St. Bede-St. Denis Parish Home

Dearly beloved brothers and sisters:

 

It is, to say the least, curious that the greatest of the signs Jesus performed—raising Lazarus from the dead—provoked the greatest rejection from His enemies: "Upon seeing what Jesus had done, the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a meeting of the Sanhedrin, and from that moment on, they resolved to put Jesus to death." The truth is that for anyone who needs or demands proof in order to believe, nothing will ever suffice; sooner or later, situations will arise in life that cause them to lose their trust—and, with it, their faith.

 

Faith is not built upon proofs, but upon trust and personal commitment. This is how those timid disciples—who had seen and heard Jesus firsthand, yet fled and denied Him out of fear of death—came to believe in Him. Neither the raising of Lazarus, nor even Jesus’ own resurrection, served as mere "proof" to furnish the intellect with arguments; rather, they were experiences of encounter that gave meaning to an entire lifetime. From that faith and that personal encounter, we can continue to nourish our own lives, filling them with meaning and hope. Thus, pain, frustrations, illness, or disillusionments cease to be moments of trial that cause us to question our beliefs; instead, they become situations in which we can contemplate the Jesus who wept before His dead friend—finding, in Him, reasons to go on living and to give meaning to our own tears.

 

How powerfully it resonates within us today to contemplate Jesus weeping—three times over—at the death of His friend Lazarus. In those tears, we see reflected the tears of so many others... Tears of helplessness, of pain, of sorrow, and of compassion. That is why Jesus reminds us that He, too, wept—and that He continues to weep alongside us. It is not miracles that make us believers, but rather our friendship with Jesus—a friendship that allows us to share with Him both our tears and our hope, just as He did with His friend Lazarus. Jesus weeps with us; He calls us by name, firmly inviting us to step forth—out of the realm of death. He calls us to leave behind any bonds that prevent us from loving truly. Come out! And leave behind pride, the disputes that lead nowhere, grudges—those problems that once seemed so vast but, when compared to so many other situations, are really not such a big deal.

 

The cry of the Friend calls us to life—to a life that is truly real. Perhaps this is what awaits us this coming Easter: an authentic conversion to the Gospel, and to that Good News which we are called to make manifest through our very lives. Come out! And cast off the ballast of so many things that simply aren't worth it. "I am the resurrection and the life."

 

Happy Sunday!

 

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