Lazarus, Paul and Ezekiel for Life

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary open our mind to consider the the nature of our Life. Paul speaks to the Romans about the Life of the Spirit which transforms our bodies, which tend to death through satisfaction of the desires of the flesh, into relationship with Jesus and His Body today.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. (Romans 8:11) Mary Lee Brock from Creighton University feels betrayed by Jesus when she imagines Him as one who I love so much but who failed to come in my time of need in the passage from the Gospel of John which tells of the death of Lazarus. Friar Jude Winkler examines this text closely. He ties the Christian understanding of the resurrection of the dead as full participation in our relationship of Life in Jesus which begins when we come to know His indwelling Presence in us through the Spirit. The promise of Ezekiel and the faith of Mary and Martha in the face of the death of their beloved brother show that we move forward when encountering death with the greatly disturbed response of Jesus as we mourn with tears the loss of the physical presence of our beloved and at the same time take consolation that the One who raised Lazarus and evokes our declaration of faith, like Martha, in the Son of God remains with us to our resurrection on the last day.