The Promise of Resurrection

by Peggy Colf, Executive Assistant  |  03/22/2026  |  This Sunday's Reading

How many of us wish that we could bring back a loved one after they have died? If you listened to the readings, this weekend, that is just what happened to Martha and Mary, the two sisters of Lazarus. When he became gravely ill, they sent a messenger to Jesus to let Him know, with the hope that Jesus would come immediately to heal him. Instead of rushing there Jesus delayed and Lazarus died. Can you imagine the pain and hurt they felt thinking that if Jesus had just been there, their brother would not have died? We might ask, “ if these were friends of Jesus why did he not go right away”? We, like them, at times, pray, and we wait in earnest for God to help us.

Sometimes it feels God is absent from our pain, our struggles and we begin to wonder why God is not listening to us. We might even feel abandoned because nothing seems to happen when we want it to. Like Martha we might say, “Lord if you only would have listened things would be different”, and like Martha we need to have deep faith in Jesus. We need to believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and He is the resurrection and the Life and that we and our loved ones will arise on the Last Day. Many of us are like Mary, we start weeping and are full of grief. Jesus wept with her and felt her pain and suffering. Jesus then asks for the stone of the grave to be removed and calls Lazarus out and he comes out alive but still bound in his burial wraps. Jesus then asks those witnessing this to unbind Lazarus. Jesus is showing us that healing requires courage, involvement, and release. This we find when we go to confession. We need to have the courage to approach God through the priest with our sins, we involve ourselves and the priest as we confess to God our sins, and if we are truly sorry, we are released from our sins by God through the priest. We pray for resurrection, but are we willing to roll away the stones? Faith is about choosing life and trusting in God’s power to bring life. Jesus shows us that He has power over death and He brings hope to those who trust in Him. You still have time during this Lenten Season to have courage, be involved and have release with the knowledge that Easter will soon be here. (PC)