Fifth Sunday of Lent
In the early church, the weeks prior to easter provided the time of catechesis for those who would be entering the church. Those who were baptized would attend the liturgy of the word and then be excused while the baptized celebrated and received the eucharist. The readings chosen for this time provided key instruction for the catechumens and a renewal of the fundamentals of the faith for everyone else. Today’s reading was an important reading, the raising of Lazarus. The story itself is set within an instruction on Jesus and eternal life. For the early Christians, the life of faith provided both meaning in this life and the promise of eternal life in the next. This message fell on hard times in the 19th century, a period which saw the increase of materialism and the root cause of that, atheism. The reading today calls us to consider the fundamental question that was asked by those who stood around the tomb of Lazarus: Do we consider seriously the idea of eternal life and how do our actions reflect this concern?