Message from Fr. Brito:

5th Sunday of Lent

        Our faith is rooted and based on the resurrection of the dead. The first reading presents, from the Old Testament, the revelation and promise of God about this concept of resurrection. Through the prophet Ezekiel God says “O my People, I will open your graves and have you raise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel. Than you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my People… I have promised, and I will do it, says the Lord”

       As a already mentioned, the core of our faith is based on the resurrection of the dead God’s promise is fulfilled in Jesus Christ who said in todays Gospel: “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” Than he asks Martha and at the same time he asks us: “Do you believe this?"

     This is what St. Paul wrote about the resurrection:

But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty, too, your faith.  Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised,* your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Than those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.

      The story today from the Gospel shows us the two natures of Jesus so clearly. We see his Humanity demonstrated by his grief and sorrow for his friend Lazarus and his compassion for his grieving sisters. “And Jesus wept”

        Then we see the full display of his divinity when he orders the dead man to come out of the Grave  “Lazarus Come out!” The man, who had been dead for four days and had begun to rot, comes out of the grave and is given new life. As Christian this is our great hope. This is why we can grieve with hopeful hearts. Death will come; this is for sure. So let us hear again from St Paul who wrote: Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin comes from the Law. Thank God, then, for giving us this victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen