General. The day is fast approaching when we commemorate the Passion and Death of the Son of God on the Cross. All his life consisted of an ever-going walk to Jerusalem, so that He might there do the Father’s Will and die on the Cross. This Holy Rood was a source of scandal to Jews and an incongruity to Greeks. Jesus, who very well knew what lay hidden in man’s heart, spoke out in full truth and penetrated deeply into humanity by preaching and healing. In the same manner as Christ’s life was fully centred on the Cross, so should our life if only we understand that the wheat seed can produce a hundredfold if it falls on fertile ground and dies unto itself (its existence as a seed). A very remindful concept of what the Eucharist is indeed all about.

Ezechiel. The Lord is the giver of all life even after a person opts for inner death which he brings upon himself through sin. Man is taken out of his self-made tomb by the power of Jesus who took Lazarus out of his tomb. Anyone who does God’s will is raised from situations of death which one faces in everyday life, the same way as the Father raised Jesus from the dead, from Hades, for doing His will and being obedient to his mission.

Romans. In Baptism, we receive God’s spirit, His grace and nature. Briefly, we also become sons of God, having Jesus as our elder brother who has preceded us in his Resurrection and into heaven where he stands on the right hand of the Father interceding for us. The Christian’s life is based on grace and the spirit, as opposed to that of the pagan who dwells in the flesh and darkness. Indeed, the fast approaching Paschal Triduum is a loud call for conversion for each and everyone of us, to fulfil God’s will for us.

St John. In calling Lazarus out of the tomb, Jesus is showing his divine power before humanity. Jesus pronounces himself to be the Light and Life of the world, and it is now only up to the Christian to accept or reject (by sin) this God-given incarnated power of sonship embodied in the person of Jesus. Given his human nature, Lazarus was bound with inclinations and desires which may have caused him to depart from God’s righteous ways, as may be the case with each one of us after all. Jesus’ command to unbind Lazarus from his death dressing is a significant demonstration of his power to destroy all binding attachments to sin.

Homilies Index Page - Liturgy of the Hours - Home