Vincentian Spirituality

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT        

Gospel: (John 11:1-45)

So Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. Jesus said, “Take 

away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be 

a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you 

believe you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised 

his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; 

but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” 

And when he has said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead 

man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face wrapped in a cloth. So 

Jesus said to them, Untie him and let him go.”  Now many of the Jews who had come to 

Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

Reflection:

Jesus promises Martha(and us) that whoever “lives and believes in me will never die.” 

The amazing fact of our living the dying and rising of the paschal mystery is that we 

already share in this eternal life. We readily see the dying in our everyday lives-the pain, 

suffering, death, sinfulness, self-emptying, discipline, giving up our wills. This gospel 

challenges us to see and believe equally signs of the grace of new life-glory, joy, peace, 

forgiveness, mercy, trust, kindness. Living the paschal mystery draws us to see these 

dyings and risings as two aspects of the same mystery. The already of eternal life is 

God’s grace already working in our lives. (Living Liturgy, p. 80)

Vincentian Meditation:

“Five years ago Thou didst bring me back almost from death, and was not this delay 

granted me to do penance and become better? Ah! The prayers that were sent up to Thee 

then were heard. Why should those that are being offered now, and in so far greater 

number, on my behalf, be lost? Perhaps Thou wilt answer them, Lord, in another way. 

Thou wilt give me courage, resignation, peace of soul, and those ineffable consolations 

that accompany Thy real presence.”-Bl. Frederic Ozanam- (Ramson, Praying with Frederic, 

pp. 108-109)