“EGO SUM RESURRECTIO ET VITA” OR THE FORETASTE OF REDEMPTION.
March 29 2020: Fifth Sunday of Lent - A
A Blackfoot proverb says, “Life is not separate from death.
It only looks that way.” And Ashanti proverb adds, “Life is the beginning of
death.”
“I
am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; whoever believes in me, even
if he dies, will never die.” Entering today’s liturgy, one could think it is already
Easter Sunday. For, all the readings are about life after death. They all speak
of resurrection, and that raises higher our hope and faith in that mystery. The
Catechism, speaking of our faith in the Resurrection, states, “Christ will
raise us up "on the last day"; but it is also true that, in a certain
way, we have already risen with Christ. For, by virtue of the Holy Spirit,
Christian life is already now on earth a participation in the death and
Resurrection of Christ” (CCC. 1002).
The resurrection, therefore, is not a utopia, nor a mere
story for children. It is the central reality of our faith. Jesus has risen so
that we who believe in him might rise from our death. St. Paul, answering to
those who believe not in the resurrection, voices out with energy, “And if
Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty, too, your
faith” (1Co 15:14). We have it clear that the denial of the resurrection
involves logical inconsistencies, and therefore it becomes a denial of faith,
as faith finds its fundamentals in the resurrection of the Lord.
The Prophet Ezekiel, in today’s first reading, announces
that God will open our graves, and take us out from death, and bring us back to
live in the land of the livings. With the Lord, we know, there is fullness of
life.
Paul, in the second reading, speaks of our personal and
individual resurrection after that of Jesus. The Apostle says, “If the Spirit
of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised
Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his
Spirit dwelling in you.” By Baptism, we belong to Christ and his Spirit dwells
in us. Consequently, “although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is
alive because of righteousness.” Therefore, the resurrection is also possible
for us, even though we are sinners. Christ died and was risen so that, in him
and through him, we might live. For, he is our Resurrection.
The Gospel comes to give a piece of evidence to all these
sayings and raise firm our faith in the resurrection. The resurrection of
Lazarus of Bethany is the foretaste and the pattern of our future
resurrections.
We are today, one week before the Passion of the Lord. Jesus
raising Lazarus from the dead manifests the power of life over death. St. John
mentions that “When Jesus heard this he said, “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”.” There is a beautiful concordance in this passage and last
Sunday’s Gospel. Last Sunday, when Jesus was asked by his disciples about who
had sinned, that the man should be born blind, the Lord answered, “it is so
that the works of God might be made visible through him.” Today again, he says of
Lazarus death or illness, that it “is for the glory of God, that the Son of God
may be glorified through it.”
Man’s life is for the glory of God. Therefore, our death
becomes also a way for that glory to be manifest in its fullness. Because we
cannot dream of resurrection without death. Before one will rise, he first
needs to pass through death. The glory of the resurrection overcomes the
sadness and the sorrows of death and the grave. It is by passing through death
that we can be raised to new life. We all dream of the fullness of life. We can
reach that perfection of life only if we accept to cross the bridge, that is,
to pass through the imperfection of death.
St. Irenaeus said, “the glory of God is man fully alive.” How,
however, can we achieve this glory without turning the page of death? For, it
is only through death that we can enter into life, would say St. Theresa of the
Child Jesus – “I am not dying; I am entering life”. It is from the grave that
Jesus called Lazarus out for life. All that is required from us is faith. The
resurrection is before and beyond all, an act of faith. Thus, the reaction of
Jesus toward Martha who was mourning the loss of her brother: “I am the
resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Like Martha, all Christians should be able to raise high
their voice and profess, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the
Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” This Sunday is
for sure, the foretaste of Easter. It could be called the “little Easter” or
the Sunday of life. We see how, through the power of Christ, life sparks from death.
“Ego sum resurrectio et vita.” A great message for us today, suffering under
the COVID-19 pandemic. Life will always win over death. A new day will come.
Let us firmly believe it.
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