‘Jesus is the Lord of life’

By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami

Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily while celebrating Mass for the Pastoral Center staff for the Fifth Week of Lent and the rededication of the Memorial Garden, held April 7, 2025.

Today’s readings from an optional Mass for the Fifth Week of Lent, especially during Years “B” and “C” (when we don’t hear on Sunday the Gospel account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead). Of course, I was tempted to use the reading from Daniel and the rather titillating story of Susana, but it is rather long. And the readings from this optional Mass fit in very well with the brief rededication of the Memorial Garden that will follow the Mass.

Both the first reading from the Book of Kings and today’s Gospel tell us of two amazing accounts of a dead person being brought back to life. Both the boy raised by the prophet and Lazarus raised by Jesus would have to die one day again but both point to the fact that our Lord is the Lord of life. God didn’t make us just to die one day. We were created by God, and we were created that one day we might live with God for all eternity. So, the readings point us to the hope that is ours thanks to the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus which we will solemnly celebrate next week.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus tells Martha that he is the “Resurrection and the life”. The darkness of the tomb is not too dark for Jesus, the death of Lazarus does not mean that it is too late for Jesus to be his life.

When a loved one dies, we become acutely aware of a large absence in our life. Such was the case with Mary and the friends of Lazarus. And as we see in this Gospel reading, sometimes that absence can become a time of regret and even reproach. In our sorrow we might engage in some wishful thinking, if only I had…. Or, like Martha, we might even reproach Jesus, “If only you had…”

But death can also be a time of healing, especially if we were afforded the time to say “goodbye” and to forgive past hurts and to reconcile ourselves by seeking forgiveness or giving forgiveness for past hurts.

In any case, the death of a loved one can be a real trial for us – a time of real darkness for many of us, a darkness that only faith can give us the light to see beyond the reality of death and thus to see, in the light of that faith, the future glory that awaits us. Grief and sorrow are unavoidable. There is nothing wrong with our grieving. But we do not grieve like those who have no hope. For the Christian grief is not less painful, but grief is the pain of “letting go,” of letting them go into the embrace of a loving and merciful God.

As John said in the prologue of his Gospel, “All that came to be had life in him, and that life was the light of men, a light that shines in the dark, a light that darkness could not overpower.”

Our Memorial Wall lists priests who served the Church of Miami and were incardinated in the archdiocese when they died.  Also, we have reliefs of various bishops who faithfully served the Church under communism in Europe, Korea, and China. The Croatian artist, Mestrovic, sculpted the Pieta and these reliefs to memorialize those heroes of the faith, and it is fitting that we also memorialize our priests as well.  And I’ve been around this Archdiocese long enough to have known almost all of the priests listed on that wall. Hopefully, the wall will remind us to pray for them – and for the priests whose names will one day also be engraved on that wall.

Again, the story of the raising of Lazarus reminds us that Jesus is the Lord of life. He has the power to call us out of our tombs.

And isn’t that what Lent is about? That through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we can be unbound by the power of God’s grace from the shrouds of sin so that Easter also celebrates our sharing in Christ’s victory over Satan, sin, and death.