March 22, 2026

The readings today point us to suffering, faith, and new life. As we know, Jesus had to suffer in his earthly life to accomplish his mission of ensuring eternal salvation for each of us. Suffering is something each of us has to go through in our lifetime. It can come in many forms and what is considered suffering to some may not be so for others. My personal suffering in life, was the end of my first marriage, losing a relationship with my three sons, then shortly afterwards losing both my parents when they were in their early sixties.

After my divorce, I found my way back to a deep relationship with God. This relationship and my deepening faith helped prepare me for the hurt of losing both my parents. It is true that God gives us what and who we need in his time, not ours.

After some self-care I went back to college and completed my under graduate degree and that is when my new life began. Not because, I liked going to evening classes and all the work that went with it – but because on one evening in the college bookstore I met the love of my life, my wife Tami. That chance meeting thirty years ago began a journey of hope, love and deepening our faith.

I consider that chance meeting so many years ago a rebirth to new life for me. Together, Tami and I began to attend Mass regularly, a weekly prayer group, ventured into bible study, and many other things rooted in our Catholic faith. It was never my plan to remarry, but God had different plans. We were even blessed with the gift of our daughter. It was never our plan to move to South Carolina until we were much older and retired, but God had different plans. It was never in my plans to become a permanent deacon, but God had different plans.

Today, I find the most joy in meeting people where they are on their faith journey and helping them in any way possible. My Wednesday visits as a chaplain at the hospital bring me great joy and I hope that some of the many people that I speak with our touched in some way and feel the love of Jesus.

We’re all called to be like Jesus to those we encounter each day. To make them know they are loved by a God that created them and cares for them. We never know when a chance smile or conversation could be the one thing someone needs to help them through whatever suffering or difficult situation they are going through.

Let’s take a look at what today’s readings are telling us about suffering, faith, and new life.

The prophet Ezekiel tells us of the Lord’s promise to not only bring us back to life but to bring us home.

• In this Old Testament passage, Ezekiel speaks of a beautiful new life for God’s faithful people through the indwelling of the Spirit.
• The people that heard this message must have been filled with great joy, that the suffering they experience in this lifetime will be nothing compared to the joy of eternal life with the Lord.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, tells us that faith in being restored to new life is not enough. We have to believe that the spirit of Christ has to live in us and through us to restore us to new life.

• When we receive baptism, we die in Christ. The water of Baptism represents our descending into death from sin, but we also bind our fate with that of Christ and rise from the water into new life.
• Next Sunday we’ll remember Christ’s journey from Incarnation to Passion and Death. However, in faith and in Christ, we know that was not the end of Our Lord’s story, and it will not be the end of ours either. New life awaits us.

In the Gospel today Jesus shows us our faith combined with him is something much more. It is not just a passive faith that takes life’s challenges as they come. Through Martha’s faith in Christ, we see the power of belief attached to God. In the Gospel, John points out that "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus."

• And yet, in spite of his love, Jesus doesn't rush back to Jerusalem to heal Lazarus.
• Nor does he heal him from a distance, as he did with the Centurion's servant (Mt 8:5-13).
• Jesus loves these friends, and yet he lets them suffer.
• He lets them experience helplessness and weakness, the painful separation of death and the loss of a loved one.

Did he do it to punish them? Did he do it because he had no power to remedy the evil? No, he let them suffer precisely because he loved them.

• If God protected us from all suffering, we could make the mistake of thinking that earth is heaven, that we could make ourselves truly happy just by our own efforts.
• But we live in a fallen world, a world in which suffering is inevitable.
• And God allows us to experience that suffering as a way to remind us that life on earth is a journey towards heaven - it's the path, not the goal.
• The goal is heaven, and the resurrection of Lazarus is a foreshadowing of what is to come.

What matters in life is not being perfectly comfortable: what matters in life is knowing, loving, and following Jesus Christ.

• Jesus uses our sufferings to help us to know, love, and follow him.
• Our sufferings remind us that we are not God; they make us turn to God.
• He uses them as opportunities to act in our lives in new ways, revealing himself to us more completely, just as he did with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.
• In this way, he shows that his protective care and guidance is more powerful than even life's greatest sufferings. Nothing is out of reach for Christ's redemption.

It is no coincidence that the Church presents this story, of Lazarus’ resurrection, to us towards the end of the Lenten liturgical season:

• Two weeks ago, Christ told the Samaritan woman at the well that he was the Messiah. A woman that Jews, of Jesus’ time, would have avoided. But Jesus not only spoke with her, he transformed her into his disciple – and offered her a new life.
• Last week he cured a man born blind, something no one had ever done before. This miracle infuriated the leaders of the Jews. They even went so far as to call Jesus a sinner and tried to convince their congregation of such.
• And now Jesus tops everything by raising Lazarus from the dead, which is the climax of his miracles. It leads directly to the Sanhedrin’s plot against Jesus, signaling the start of his passion.
• Lazarus is a foreshadowing of the new life that Jesus; dead and raised will give to all who believe in him.
• The irony in John’s Gospel message is found in the fact that Jesus’ gift of new life for Lazarus, leads to his own death.

Jesus knows that in order to fulfill the Father's plan of salvation he will soon have to suffer humiliation, torture, and death. As that moment draws near, he performs miracle after miracle to bolster his disciples' faith, so that it will survive the events of Calvary. And He is doing it to bolster our faith too,

• so that we can continue to hope even in the midst of our crosses,
• which are nothing less than pieces of his Cross,
• which in turn was the undeniable proof that his protective care and guidance can bring new life out of suffering,
• just as it is going to bring Easter Sunday out of Good Friday.

But Jesus has given purpose to our sufferings and struggles.

• We know that he allows them for a reason, just as a good coach pushes his players beyond their comfort zone, no matter how much they complain.
• When we accept Christ's cross in our lives, even through our tears, we grow in wisdom and spiritual maturity - just like Martha in today's Gospel passage.

Having purpose in our suffering also makes it possible for us to have peace in our sufferings.

• Christ has proven that he will bring great things out of the greatest struggles.
• And so, when storms of evil rock our boats, even while we struggle to keep afloat, in our hearts we can be at peace.
• Jesus wants us to have confidence in him, to trust him no matter what.

In a few moments we will pray the Creed. When we do, let's pray it from the heart, expressing our unlimited confidence in Christ the Lord.

And when He comes to us in the Eucharist today, let's ask him to strengthen all hearts that are still seeking purpose in their sufferings.

And at the end of Mass today, after father’s final blessing, you will hear me say “Go announce the Gospel of the Lord.”

That is our mission here on earth, to bring the Gospel message of new life to those who have fallen away from the church or to those that do not know the Gospel message. Remember, we are a resurrection people and it is up to us to spread the good news of Our Lord, Jesus Christ to all that we meet.