[00:00:05] Hello, my name is Sally Moriarty-Flask. Welcome to: From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible study podcast. Together we will explore the readings to be proclaimed at the Catholic Mass on Sunday, April 6, 2025, the Fifth Sunday of Lent. This week's episode is entitled: Being Fully Alive and in these readings, we will focus on life and death. We will explore what it means to be fully alive and how that life can be dimmed by the darkness of sin. Jesus came to free us from our sins and open the gates of heaven for us… so, do we accept his gift? Or do we remain in our sins? The choice is ours.
As we journey through the readings this week, consider the following: Those preparing for entry into the Catholic Church will undergo their Third and final Scrutiny this week - that vital purification they need before they receive the Sacraments of Initiation. The Scrutinies remind those of us who are already Baptized of Christ's power to restore life, the mercy that he constantly bestows upon us in the Sacraments of the Church, and the great gift of faith we receive from Jesus, Our Savior, who is the life of the world.
[00:01:28] I have again incorporated some of the images from this week's Scrutiny to create our prayer.
So, let's begin:
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Heavenly Father, we praise you for the new life bestowed upon us at our Baptisms and thank you that we are numbered among the members of your Church. Like Lazarus who was raised from the dead, may we live our lives with courage and faith. Your Son is the Resurrection and the Life, the holy one who became truly human for our sakes. May his mercy lead us on toward your eternal kingdom of life, light, and love. We ask this through your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:02:16] Now that we have opened our hearts in prayer, let's listen to what God is telling us in the Scriptures. Our Gospel this week is from John 11: 1-45.
[00:02:28] “Now a certain man was ill, Laz’arus of Beth’any, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Laz’arus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it he said, ‘This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.’ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Laz’arus. So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go into Judea again.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.’ Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, ‘Our friend Laz’arus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.’ Now Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Laz’arus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us go also, that we may die with him.’ Now when Jesus came, he found that Laz’arus had already been in the tomb four days. Beth’any was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.’ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’ And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Then Mary, when she came to where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled; and he said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Laz’arus, come out.’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.”
[00:07:48] As I have said before, the Church allows any parish to use the Cycle A Readings for the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent if they are preparing people to receive the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil. Since this is the Fifth Sunday of Lent, it will be our last Sunday to use the Cycle A Readings and we will return to Luke next week for Palm Sunday.
[00:08:13] This week we hear the story of the raising of Lazarus. In his Gospel, John calls Jesus’ miracles signs - and this is Jesus' seventh and final sign AND the defining act of his public ministry.
[00:08:32] Jesus also gives us seven “I AM” statements in all of John's Gospel, and three that deal specifically with life: “I AM the way, the truth, and the life” in John 14; “I AM the bread of life” in John 6; and “I AM the resurrection and the life” here in John 11. Jesus is telling us that wherever he IS - there is life. So, we have to ask, just as the disciples asked, why did Jesus allow his friend Lazarus to die? And the simple answer is that it was to achieve a greater purpose… I'm sure that didn't seem simple to Lazarus or his sisters, but that is, nevertheless, the answer. And we are invited to put ourselves in their places, experience the same reactions that they did, and feel the same emotions that they felt.
[00:09:33] Lazarus' sisters had already dealt with the practical concerns of death, now - with the arrival of Jesus - they must deal with the impractical and the unexpected.
[00:09:51] That should be a reminder to us that Jesus can do great things for us, often when we least expect it! And, finally, remember, the passages we hear from John's Gospel are not in order… they're not in chapter order. If you think back, we jumped five chapters between the Third and Fourth Sundays. And we've jumped another two chapters from Fourth Sunday (last week) to this one. However, when we join the narrative this week, Jesus is still teaching in the temple in Jerusalem when he receives this quite disturbing news. So, let's break open chapter 11 of John's Gospel...
“Now a certain man was ill, Laz’arus of Beth’any, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Laz’arus was ill.”
Both John and Luke say that Mary anointed Jesus' feet, Matthew says it was his head.
[00:10:59] “So the sisters sent to him, saying, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’”
[00:11:05] Notice that when they send him a joint message, they address Jesus as Lord.
“But when Jesus heard it he said, ‘This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.’”
[00:11:22] This is the greater purpose that I just mentioned. John tells us…
“Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Laz’arus. So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.”
[00:11:38] That seems like such a strange reaction… but, as so often happens in John's Gospel, there is more going on than we initially think. On the most superficial level, Jesus knows that his delay will benefit his disciples because raising someone from the dead will have a much greater impact than just another healing would have… they've witnessed Jesus' healing of people on numerous occasions, this will be something different.
