www.vocation.com - Lazarus, Come Out!

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Introductory Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, I struggle in my fight for holiness. I ask you, with the help of your grace, to help me to overcome what keeps me from loving you as I ought.

Petition: Give me the strength to be the person that I ought to be.

1. "Take Away the Stone." Often there is something that keeps us from loving Christ as we ought. Try as we ought to be perfect, we encounter obstacles and difficulties that hinder us from being as Christ wants us to be. The stone in our lives is not something to scorn; it is a way to help ourselves to love Christ more. As difficult as it may be to take away the stone, to take it away will help us to make ourselves the people God wants us to be. St. Paul reflects on his stone: a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me (2 Corintians 12:7-10).

2. "Lazarus, Come Out!" God made us to be holy. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love (Ephesians 1:3). The invitation of Christ to Lazarus to come out of the cave is an invitation to begin again and to pursue a saintly life. The cave is comfortable. One who abandons the cave and the warmth and comfort there steps out into the light where others see his acts. We can easily cower in our cave and not seek to come out, not seek to change and become a new man in Christ. However, Christ wishes us to pursue perfection. He demands from us perfection, and that we are to settle for nothing less: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

3. "Unbind Him, and Let Him Go." Christ wants us to proceed, to advance. He does not will for us to settle for mediocrity, to permit ourselves to be bound by the difficulties and obstacles that we face. Rather, he seeks to give us the tools that are necessary for us to truly be free. Freedom is doing what we ought to do. When we are living authentic lives, then we are really free. God wants us to apply our freedom so as to seek him. God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel, so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him (Gaudium et Spes, 17). God wants us to come to him, to leave behind the shackles that hold us down, but we can only do so if we strive to conquer ourselves. When we do so, then we can say that we have done something for him.

Conversation: Lord Jesus, I want to roll the stone away from my tomb. I know that it may not be easy, and that it may require much sacrifice, but I also know that with you I can do all things. Grant me the grace to conquer myself so that I may be an authentic person. Help me to help you see me as I ought to be.

Questionnaire:

1. What are the defects and sins that keep me from loving Christ as I ought (pride, disobedience, Internet use, laziness, selfishness, vulgarity, lying, etc.)? What do I identify as the stone of my life?

2. How can I inculcate virtue to conquer what keeps me from truly loving Christ in my life? What do I identify as the foil virtue or virtues to the stone in my life?

3. What is my plan to fully open up my tomb? How do I intend to use my freedom?