Dear Parishioners,

Today is the 5th Sunday of Lent. It used to be called Passion Sunday, the beginning of Passiontide. All the statues and pictures in the Church would be covered in purple. We would be preparing to enter into into the most Solemn time in the Liturgical Year. Today’s Gospel is the Raising of Lazarus. This is the third of the three Scrutiny Gospels preparing our Elect for Baptism at the Easter Vigil. The three Gospels are the Woman at the Well, the Man Born Blind and the Raising of Lazarus. The woman at the well shows us how an encounter with Jesus is the foundation of faith. The woman’s testimony raises faith by her words, but then the people of the village come to belief because of their encounter with Christ. But, how far does this faith go? What is the fullness of faith in Jesus? The Man Born Blind pushes out the bourdaries of faith in Jesus by showing us that he can do something that had never been done before, that is, giving sight to someone born blind. The envelope of faith gets pushed out its fullest bourdaries today with the raising of Lazarus. The comment by the bystanders:  “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” shows that their faith is still limited. Now, Jesus is going to reveal the fullness of faith in him: That he is God having absolute power over death. He is the Resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Him will never die. The Resurrection reveals the fullness of Jesus’ divine personhood. It also reveals the fullness of what he will do for those who have faith in Him. During this time of testing, we can console ourselves that He who could cure this coronavirus has an even greaert plan for us, that is eternal life.

We are having our outdoor Adoration today. It is going well. We have many cars in the parking lot. We will keep doing it, weather permitting. We may even do it during the week. I have heard comments from people (at a distance) that watching on tv is just not the same. The Son of God became man. We have concrete religion, one that is not the same when we are not physically present for each other and we cannot receive the Body of Christ. The Governor made a recent statement that this social distancing, to some degree, may have to go on until July. They don’t expect the number of new cases to begin falling until then. Let us pray that all our efforts to contain the virus will bear fruit soon, that we may be restored to our regular lives.

God bless you all. Have a prayerful and joyful Passiontide. Fr. LaHood