[00:12:13] On a deeper level, this delay highlights Jesus’ own slow yet inexorable movement toward the tomb where he will be laid after his Crucifixion. And, from our perspective, which is yet another layer, it demonstrates that the Second Coming – Jesus’ Second Coming - at the end of time is still delayed.
[00:12:45] “Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go into Judea again.’”
[00:12:52] Notice how the disciples respond to Jesus here! They say…
“‘Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.’”
[00:13:20] The disciples addressed Jesus as Rabbi, which is surprising given all that they have seen. And then Jesus uses an old adage about time that is not, in any way, meant to be literal. A Jewish day was divided into 12 hours, beginning at sun up and ending at sundown, meaning that there is only so much daylight available. So, on one level, Jesus is saying that he, too, only has a limited amount of time to be in the world. On another level, he means that while he is in the world, he IS the light of the world (as he tells us in John 8) so the disciples - walking in his light - will not stumble. Then he says, if one walks in the night, he will stumble, meaning that he that Jesus is no longer in the world and that that person may then be trapped in the darkness of sin… a lot going on in that sentence!
“Then he said to them, ‘Our friend Laz’arus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep.’”
Jesus is using the word sleep as a euphemism, but the disciples don't quite get that.
“The disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.’ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Laz’arus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’”
[00:15:04] What they will find in Bethany is the result of Jesus' deliberate choice - and it will help them believe… it will strengthen them for the mission they must undertake after Jesus' own death.
“Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’”
This is a rash statement and likely why Thomas ends up separating himself from the rest of the disciples after the Crucifixion… out of guilt.
[00:15:41] “Now when Jesus came, he found that Laz’arus had already been in the tomb four days.”
[00:15:47] Rabbinic tradition, at the time, held that the spirit of a deceased person remained for up to three days after their death. By the fourth day, there would have been absolutely no hope whatsoever.
“Beth’any was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.”
[00:16:12] John is likely referring to the Jewish custom called Sitting Shiva (Shiva is a Hebrew word meaning seven). And this is a custom where relatives gather and mourn together for seven days after the burial has taken place. Typically, they sit on low chairs or cushions to indicate that they are brought low by grief… that is why it's called SITTING shiva.
“When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house.”
[00:16:49] That would be quite a break from protocol, by the way. The family usually stays at home during Shiva, so Martha's behavior would have been considered - at the very least - strange and likely quite unorthodox. All too often, Martha is seen as somehow inferior to Mary. So, I'd like to stand up for Martha a bit at this point. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (a 12th cent Benedictine monk, abbot, reformer, and theologian) wrote, in a sermon, that Martha was actually more advanced than Mary. Mary, if you'll remember back in Luke 10, was - at the time - rightfully seated at the feet of Jesus in the attitude of a disciple who is still learning from her teacher because Mary still had more to learn. Martha was the one, you will remember, who was up running around and preparing the meal and working. Saint Bernard suggests that Martha was able to do just that because she had already completed her training… she had spent the time she needed at the feet of Jesus, and she was now an apostle, an evangelist, and ready to serve others. So, I think we really see that come out here in this passage where Martha takes the initiative and goes out to meet Jesus, regardless of what custom and tradition told her she should be doing.
[00:18:30] “Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.’”
Note how Martha addresses Jesus - she calls him Lord! And her faith in Jesus is evident, even if it is couched in a bit of disappointment and reproach. Yet in all of that, her hope is abundantly clear. Her close relationship to Jesus entitles her to be completely open and honest with him. It should be the same for us! Jesus loves us and he wants to know how we feel! So, he is always open to that… just as he listened to Martha express her feelings.
“Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’”
That would have been a typical response at the time, a typical belief, remember even the Pharisees believed in resurrection.
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life;’”
There is one of those seven “I AM” statements that Jesus makes in John's Gospel… and one of the three, as I said, that have to do with life. This is an unequivocal statement! Jesus doesn't say: I will be the resurrection in the life, he says: I AM! He means this doesn't apply only to the afterlife - it means always, at all times! What we can take away from that is that direct knowledge of God begins in this life, for us, and will be fulfilled in the afterlife…
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
[00:20:40] Jesus asks Martha directly - do you really believe all that I have taught you? Martha's answer is equally straightforward…
[00:20:51] “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.”
Martha's declaration of faith echoes Peter's declaration inspired by God the Father at Caesarea Philippi.
