket out of the parlour, they accidentally bumped it against the exit door, and lo and behold the man came back to life. Some years later the husband died again. This time, following the prayers at the funeral parlour, the woman looked at the pallbearers as they were bringing the casket out and said to them, "Go slow and pay attention. Please, make sure you don't hit the exit door again!"

During His earthly ministry, Jesus, by His mighty power, restored many people to life, most notably Lazarus of Bethany, John (11:1-45). The Gospels indicate that Jesus frequently visited Bethany, a village located about two miles from Jerusalem and He specifically visited the home of siblings Martha, Mary and Lazarus. They were his close friends and followers. So, when Lazarus became sick, his sisters naturally sent a message to Jesus saying, "Lord, the one you love is ill".

The sisters expected Jesus either to rush to their aid and heal their sick brother or could simply speak a word to heal without being physically present, just as He had demonstrated His power over illness by healing a Roman Centurion's paralyzed servant from a distance in Capernaum, Matthew (8:5-13) and Luke (7:1-10). The prayer we recite before receiving Holy Eucharist at Mass, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed," is derived from the centurion's prayer of faith.

Now, when Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, He could have healed him remotely. Instead, He intentionally delayed His trip by two days saying that this sickness was not ultimately for death but for God's glory. In other words, Jesus purposefully stayed away until after Lazarus died for three main reasons: to display His absolute power over death, rather than just sickness; to strengthen the faith of His disciples and followers; and to bring maximum glory to God by performing a miracle beyond human hope.

Then when Jesus decided to travel to Bethany, the disciples, particularly Thomas, recognized that returning to Bethany was dangerous because the local religious leaders were actively seeking to kill Jesus. In response, Jesus used the metaphor of walking during the day to explain that they can safely travel and perform God's work without stumbling, even when facing danger, as long as they operate within God's light and timing. He contrasted this with walking at night, implying that acting without divine guidance or according to one's own would lead to spiritual stumbling, inevitable danger, and sin.

At this point, Jesus further informed His disciples that Lazarus had fallen asleep, but He was going to wake him up. When the disciples misunderstood this as physical sleep Jesus made it clear to them that Lazarus had died physically, framing death as a temporary sleep from which He would awaken him. By framing death as a temporary sleep, Jesus implied that death is not final for those who believe in Him and that He possesses the power to resurrect them.

When He finally arrived four days after Lazarus' death, the sisters were mourning his loss. Overcome by grief, both shared their sorrow and disappointment that Jesus had arrived too late and at the same time maintained their faith, with Martha stating her belief that God would grant Jesus whatever He asked. Jesus neither apologized nor offered excuses for His delay, instead He shifted their focus from death and grief to the promise of resurrection. But when Martha expressed her faith in the future resurrection of her brother at the end of time, Jesus redirected her focus to His present power and identity as "the Resurrection and the Life", thus urging Martha to see the resurrection not merely as a distant, future event, but a present reality found through faith in Him and assuring her that whoever believes in Him will live even after dying.

Martha immediately confirmed her faith, acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God sent into the world. Now, for Martha, it was enough to know that Jesus was the One God had promised to send. Even if some of what Jesus said was a mystery, Martha knew that she could trust what He said because she knew who He was and Who had sent Him. Even though Jesus knew He would raise Lazarus moments later, upon seeing Martha and Mary's grief as well as the sorrow of others, Jesus was moved to tears Himself, demonstrating His humanity, compassion, and solidarity with their suffering.

Bringing a person back to life, who was already four days dead and decaying, was unthinkable. So, when Jesus commanded the bystanders to "take away the stone" from the tomb, Martha objected to the opening of the tomb, saying that by this time the body would have a "bad smell" or "stink", John (11:39). According to the traditional Jewish belief, the soul of a dead person remains with the body for three days. After three days the soul finally departs from the body never to return, and that is when corruption sets in. So, everyone, including Martha and Mary, believed that after three days the soul of Lazarus had departed from the body and there would be no bringing Lazarus back.

Yet, despite Martha's objection and the skepticism of bystanders, Jesus demonstrated His authority over death by commanding Lazarus to come out of the tomb. By raising Lazarus, already experiencing physical decomposition, Jesus proved Himself "the resurrection and the life," reversing the doubt and despair of not just Martha and Mary, but also of Jesus' disciples and bystanders into the display of God's glory, and foreshadowing His own resurrection.

What is the message for us?

Grief comes into our lives in a variety of forms and sources. It is a natural emotional response to any significant loss, change, or disruption of normalcy, extending far beyond the death of a loved one. It includes the loss of identity, jobs, security, dreams, relationships, opportunities, or health. Grief sometimes enters our lives even before the loss or change happens, a phenomenon known as anticipatory grief, or "grief before the grief."

During those times, we turn to God for comfort, guidance, and help. We pour out our hearts in prayer, sharing our fears, anger, and sadness, Psalm (88:9) and 1 Peter (5:7) and trusting that God is "close to the broken hearted" and saves those crushed in spirit, Psalm (34:18) and Matthew (5:4). Like Martha and Mary, we often expect God to act immediately as proof of His love. We want immediate relief to avoid situations from worsening. We pray for healing, but the sickness gets worse. We pray for reconciliation and unity in our families and communities, in the Church and around the world but strife and divisions only deepen. We cry out to God for a breakthrough, but the struggles persist. God seems silent or slow to answer our prayers or causes delays or fails to intervene in expected ways. In those moments, we tend to feel discouraged and abandoned, questioning God's care and presence.

Today's gospel is a profound comfort to all those grieving the death of loved ones, those fearing illness and death, those experiencing spiritual dryness, despair, and disappointment in God. It assures us that God is not distant, but rather deeply shares in our grief, pain, and helplessness. It also serves as a reminder that we are never alone in our loss and sorrows and that no situation - whether hopeless, dead, or buried - is beyond His restorative power. Even when situations look permanently broken, God can bring new life and new beginning. Delays by God are divine preparation, rather than denial, to strengthen our faith, character, and endurance. In fact, what seems like a delay to us is God's perfect preparation, and is for His greater glory. Therefore, let us stop worrying about the timing of the breakthrough.

Instead, let us hold fast to faith, "take away the stones' of doubt, fear, disobedience, or unbelief, and give our Lord Jesus Christ access to our "dead" or "hopeless" situations, turning obstacles into testimonies of His glory.

(P) Amen.

God Bless You!

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