lazarus

The Gospel for April 10, 2011 is John 11:1-45. In this Gospel, Jesus performs the miracle of raising His friend, Lazarus, from the dead. This Gospel foreshadows Jesus’ resurrection which we pray in the First Glorious Mystery of the rosary. Both this rosary mystery and the Gospel remind us that there is more to our existence than this earthly life. God’s divine plan for all of us does not end with the death of our physical bodies. His plan also includes our souls living for all eternity in His heavenly kingdom.

News flash, we all have a terminal illness. I do not want to be a downer, but we all had this illness from the we were conceived. Our terminal condition is our earthly existence. No one will physically live forever. But we should not despair as Jesus said this in the Gospel:

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.

While Jesus was referring to Lazarus, He might as well have spoken about the human condition and our mortality. None of our lives will end in death if we define death to be a transition to nothingness. Instead our souls will live for all eternity. We should recognize that reality and adjust our lives by avoiding sin and doing good works.

In addition to our final, physical death we also encounter little deaths throughout our lives. I refer to the death of our relationship with God when we commit mortal sin. When we sever ourselves from God’s grace our soul experiences a type of spiritual death. However, like how Jesus physically raised Lazarus from the dead, the Holy Spirit raises our soul from its death through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Our return to God’s grace is just as miraculous, and I would say vastly more important, as if Jesus raised us physically from the dead as He did with Lazarus. Especially in this period of Lent, it is so critically important to do a little spiritual spring cleaning of our souls and go to confession. We all should experience the miracle of God rising our souls from their spiritual sleep. And we must pray for all those in this world who are spiritually dead through sin that they have the courage and humility to return to God’s grace.

In this Gospel reading Lazarus’ rise from the dead foreshadows Jesus’ resurrection. We remember Jesus’ resurrection in the First Glorious Mystery of the rosary. One of the central themes of this mystery is that our physical death is not the end of us. Rather, it is just the beginning of a new life either in Heaven or in Hell. I believe that our spiritual life is actually our real life as it is eternal. Our life here on earth, even if we live one hundred or more years, is nothing compared to eternity. So which existence is really the one where we live as our true self? Our current, temporary, and imperfect life or the eternal existence in the afterlife? When we pray the rosary, think about this Gospel, and meditate on Jesus’ resurrection may we remember to make the most of this short time we have in this life by being a testament to the glory of God. God desires all of us to be with Him in Heaven. Through Jesus’ resurrection, He showed us that there is so much more to our existence than what we experience in this world. Let us not become so obsessed and consumed by all the material wants of this life as they will all one day disappear. Instead, we should pray that we can endure and reject the temptations of this world and live for the greater goal of an eternity of joy and happiness in Heaven.