We have been so far in this journey of Holy Season; now we are in the fifth week of Lent, and we hear that Jesus reveals himself as “the source of life” this week. He shows that he is the source of our earthly life and eternal life by giving a command to a dead man to rise. In the first reading, God restores dry bones into flesh and breathes life into them, and they lived. In the Gospel, Jesus seems to have abandoned the request of Martha and Mary to come and heal their ill brother, Lazarus. But Martha and Mary keep their faith in Jesus stronger and firmer, believing that He is the source of life and the promised Messiah, which leads Jesus to reveal His Identity as “the resurrection and the life.” The resurrection is not only a future promise, but it is also a present spiritual embodiment that raises us from a sinful thought that oppresses and kills us daily.   

When we look at our daily lives, we might sometimes feel hopelessness, cut off from God, and lifelessness, like the dry bones in the first reading from the prophet Ezekiel, or feel like being buried. Often, God seems absent from our pain, struggles, and agony, and we begin to question why God does not hear our prayers. Today’s readings and Gospel witnesses that God’s timing and human expectation are not the same; God may be delayed, but He will never be absent from our lives. When we think we are in the darkest moment without a future, God’s Spirit is there working quietly and patiently to restore us. Let us put our trust in God’s power to bring life in us, like Martha and Mary, and allow God to shape our attitudes and renew our hearts. It is the best way to approach the sacrament of reconciliation to restore the life of God within us and unbind ourselves from the fear of sin during the Lenten season. Allowing ourselves to dies is allowing ourselves to rise with Christ in new life.

Sr. Ja Len, SMF