FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT (21 March 2021)

FIRST READING (Jer 31:31-34)

The days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers
the day I took them by the hand
to lead them forth from the land of Egypt;
for they broke my covenant,
and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD.
But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.
I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives
how to know the LORD.
All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD,
for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.

—The Word of the Lord.

R. Thanks be to God.

 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15)

R. (12a)  Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.

SECOND READING (Heb 5:7-9)

In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh,
he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears
to the one who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;
and when he was made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

—The Word of the Lord.

R. Thanks be to God.

 

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (Jn 11:25a,26)

R. Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; whoever believes in me will never die. (R)

 

(Long Form)

GOSPEL (I am the resurrection and the life.)

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (11:1-45)

Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. So the sisters sent word to Jesus saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” When Jesus heard this he said, “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.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” So the disciples said to him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.” So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.” As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”

So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. Jesus said “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him. —The Gospel of the Lord.

R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 

(Short Form)

GOSPEL (I am the resurrection and the life.)

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45)

The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” When Jesus heard this he said, “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.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”

So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him. —The Gospel of the Lord.

R.  Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily

“The days are coming…”

Our season of Lent is fast moving towards Holy Week. In our first reading, the prophet Jeremiah speaks of “days [that] are coming” – words echoed in the Gospel of John where Jesus – as he approaches his passion and death during the Passover, says “The hour has come!” For many of us, this “time” those “days” and this “hour” most often point to the dreaded hour of death, but as we are taught in the Gospel today and later on in John’s Gospel, the lesson of the raising of Lazarus is that death becomes a symbol of God’s glory.
An overall theme of Lent this year has been centered on the word COVENANT. In our 1st reading, God announces a new covenant. He does not mean that the other covenants have been abrogated or erased. We are and remain creatures of the earth (Gen. 9), who cling to God’s promises (Gen. 22), who are subject to God’s law (Exod. 20) and who are embraced by God’s mercy (Jer. 31). This new covenant, however, is different from the others and builds on them. What is “new” is that now the covenant is not written on stone tablets or seen through signs – this new covenant is WRITTEN IN OUR HEARTS, and it will effect an inner transformation of our very life.
The evils of our modern times, those that we witness and those to which we are a part, require much more than a simple external change. If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we are constantly in need of a radical interior transformation. Our self-absorption and unbridled pursuit of personal satisfaction, our arrogant sense of superiority, the feelings of hatred and revenge that eat away at our hearts, can only be remedied at their roots. We – all of us here – are in need of a new covenant of commitment.
The technical formula for the divine covenant is “I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” These words are comparable to the oath – the vow of marriage. “I take you as my spouse.” The language signifies a loving intimacy such as that between a young couple. These words of covenant should make us step back in total amazement – with the feelings often evoked when we witness new love committed through a covenant, a vow. But, part of the amazement that the words evoke comes from our own understanding that often these words will often be challenged by human frailty and infidelity. And so God establishes a covenant of the heart.
Perhaps the failure of so many human commitments between couples, within families, at the workplace, in civic life, among nations – these failures cloud our eyes to the reality of God’s unbounded love. God’s COVENANT is a remarkable one. But we ask, “When will it be established?” “The days are coming, says the Lord.”
The sentiments we heard in our Responsorial psalm today should be our own response to God’s magnanimous offer of a loving commitment: “Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion, blot out my offense… A clean heart create for me, O God.” Today we might say “O God, help me to accept what I find bothersome in others; heal me of my stubbornness, my selfishness, and my pride; cleanse me of hatred, mistrust, and vengeance; instill in me patience and respect for other cultures that are foreign to me, and nations that might pose a threat to me. Above all – teach me to walk in your ways through a commitment to THE TRUTH.”
One of the mysteries of this dynamic of writing this new covenant on our hearts is that it entails a truth about every Christian life: something about us has to die in order for new life to be born and be released. This too is the solemn meaning of the raising of Lazarus in our Gospel.
We experience death and dying in our life. We have to diminish or die – to sacrifice the carefree state of our youth – in order to open the maturity that comes from responsibility to be born in us. We have to die to self-preoccupation to sacrifice for children and grandchildren. We have to die to a self-centered life to make room for life with another in marriage. We have to die to familiar routine in order to make room for a new job or career, a new direction in our life. All these ruptures, these small symbolic deaths can mean NEW LIFE – today’s Gospel confronts us with this.
For our ELECT who will undergo their Third and final Scrutiny, their journey of faith has hopefully led them to face the areas in their life that will be changed because of the COVENANT of God. For them, “The days are coming” for their new covenant through Baptism. For us, as we stand with them, pray for them, and support them, are we ready too to recommit ourselves to the COVENANT. The disarray of so much of our lives makes us realize that we must choose a different path, a different way of living. But radical transformation does not come without a price. Jesus stans before us – and before the tomb that represents our weaknesses, our failures, and our infidelities. He raises his voice and beacons us out and frees us, unbinds us from our past and gives to us a new life!
“As human love relieves the physical pains of others, so Divine Love relieves the moral evils of others. True love is proven not by words but by offering something to the one loved, and the greatest offering one can give is not what one has, but one’s very life. He rose not with wounds for those would betoken a weakness after battle, but with scars, glorious medals of victory on Hands and Feet and Side. As a little child may say to a wounded or scarred soldier: ‘how did that happen?’ so Our Lord shows us his scars, that by our childish questioning, He might tell us: ‘I did this all for you!’ Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Lenten & Easter Inspirations)

Prayers

Celebrant: Let us pray for these elect whom God has chosen. May the grace of
the sacraments conform them to Christ in his passion and resurrection
and enable them to triumph over the bitter fate of death.
READER: That faith may strengthen them against worldly deceits of every
kind, (Pause) LET US PRAY TO THE LORD.
READER: That they may always thank God, who has chosen to rescue them
from their ignorance of eternal life and to set them on the way of
salvation, (Pause) LET US PRAY TO THE LORD.
READER: That the example and prayers of catechumens in the past who
have shed their blood for Christ may encourage these elect in their own
hope of eternal life, (Pause) LET US PRAY TO THE LORD.
READER: That the eucharistic food which they are soon to receive, may
make them one with Christ, the source of life and of resurrection,
(Pause) LET US PRAY TO THE LORD.
READER: That those who are saddened by the death of family or friends may
find comfort in Christ, (Pause) LET US PRAY TO THE LORD.
READER: That all of us in our community here present may again at Easter
be confirmed in our hope of rising to life with Christ, (Pause) LET US
PRAY TO THE LORD.
READER: That the whole world, which God has created in love, may flower
in faith and charity and so receive new life, (Pause) LET US PRAY TO
THE LORD.

CELEBRANT: [Prayer from the Ritual Book] . (all) AMEN.

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