March 22, 2026
V Sunday of Lent
Fr. Rosario Pierri
The Lord give you peace. I am Fr. Rosario Pierri, lecturer at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem. Here we are again together to walk a short stretch of our Lenten journey.
The resurrection of Lazarus is the last of the seven miracles or signs recounted by the fourth evangelist. The many details recalled prove that the author of the account was an eyewitness of the event. What illness afflicted this dear friend of Jesus is not clearly told.
The speed with which the sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, inform Jesus suggests that they were particularly concerned for their brother’s health and survival. The illness must have been serious. Illness is inevitable, as suffering is.
When they come, they must be welcomed or endured as trials that strengthen faith. I am speaking of believers. Christ did not come to preserve us from these trials, but to redeem us from sin.
What the ways of providence may be we do not know, but since they lead to the glory of God, which has as its end our salvation, we must be grateful to Him and not be ungrateful or forgetful of the many benefits received, which suddenly disappear from our minds when difficulties arise, like the seed choked by thorns. If there is one certainty that must not be doubted, it is the love of God. To our eyes it may seem delayed, but His times are not ours.
We can only wait with trust. Our certainties can deceive us. We may be convinced that we are firmly grounded in our faith, but faith has its reasons and is demanding.
It may happen that we forget that daily trials will end only at the end of life. Our witness will end only then. Christ has never hidden the demands of following Him.
And only if it is lived with faith does the yoke become sweet and the burden light. Otherwise, they become oppressive. The certainty of the resurrection should make us, if not immune, at least less subject to despair, more willing to understand and accept adversities and even death.
For the disciples it was now too late to go to Lazarus. There was the risk of exposing themselves too much. They thought that in such cases it is preferable to let events take their course and allow things to resolve themselves.
Yet following the resurrection of Lazarus many believed in Jesus, and many were given the opportunity to strengthen their faith in Him, even the disciples themselves. Jesus had a privileged relationship with the three siblings, with their home where the fear of God reigned. Mourning, with its sorrow, did not spare it.
No one is exempt. Martha’s instinctive character drives her to go out to meet Jesus. On this occasion she proves superior to Mary, who instead remains at home overcome by sadness.
God visits us on every occasion. The prophet Isaiah exhorts, "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near." He is welcomed with faith, and every hope is placed in Him in prayer.
But we do not know what it is right to ask of Him. He knows what is good for us. Let us not hinder His work.
Martha believed in the resurrection at the end of time. But Jesus opens for her an unexpected horizon, revealing that He Himself is resurrection and life. He gives life and can raise it from death when and as He wills.
What a wonderful truth the Lord reveals to us! The daily resurrection from sin and that at the end of the days of the body are in relation to Him. We are never alone, and we will not be alone in the final judgment. Whoever believes in Him and finds comfort in Him will one day be able to bear witness to it and comfort those who are in sorrow.
In the soul of our Lord Jesus move the feelings of every human being. Indeed, in Him, without sin, they flow pure like water from a spring. The sorrow of the sisters and of the others present becomes His sorrow.
His tears do not express only compassion for the death of dear Lazarus, but take on the more universal character of sharing in the condition of humanity with its limits, the toil of daily living unfortunately marked by sin with all its consequences. Jesus is the High Priest who knows how to sympathize with our weaknesses. He has been tested in everything in His humanity, except sin.
Jesus teaches us to turn to God by calling Him Father, to have recourse to Him with the trust and boldness of children who feel loved and therefore welcomed. The gesture of the Lord is so evident and powerful, before all, in order to convince them that God the Father has sent Him into the world as Son.
It is as if He had proclaimed, "I am the Son of God the Father," and as God the Son I give life back to Lazarus. We can see in this scene an anticipation of the resurrection of the dead who will come out of the tombs at the sound of the archangel’s trumpet on the last day. Whoever is in Christ cannot remain in the tomb of sin.
He must rise to new life. Lazarus awoke from the sleep of death to return to earthly life, which would once again come to its end and would again face death. But what joy he must have felt when he realized that waiting for him outside was his beloved Lord.
His voice had raised him. Now he could once again contemplate Him and embrace Him. Sheol would not imprison his soul, which at its time would instead rise to heaven toward eternal light.
And one day, dear friends, we hope with all our being to be forever with our Lord on the day that has no end. Raised by His voice, we too, like Lazarus, to the light of His presence. Peace and good from the Holy Land.
Have a good continuation of Holy Lent.
