Mass readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031713-year-a-scrutinies.cfm
Sorry - no audio recording.
(a reprise of the homily I preached a year ago at Immaculate Conception/St. Bridget's which I had prepared for homiletics class)
She
was not asleep, of that I was certain.
No,
she was not asleep.
For
as I stood before her, my mind raced back to my childhood – to all those nights
Mom had fallen asleep on the couch, exhausted from a day of raising seven kids,
her mouth wide open – “I’m catching flies” she used to joke.
No,
she was not asleep. Her mouth was
tightly shut, lipstick neatly applied, her hair perfectly arranged – no curlers
like she used to wear at night.
No. My mom was dead. Lying here before me in this casket my
siblings and I had picked out only the day before, now beautifully dressed, a
peaceful look on her powdered face, nothing like the pained, anguished look she
had when I last saw her at the nursing home, as she struggled for every breath
before finally giving up.
“Calling
hours begin at two, so would the family please be here at 1:30,” the funeral
director had told us. This was that
awkward half hour – time to first view the body, console one another, and steel
our demeanor before the well-wishers arrive. A moment seared in my memory forever.
And
I recall saying a quick prayer, a much nicer prayer than I had been thinking at
the nursing home three days earlier – that prayer went something like
this: “Lord if you had been here, my mother would not have died.” No, this time I prayed “Jesus, you can raise
her. You raised Lazarus, and he had been
dead four days and wrapped and buried in the tomb. This is only the third day for my mom.” I watched her closely, hoping to see her
chest rise and fall with new breath.
Nothing. Unlike Lazarus, Mom is
not coming back.
Ah,
in a way, in the most important way, SHE IS!
You
see, this Jesus Christ, who is both living water and the light of the
world today proclaims to us that He, Jesus Himself, is the
Resurrection and the Life! He
is the Resurrection and the life.
Now
I have to believe that nearly every one of us here has experienced the death of
a loved one. Yes, each of us has been
there at some time, some of us many times over, weeping along with Mary and
Martha, weeping along with Our Blessed Lord, suffering the grief and pain,
agony even, of death and separation.
And each of us will one day experience our own
physical death, so for us these words of Jesus should give us great hope and
comfort!
“I
am the Resurrection and the Life,” He says.
“Whoever believes in me, even if they die,
will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” I firmly believe that my mother, who died in
Faith, will one day walk out of her tomb!
Yes, I believe this. And I
believe if I die in His friendship, and you, we will walk out of our tombs as
well!
But, my brothers and sisters, this hope is not just
for those who have fallen asleep. For
Jesus isn’t only the Resurrection, but He is also the LIFE! And His promise is not only for life after
death, but he promises us eternal life beginning NOW. Jesus has the power to bring new life to the
darkest times and situations we face in our lives, NOW.
He stands
before whatever tombs are in our lives, our broken relationships, our
sinful addictions, grudges that we cling to, forgiveness that we refuse to
give, job losses or troubled marriages, whatever it is that bind us and
entomb us, and He asks us:
“Do you believe that I can heal this? That I can bring new life from this
death? <pause> Do you believe
in ME?”
It’s the same question He asks Martha “Do you believe
this?” It’s the same question He asks of our catechumens, who will answer by
submitting to the waters of baptism in two weeks at the Easter Vigil, when they
are also anointed, confirmed, and then share
in Christ’s very Body and Blood in the Sacrament of Eucharist. And He asks each of us today, “Do you
believe this?”
It’s a question that demands an answer, that demands
that we choose. That we choose
with our entire lives. A choice to leave
behind our tombs of sinfulness, to leave behind all that binds us, no longer
alive, but dead for a long time. A
choice to stop stumbling in darkness, afraid to come out into the light. A choice to open ourselves to Him, to seek
His forgiveness, and to allow Him to place within us His Spirit, that we may live! A choice to say YES, LORD, I believe in you
with all my heart, and I will follow you in faith, giving You my very life!
To each one of us here today, Jesus shouts those liberating words of life:
"Lazarus, come forth!"
He calls you and He calls me
- to wake from our sleep. To rise from our tombs. To walk in new life, in Faith in Christ Jesus,
who is Lord forever and ever. Amen.
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