Lent Begins

 

Sometimes Lent comes on with a vengeance, it has this year. I'd no sooner returned to the rural idyll that is this small Texan farming community than texts, calls and emails began to flood the ether. Why? Because of several unexpected deaths at Mission #1.

So LSPland's been all about Requiem Masses, which is perhaps fitting. "Remember O man that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return," says the priest as he imposes ashen crosses on the foreheads of penitents on Ash Wednesday. 

A stark reminder of our mortality for sure but also a badge of victory, in Christ crucified life triumphs over death. And with that, may the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace and rise in glory.

With every blessing from the NCTEZ (North Central Texas Exclusion Zone) for a holy Lent,

LSP

Lazarus Come Forth

Here's a short reflection on today's Gospel:

We see Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This is terrifying because it confronts us with our own mortality, like Lazarus we're destined for death. As Ash Wednesday reminds us, "Remember, O Man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shall return."

Rather than face this unsettling truth we're inclined to run from it, to pretend immortality, and the culture around us bolsters the myth. We live in a world which has pushed death to the sideline, as if by denying it we will by some strange alchemy remove its specter. "You will not surely die," says the snake, eat of the apple "and you will be as God." (Gen. 3:4-5)

Satanic deceit and DFTR aside, the recent crisis has punctured the bubble of our supposed, godlike immortality. A disease looms over us which can be fatal, we must thank God that it's not more so, and over which we have little control, there is no cure. 

No wonder, then, that society around us is panicking. Our mortality, the very thing we've imagined out of existence, stares us in the face, the bubble is burst. Today's Gospel confronts us with the reality and tragedy of the thing. Lazarus is dead, Jesus wept. But consider.

Lazarus is dead and can do nothing about it, he has no power to help himself in the grave and neither do we. Christ, however, does.  He raises his friend to life, "Lazarus, come forth!" and Lazarus returns, alive, after four days in the tomb. 

We see that Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, has power over death. He defeats it himself, dying on the Cross only to rise again, triumphant over Hell, and he will raise us up too, his friends, his faithful, as he raised Lazarus.

So, in the words of our Lord who walked over the waters to his disciples, "be not afraid." (Jn. 6:20) Have no fear, we live in Christ, we are his friends, and neither the grave nor Pit has any power over us. We share in his victory, alive in him, to  everlasting life.

Take courage and rejoice in the mystery of our salvation and may God bless, preserve and keep you all, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Here endeth the Lesson, 

LSP