[00:21:09] “When she had said this, [Martha] went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, ‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’”
[00:21:17] Notice how Martha refers to Jesus when she speaks to Mary… she calls him Teacher. We know that's not how she addressed Jesus directly, so why does she change?
[00:21:33] Simply put, it's because faith cannot be forced. Each of us has to have our own encounter with God and come to accept the gift of faith he offers us in our own way and on our own time. Martha is speaking here in a way she thinks Mary is ready to understand.
[00:21:57] “And when [Mary] heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.”
[00:22:07] Remember, Jesus is coming to confront death… the death of Lazarus, certainly, but all death, his own death as well. And his progress toward the tomb is still slow.
[00:22:24] “When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.”
[00:22:34] That is still an unusual action. The mourner typically would not leave the house during shiva.
“Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’”
[00:22:52] Two things are worth mentioning here - first, Mary fell at Jesus’ feet which is a posture of worship that would have been reserved for God alone and second, Mary addresses Jesus as Lord. She is clearly further along than Martha surmised.
[00:23:11] “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled;”
God hates death - death was never part of his plan, he did not create humanity for death, we brought that on ourselves.
[00:23:33] And being fully human, Jesus takes on all of the peculiarities of his human nature, he experiences all the emotions that any human would - even grief at the death of a friend and sympathy for the grief of others. That's what John is telling us here.
[00:23:59] “and [Jesus] said, ‘Where have you laid him?’”
God is searching for his lost friend.
[00:24:07] “They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept.
[00:24:14] I think that is one of the most profound and touching statements in all of Scripture. Jesus is not shedding tears of despair, though. These are tears of love, grief, mercy, sympathy, and gentleness.
[00:24:38] “So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’ Then Jesus, deeply moved again,”
[00:24:54] One commentary I read suggested that the words DEEPLY MOVED AGAIN indicate that Jesus was frustrated, if not even approaching angry, at the lack of faith expressed by some of those mourners.
[00:25:11] “Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.’”
[00:25:31] Martha is being immensely practical here.
“Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believe you would see the glory of God?’”
[00:25:42] Every one of us must go through doubt to arrive at faith. From a positive perspective, doubt says: I don't understand - and seeks greater knowledge. From a negative perspective, doubt results in despair and eventually rejection. Martha, clearly, here is saying: I don't understand - and seeking from Jesus even greater knowledge.
[00:26:13] “So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that you sent me.’”
[00:26:30] This is a prayer of thanksgiving that Jesus offers to his Heavenly Father. Jesus prays often to his Father, but this time he does it out loud so that the people around him - specifically - will hear it and understand that closeness.
“When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Laz’arus, come out.’”
Scriptures tell us that a trumpet blast will herald the general resurrection at the Second Coming, so John is alluding to that when Jesus cries out in a loud voice.
[00:27:05] And what is the result?
“The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth.”
[00:27:15] Clearly, this is not resurrection… it's resuscitation! Lazarus is not transformed! He is still tied with burial bands, his head is still covered, he is still bound by death - he will die again!
[00:27:38] Anyone who thinks being raised from the dead, as Lazarus was, is a good thing… think on that! Lazarus, who has already experienced death, will have to go through that again. Martha and Mary, who have already experienced grief, will have to experience that grief again.
[00:27:59] This is a great miracle that Jesus performs, a great sign, and his reason for it is clear… but the repercussions are something we don't often consider and they need to be thought of.
[00:28:16] “Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”
That is the final indication that Lazarus’ resuscitation was completely different from Jesus' Resurrection, isn't it? In Jesus' Resurrection, the burial cloths were laying in one place and the head cloth was rolled up in a separate place. Jesus was in complete control of his Resurrection, Lazarus had no say in the matter.
[00:28:48] “Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.”
The NAB translates that a bit differently - it says: BEGAN TO BELIEVE IN HIM. And notice it doesn't say all, it says many. So, what about the others who were present?
[00:29:08] Luke goes on to tell us that some of them went directly to the Pharisees to report what Jesus had done… and the Pharisees then gathered the council and began to plan Jesus' death.
[00:29:24] The defining act of Jesus' public ministry becomes the occasion that finally pushes the Jewish authorities past their breaking point. They became trapped by the darkness of their own hatred and resentment of Jesus, their lives darkened by sin. So, what about us? Saint Irenaeus (a 2nd cent bishop and Doctor of the Church) wrote that the glory of God is the human person fully alive. That's always been one of my favorite quotes and - actually - it's where I got the title for this episode. But Bishop Robert Barron takes that a step further and says, Jesus is a cosmic warrior who has come to do battle with all the forces that keep us from being fully alive! That keeps all of humanity from being fully alive. So, if Jesus is a cosmic warrior come to fight for us - hadn't we better do our part?
