March 9, 2008 FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
9 MARCH 2008, 5:15, 8:00, 10:30
READINGS: Ezekiel 37:12-14; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45
SAINT MARY PARISH, VIROQUA
Introduction: There are many kinds of deaths; the Church deals with them all. (Repeat)
1. Ezekiel is the prophet of Israel when the People of God were in exile in Babylon. Exile is a kind of death! Ezekiel has a vision of bones lying on a field that gradually begin to join themselves to each other, bone upon bone. Then, flesh is attached to them. He is telling his people that they too, their nation, will come back to life when they return from exile to their own land. They will pass from the death of exile to the life of freedom. He gives them hope.
Saint Paul speaks about the death of sin; we are indeed dead if we are living in sin; but Christ can bring us to the life of grace, of love.
Then, we have the great story of Lazarus. His is a physical death. Jesus weeps, and then he calls out for Lazarus to, “Come forth.” He raises Lazarus from the dead. Three kinds of death: from exile, from sin, from physical death; three kinds of resurrection.
2. With each kind of death there is also deep grief. Dostoyevsky was sent to prison for an attempt to kill the czar. He lingered in exile a long time and even stood before a firing squad. Then and there, his sentence was commuted. His fear, his grief were real while he was in exile. Now and then someone gives a eulogy at a funeral. They will say, “We come here not to mourn a death but to celebrate a life.” Whoever says that is in the wrong church. Grief and mourning are very appropriate at a funeral. In today’s gospel we hear that Jesus wept. Grief is real; tears are sacred! We know the passage in the funeral Mass, “Life is changed; not ended.” Yet, this change is painful for those left behind. Not to grieve is to be in a state of denial. But, because of the words of Jesus, the funeral is also a place for hope!
3. Hope is there because the readings describe the power of God to bring about resurrection, to help us make the passage from death to life. Jacqueline Kennedy, who unhappily for her was an authority on death, said, "The Catholic Church is at its best at the time of death. Its message is that death is not the putting out of light. It is rather turning off the lamp because the dawn has come." Remember also that when we say “Jesus is the resurrection and the life,” we are aware that he does this through his Body here on earth, that is, the Church. Jesus acts through us to bring about resurrection. A patient asked Dr Karl Menninger what he should do if he felt a nervous breakdown coming on. He expected the famous psychiatrist to respond, "Call me immediately." Instead, he said, "Go out and find somebody in trouble and help that person." In doing so we bring one another to resurrection and new life.
Conclusion: There are many kinds of death. Some deaths come in their natural course; some deaths we bring upon ourselves. There are many kinds of resurrection. The Church, you and I, fosters all forms of resurrection!