Talk of Resurrection

by Deacon José  |  03/26/2023  |  From the Clergy

We are approaching the end of Lent, and already the readings for this 5th Sunday anticipate us and speak to us about the resurrection.

In the Gospel Jesus raised Lazarus not to give a show of his power, but so that his contemporaries would believe in the resurrection. The raising of Lazarus is a foretaste of the resurrection of Jesus himself and of ours. Jesus raised Lazarus from natural death and Lazarus had to die again, but he will rise once more to eternal life; that is the promise of Jesus (John 11:24-26). Jesus will resurrect all of us who believe in Him to eternal life, that is our faith and hope of all of us who believe in Jesus.

Jesus tells us that all of us who believe in Him will resurrect us, but He also invites us to walk away from sin and temptations while we live in this bodily life. We are told to walk with Him who is the Light, He asks us not to walk in darkness and we already know that darkness is sin (John 11:9-10).

This is the path marked out by Lent to die to sin, to reach Easter by resurrecting to a new life (The Resurrection).

CCC 991. Believing in the resurrection of the dead has been an essential element of the Christian faith from its beginnings. "The resurrection of the dead is the hope of Christians; we are Christians because we believe in it" (Tertullian, De resurrectione mortuorum 1, 1): «How come some of you are saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ risen. And if Christ did not rise, our preaching is vain, your faith is also vain [...] But no! Christ rose from the dead as the first fruits of those who slept" (1 Cor 15, 12-14. 20).