[00:30:45] Shouldn't we repent and turn away from the darkness of sin, so that we are clean… to reflect the glory of God in our lives?
[00:30:58] God exists outside of time and space - he already knows what choice we've made! But we are bound by time and space and, as long as we're alive, we still have that choice looming ahead of us. So, what will it be?
[00:31:18] That takes us to our First Reading which is from Ezekiel 37: 12-14.
“Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it, says the LORD.”
[00:31:57] Ezekiel was a high-ranking priest in the Jerusalem Temple before the Babylonian exile.
[00:32:06] His book begins with the words: “In the thirtieth year…” and many scripture scholars believe that those words refer to Ezekiel's age at the time he became a prophet. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, captured Jerusalem in 597 BC and deported what became the first of three waves of exiles from Judah into Babylon. That first wave was comprised of King Jehoiachin and members of the upper and middle classes of Jewish society - including Ezekiel.
[00:32:44] Ezekiel then became a prophet in Babylon, the first prophet to be called to prophesy outside the Holy Land.
[00:32:55] Ezekiel is one of the most pessimistic of all the prophets because his mission was to prepare the exiles for the destruction of Jerusalem. Many of those he prophesied to believed that that would never take place, so his message tended to fall on deaf ears.
[00:33:20] When, however, Nebuchadnezzar actually destroyed the city of Jerusalem ten years later, in 587 BC, Ezekiel was vindicated and his message then changed. He stopped his Oracles of Destruction and moved to a message of the promise of salvation in a new covenant. This particular passage, from today, is from the Oracles of Restoration - it is one of Ezekiel's most famous oracles, the absolutely beautiful and poetic passage about dry bones.
[00:34:00] So let's go back through what Ezekiel is saying…
“Thus says the Lord GOD:”
Remember, whenever a prophet says those words, he is speaking directly for God.
“Behold, I will open your grave graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel.”
In those words, Ezekiel is saying - for God - that Babylon is the grave.
[00:34:27] So that means that God will liberate the exiles from the captivity of their graves in Babylon and will return them to their home in Jerusalem.
“And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.”
In other words, the people's restoration and return will be proof of God's fidelity.
[00:34:55] “I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live,”
The word Spirit, here, is the same word Ruah from Genesis (the Spirit of God, the Breath of Life), that animating Spirit that is necessary for life.
“and I will place you in your own land;”
The people will return to Jerusalem.
“then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it, says the LORD.”
Meaning the Lord is trustworthy - he will do what he promises to do! Remember the essence of death and the essence of sin are the same thing… separation! Death is separation from life; sin is separation from God. Sin and impurity breed death; holiness and purity breed life. Ezekiel is telling the exiles, and us, that God alone has power over life and death, so you can clearly see why this passage was paired with the Gospel! And that God can raise the dead (like Jesus raised Lazarus) and give life to the lifeless (like the dry bones of the exiles trapped in the grave of Babylon). The heart of Ezekiel's message is that the Babylonian conquest of Judah was punishment for the people being unfaithful to the covenant with God.
[00:36:34] That should speak to us as modern Christians as well. Jesus instituted a New Covenant with us, a Covenant in his Body and Blood. And when we are unfaithful to that Covenant, when we fall into the darkness of sin, we must seek out God's forgiveness in the Sacraments. When we do that we can again be fully alive and reflect God's glory in our lives.
[00:37:12] That takes us to our Responsorial Psalm, which this week is Psalm 130, and the refrain is:
“With the LORD there is mercy and plenteous redemption.”
And here are the verses:
[00:37:27] “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.”
[00:38:14] This Psalm is an Individual Penitential Lament - the author, however, is no innocent sufferer. The author is one who is guilty of some offense of which we are not informed, and he is asking for forgiveness rather than God's justice.
[00:38:39] When the Psalmist says: OUT OF THE DEPTHS I CRY TO YOU, he is acknowledging his guilt and then waiting for God's response. And, just as the terrors that haunt the night disappear in daylight, the Psalmist's fears will disperse when the light of day dawns… that is what is meant by WATCHMEN WAITING FOR MORNING. And that's also why the Psalmist repeats that phrase.
[00:39:08] At the end of the Psalm, the focus shifts from the individual to the entire community, where all of Israel is urged to wait confidently for God's mercy and redemption.
