March 18, 2018

5^th Sunday in Lent:

A Visit that Signals Coming Glory

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

 
In reading the Gospels, I sometimes come across those events that make me wonder, “This seems odd. Why did Jesus act this way?” One of these events is today’s Gospel. It’s odd because the request and response don’t seem to connect at all.
 
The apostles ask Our Lord if he would be willing to see visitors from Greece—Gentiles who wanted to speak to him. Jesus responds with a curious soliloquy—it seems he ignores the request. He announces that his “hour” has arrived, that is, the time of his glorification—his suffering and death. He speaks too about judgment, driving out of the ruler of this world and that he would be lifted up. All of this from a simple request to see people who merely wanted to speak to him.
 
Why such an odd response? The arrival of the Gentiles fulfilled the prophecies about the Messiah by Isaiah—that he would gather all the nations and that just as the Israelites worshipped in the Lord’s House so would all people. Jesus himself had said: I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me…I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd (Jn 10:14). So the arrival the Greeks signaled for Our Lord that the time of his suffering and death had come. This was confirmed by the thunderous voice of the Eternal Father! After his resurrection he will say, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.... (Mt 28:19)
 
We understand then why Jesus would then go on to speak about the “grain of wheat that must fall to the ground and die to produce much fruit.” He is that grain of wheat whose death would produce new life. But Our Lord also looks to his disciples and says: “ Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be…Whoever loves his life will lose it. Whoever hates his life will preserve it to eternal life.”
This is a paradox, a reversal of our human way of thinking. Jesus is speaking of the cross. The way of the Master must also be the way of the disciple. There must be a dying and rising to new life in our own life.
 
“Dying to self” is the challenge and obligation of every follower of Christ. Msgr. Charles Pope came up with a very practical list of attitudes that we must strive to put to death in us. They are a good Lenten litany:
 

• Ego—we should deflate it from time to time. Some people do it for us, but it is better if we do it ourselves!
• Desire for revenge— replace it with compassion
• Hurts from the past—forgive, turn the page. The person that hurt us is freer than we are; we should leave our hurts and sins in the confessional.
• Desire to control everything—be docile, meek, let go.
• Irrational fears—trust in God's Providence.
• Hatreds—be more understanding, charitable.
• Stubbornness—be more accepting, flexible, broad-minded. “I’m not the center of the universe!” Things need not go my way all the time—they may go even better another’s way

• Impatience—be more gentle, lenient, calm down.
• Greed—be generous; "There are no pockets in a shroud." Consider the poor. Give not from surplus but from substance.
• Worldliness—live simply; focus on the spiritual; be more prayerful.

New life does not just occur; we must share in the Cross. We must die to self. Our bodies may be declining, but surprisingly enough, through our “dying to self” our souls can always grow younger and more vibrant. It is also the path to being more joyful, serene, confident, compassionate, patient, less sinful, less angry, less anxious, which is to say, “alive in Christ.”
 

---

5^th Sunday of Lent (A)  3^rd Scrutiny  

Lazarus, Light and Life!

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

Today we come to the third and final scrutiny for those who are preparing to be baptized at Easter. Two weeks ago, we were with Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well and we heard Our Lord’s promise of “living water”— an allusion to the new life that comes from the waters of baptism. Last week we heard about the curing of the man born blind so that we might understand Baptism as an “enlightenment.”
 
Today we come to the raising of Lazarus from the dead. (I prefer to say, “raising” or “resuscitation” since Lazarus would die again.) Jesus is the resurrected, the “first born of the dead.” This miracle shows the power of Christ over sin and death and his promise of new life after death. The very heart of the Paschal Mystery is that Christ came to die and rise again to do for us what he did for Lazarus. Knowing this, we can understand Our Lord’s initial reaction in this Gospel.
 
Jesus is informed that Lazarus is ill and so he knows his friend is in serious danger. But he does not move. We would like to see him rush there but instead he stays away. It is disturbing to us that he allows Lazarus to die.
 
How can we make sense of it? Jesus has knowledge of events and problems that are different than ours. He views everything in light of an infinite wisdom, of a power and a mercy without limits. Jesus is not dismayed by death and he and wants to convey his own serenity and calm to his disciples. He reassures the grief stricken Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, even if he dies, will live; whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (Jn 11: 25-26)
 
These are words that form and transform a life. They are words that change the dark, disturbing mystery of death into the bright promise of immortality. How often we need to be reassured of this truth when we face the mystery of suffering and death!
 
A priest friend has the habit of consoling a dying person repeating these words: “Look to the light…Jesus is there…It’s OK to go…look to the light!” One day, when he was saying these words, the woman he thought unconscious, opened her eyes and said, “You look to the light!” That is where most of us are…we are human. We are comfortable with the here and now. It’s what we know. But our challenge is always to keep our eyes fixed “on things above.”
 
Cardinal Hume, whom I so often quote, wrote that “First thoughts about death are normally ones of fear and dread. Some thoughts tell us there is no future, only a blank nothing, we are no more…But there is another voice that speaks within us. It is not a voice that depresses or frightens. It has a different message. This is a message that speaks of hope leading to life after death.”
 
That “other voice” of course, is that of the Lord Jesus in whom we must place our faith. I like what the Venerable Charles de Foucauld said: “Faith strips the mask from the world and reveals God in everything. It makes nothing impossible and renders meaningless such words as anxiety, danger, and fear, so that the believer goes through life calmly and peacefully, with profound joy—like a child hand in hand with his mother.”