“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus’s raising of Lazarus, Martha says ‘Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.’ If you go deeper there something powerful resonates in this reading namely the absence of God in people’s lives. People struggled in the absence of God, but once they realized that God is absent in their life they became aware of the reason why life doesn’t get any better. They realise the need for God’s presence in their life – the presence of divine power in the ordinary human life. In raising of Lazarus, Jesus shows his divine power entering into human life. At times our lives is like graves where there is no sign of life, utterly rejected and broken, betrayed, disappointed, hopeless.
In the first reading God says to the people of Israel, and he says to us today ”I’m now going to open your graves, I mean to raise you from your graves.” The God of life is in the world of death, especially in this most difficult time of Covid-19. Let us invite the Lord to our lives; whatever it is, would be dead by sin, would be stinking by our bad habits, would be bound by our wrong choices.
He is here in our midst to give us life, to set us free and call back to his friendship, peace and joy again.
My dear parishioners,
Be assured of my daily prayers for your intentions and for your family. “In these days of trial, as humanity trembles at the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, I would propose that all Christians join their voices together to heaven,” says Pope Francis. Let these Mass readings, Stations of the Cross and other prayer resources help us to pray for the grace to put our trust in God who never abandons us even in the darkest hour. I keep everyone of you close to my heart and place you before the Lord in my daily private Mass. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
Father Joshy