[00:39:23] And that leads us to our Second Reading, which is from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans 8: 8-11.
[00:39:31] “[Brothers and Sisters:] [T]hose who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
[00:40:18] Remember, Romans is an Ambassadorial Letter, so called because Paul is using it to introduce himself to the Christian community in Rome, and he's trying to make a good impression on them so that they will help him launch a future missionary journey to Spain. In his letter, Paul is quite thorough in explaining his theology, which is why the letter is so lengthy (it is the longest of all of Paul's letters). Now, as a Pharisee, which he was before his conversion, Paul understood that strict adherence to the Mosaic Law was absolutely necessary to gain eternal life. As a follower of Christ, however, Paul knows that is not the case, so… all of chapter 8 of Romans essentially addresses the question: if the Law isn't life giving, then what is?
[00:41:21] So let's go back through and understand what Paul has to say about that…
[00:41:29] “[Brothers and Sisters:] [T]hose who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really dwells in you.”
The words flesh and spirit can lead us to an incorrect interpretation of Paul's words, so let's dig into this a bit deeper. The Greek words Paul uses are SARX and PNEUMA, which have a much richer meaning than our English words flesh and spirit. The word SARX (which is a Greek word for flesh), doesn't just mean skin… it means the entire human person turned away from God and turned inward toward the self.
[00:42:22] The word PNEUMA (the Greek word for spirit), on the other hand, means one who lives and works in the service of something greater, in the service of - from the Greek perspective: the first source… in the Spirit of - what we would understand to be: the Holy Spirit… and eternal life.
[00:42:48] Such a person outwardly expresses their spiritual orientation by working for others, or in the service of others, rather than devoting time and effort to the self. As I said, that's a much broader, richer, and clearer definition of the concepts Paul is trying to explain.
“Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
Paul means Baptism. Baptism is the beginning of everything… that is how we belong to Christ. We are marked for Christ when we receive the Sacrament of Baptism.
“But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin,”
Meaning that we are subject to death and decay because of the darkness of sin, the propensity to sin that dwells within us, our own concupiscence.
“your spirits are alive because of righteousness.”
The Catholic meaning of righteousness is that we live according to God's will, loving and serving others, and that we grow in righteousness through authentic acts of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving - not just in Lent - but throughout the year. Now, that's not something that we can achieve solely through our own effort or attain by our own merit… God's grace is essential!
[00:44:23] Our desire, our effort is necessary for us to make a start, we have to want to do it and we have to be willing to do it, but we can only succeed when we are aided by God's grace.
[00:44:37] “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,”
Paul, of course, means the Holy Spirit, that eternal exchange of love and life that proceeds from the Father and the Son.
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
That process of giving life to our mortal bodies begins in Baptism… it continues throughout our mortal lives… and is eventually completed in heaven. So, what Paul has concluded is that self-mastery does not come from adherence to the Mosaic Law, it comes from the Holy Spirit.
[00:45:35] But, we don't always automatically follow the promptings of the Spirit because of our concupiscence - that tendency each one of us has toward the darkness of sin. But a choice is required!
[00:45:54] So what choice will we make? Will we remain in the darkness of sin, devoted solely to ourselves, and eternally separated from God? Or will we follow the cosmic warrior come to fight for us, turn away from the darkness of sin, and allow the glory of God to shine forth in our lives?
[00:46:23] Remember, as long as we are alive, we still have a choice… we still have an opportunity.
[00:46:35] So, what will it be?
[00:46:41] Before I end this episode, I want to give all of you a heads up about next week, which is Palm Sunday. The Palm Sunday readings are some of the longest readings of the entire Liturgical Year, so I will split Palm Sunday into two episodes rather than trying to cram everything into one unbelievably long episode. In Part 1, I will cover just the main Gospel - the narrative of Christ's Passion and Death.
[00:47:11] In Part 2, I will cover the remaining Scriptures… the Gospel at the Procession, which begins our Palm Sunday Mass (which is the story of Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem), and then I will do the First Reading, Psalm, and Second Reading. So, join me next week for both episodes.
[00:47:34] If you if you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, send me an email at
[email protected]
Thank you for spending this time with me and until next we meet, may God shower his blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain and may he hold you, safe and secure, in the palm of his hand.
From His Word to Our Hearts is produced by SFS Audio Solutions.
The content of the show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask.
Our music was composed by Jimmy Flask and is used with permission of the composer. All rights reserved.
Information regarding references used in preparing the exegesis for this podcast is available upon request.
Thank you for listening and God bless.
