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REFLECTION
1st Reading: Ezekiel 37:12-14Psalm: Psalm 130: 1-82nd Reading: Romans 8:8-11Gospel: John 11:1-45
Reflection: As we pass into the fifth week of our Lenten journey, our penitential practices may be starting to wear thin. The fervor of Ash Wednesday is waning and our longing for the joy of Easter is palpable. But we are still in the desert, and our God still has some things to teach us before we can partake in the glory of the Resurrection.
Today’s readings illustrate God’s plan to resurrect our lives through God’s saving power by using the graphic images of old graves and putrefying bodies. We are reminded how different the Divine thinking is from ours.
We sometimes feel that there may be parts of our lives beyond redemption. Like Ebenezer Scrooge, we claim that we are “too old to change.” How often do we choose to dwell in the shadows, entertaining attitudes and behaviors that deaden us? Yet we read that God will “open our graves and bring us back.” God is able to shine light into the “graves” of our narrow existences in order to show us a path to new life. The prophet Ezekiel proclaims that there is no place too unclean for God to do work miracles.
In the same way, the story of Lazarus shows us the lengths that God will go to in order to bring us life. Here we have Jesus breaking many of the laws in the Torah in order to bring back his friend from the dead. Neither the stench of rotting flesh nor Death itself can stand against Jesus’ love for his Lazarus. What an awesome God we have – one who makes the rules, and then breaks them in order to illustrate the extent of the loving care available to us.
As we prepare for the great drama of the Paschal Mystery, it is time to let God shine a light into our darkness, so that we can prepare a place for the Lamb of God.
Brother Damian Novello, OSF
(Thank you, Brother Damian, for contributing this week's reflection!)