Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The resurrection of Lazarus, narrated in the Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Liturgical Cycle A, says Benedict XVI, is “the last great sign worked by Jesus, after which the high priests and the Sanhedrin meet, and plot to kill Him. They even plan to kill Lazarus himself, as he is the living proof of Christ’s divinity and Christ is the Lord of life and death.” Prior to the recitation of the Angelus on March 9, the Pope explained that “in reality this Gospel passage shows Jesus as true Man and true God.” The evangelist focuses on Jesus’ friendship with Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary. It was so profound, that Jesus shows His “sincere compassion for the pain of his death,” and even weeps. However, Jesus also demonstrates his “absolute power” over death, “expressing God’s view of physical death with the metaphor of sleep... The death of the body is a sleep from which God can awaken one at any moment.”
“Christ’s heart is divine and human: in Him, God and Man are perfectly united, with neither separation nor confusion,” the Pope continued, “He is the image, indeed, the incarnation of God who is love, mercy, and paternal and maternal tenderness, of the God who is Life. That is why He says to Martha, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, he will live; whoever lives and believes in me, will never die.’” And Jesus later asks Martha: “Do you believe this?” This is a question that “Jesus addresses to each one of us; a question that certainly overwhelms us, it overwhelms our ability to understand, and it asks us to entrust ourselves to him, as he has entrusted himself to the Father...Yes, O Lord! We too believe, despite our doubts and our darkness; we believe in you, because you have the words of eternal life; we want to believe in you, who gives us a trustworthy hope of life beyond life, of authentic and full life in your kingdom of light and peace.”
Following the Angelus, the Holy Father renewed his appeal for the Holy Land and Iraq, saying, “In recent days, violence has again left a trail of blood in the Holy Land, fuelling a downward spiral of destruction and death that seems to have no end. While I invite you to pray with insistence to the Lord Almighty for the gift of peace for the region, I wish to entrust to His mercy the many innocent victims and express solidarity with the families and the injured. I also encourage the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to continue negotiations in order to build a peaceful and just future for their peoples. I ask that all, in God’s name, leave behind the tortured path of hatred and revenge, and pursue the responsible paths of dialogue and trust. This is my request, for Iraq as well, while we still fear for the fate of Archbishop Rahho and for the many Iraqi people who continue to suffer blind and meaningless violence that is certainly contrary to the will of God.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 10/3/2008; righe 36, parole 523)
