March 21, 2021

For the homily from the Mass with the 3rd Scrutiny, click here.

5th Sunday of Lent (B)

A Simple Request and Consequential Response

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

In today’s Gospel we find a one of those curious events that cause us to ask, “Why did Jesus act or respond in such a way?” The apostles ask Our Lord if he would be willing to see visitors who have come from Greece. They were Gentiles who wanted to speak to him. Jesus responds with what seems to be an odd soliloquy. The request and the response don’t seem to connect at all.

He appears to ignore the request and announces that his “hour” has arrived, that is, the time of his glorification—his suffering and death. He speaks also about judgment, driving out the ruler of this world and his being lifted up. All of this from a simple request to receive a few visitors!

What sense can we make of this Gospel passage? The arrival of the Gentiles fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecies about the Messiah—that the Messiah would gather all nations and that all people would come to worship in the Lord’s House. Jesus had said: “I am the good shepherd…I have other sheep that or not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (Jn 10:14) The Greeks’ arrival then, signaled for Jesus that his “hour” had come. These prophecies would be fulfilled. He would be that “grain of wheat” whose death would produce new life.

Our Lord then turns to his disciples and speaks about the cost of following him. Discipleship is expressed in the form of a paradox. It involves the whole business of losing one’s life to save it. The world promotes “self-seeking” while Our Lord desires a “dying to self.”

As we grow in the spiritual life and look honestly at ourselves, we come to realize that there are attitudes that we must strive to put to death within us. Msgr. Charles Pope came up with a few of these and I think they form a good Lenten litany:
 

• Ego: Deflate it from time to time
• Desire for revenge: replace it with compassion
• Desire to control: Be docile, meek, let go
• Irrational fears: trust in God’s providence
• Hatred: work on forgiveness and charity
• Stubbornness: Be more accepting, flexible,
• Others can be right; I am not the center of the universe
• Impatience: seek gentleness, be composed
• Greed: Open your clenched fist, be generous
• There are no pockets in a shroud; No one sees a moving van behind a funeral procession.
• Worldliness: live simply; leave room for God and others.

Let the words of Our Lord echo in your mind: to find your life you have to lose it, so that you may live—no longer you but Christ within you.

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5th Sunday of Lent (A): Mass with the 3rd Scrutiny

A Delay not of Negligence but of Purpose

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

Today the Church comes to the third and final scrutiny for the Elect, those who are to receive the Sacraments of Initiation at Easter. In our parish, we celebrate this with Gabriella. The first scrutiny highlighted water at the well in Samaria, the second brought us to the pool at Siloam where light was our focus. Today we come to Bethany where the raising of Lazarus prefigures the Lord’s Resurrection. What lesson does this event provide to the Elect and to those of us already baptized?

The sisters, Martha and Mary and their brother, Lazarus were Our Lord’s closest friends. Did you ever wonder why Jesus delayed going to Lazarus after he was told, “The one whom you love is ill.”? We set out for Bethany after two days. Why didn’t Jesus drop everything and rush to the bedside of his friend? By the time he arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been in the tomb four days!

Our Lord intentionally delayed his visit so that Lazarus’ death might serve as a sign of God’s power and glory. He knew what he was doing. His delay had a purpose. “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.” He would raise Lazarus as a sign of what was to come. It was a prelude to the Lord’s resurrection.

Like the Transfiguration, it was a sign to strengthen Martha and Mary in their grief, a reminder that Jesus had the power over the dark and cruel mystery of death. Lazarus would have to die once more. But at Easter Jesus would rise never to die again. And so it is we our own resurrection. In Christ, death does not have the last word.

The Church also sees in this event, a lesson about Baptism. Baptism is the Sacrament of rebirth, the sacrament of new life. Lazarus emerges from the tomb, bound hand and foot with burials bands and his face wrapped in a cloth and Jesus commands, “Untie him and let him go!”

This is what happens in Baptism. Those bands and wrappings that bound Lazarus in darkness and death are our sins and the grace of baptism removes them. We then can see and move in a new light and life. Lazarus was reborn and so are we through baptism. Our baptism is a dying to sin and living a new life. Just as Lazarus’ life was never the same, so is the life of one who is baptized. We are given a new vision of things, a hope on which to cling.

Pope Benedict reminds us that Christians, do not live “just like everybody else” and that those who have hope, live differently.

When Gabriella makes her baptismal vows and we renew our own at Easter, we are saying…I reject Satan and all his empty show…the values of the world and I embrace Christ. We shall be saying to all…this is my identity. These promises influence the values I hold and the choices I make throughout my life. I have been given a new life and a freedom to live in a new way. Let’s rejoice in this gift of new life and seek to be always faithful to its obligations.