5th Sunday of Lent A 22 March 2026 Sermon

5th Sunday of Lent 22 March 2026  Life triumphs

We have desire for two things, somewhat opposed but both valid.

One is to go to Heaven, the other one is to stay here. We are happy to die if it is somewhere out there, a remote event, but not if it is today or tomorrow!

If we die at an unwanted time and it means we go to Heaven, we can come to like that.

We are supposed to trust the will of God. He knows His timing and He may have different ways of dealing with each person. For example, a short life or a long life, who can tell?

We try to cure sickness, of course, but we give way to the inevitable. Much is beyond us.

God is not as worried about death as we tend to be, because He is Lord of the living and the dead. (Rom 14,9). He knows both sides.

We know that God is concerned more with the state of the soul than that of the body, so He works for a closer union with each person. He wants people to know and love  Him; to come to a life that cannot die, and which will  bear much fruit in doing Gods will.

My greatest aim is to please God, we can say, but in practice it is more likely we please ourselves while trying not to offend God.

If God created us and designed the whole universe, and how everything works, we can trust in His being able to handle our life and death.

What Jesus did with Lazarus was unusual, but entirely within His power.

We ask the Lord to give us the right balance in dealing with these things.

Ph 1,20-26 :I am happy to live happy to die, whatever God wants, I want.

We see this with Jesus himself. He died to please the Father, while also fulfilling His own will, over which He had perfect control.

We should take reasonable care of our health and try to live as long as possible, but not clinging to life through fear.  The martyrs show us the way. They could see Heaven more than earth as they gave up their lives.

It is alright to want these things, which are really different stages of the same reality.

So it is natural if I pray for a safe trip, or a good result to the medical test, but we will be able to cope with whatever happens.

I want to be as good a disciple as I can be. And that is the basis for a happy death.

We will not resent dying but will see it as primarily a joyful thing,  as we go to a better state.

We wish this for others whom we love, that each person will come to the full spiritual understanding of his own death and what is involved.

The miracle of Lazarus was just God’s way of  demonstrating the power that he has, and the goodwill He has towards us.

Who can raise the dead by a word? He whose voice will bring forth the dead (Jn 5,25).

He is teaching us two things. Let go of those you love, and do not doubt that there is enough Life there to receive them.

We are now in the last two weeks  of Lent and we will have deeper thoughts on these matters at this time.

The Crucifixion looks like the end of the road and the crushing of all  hope; yet so quickly is that position reversed.

Life overpowers death, and we must get used to that idea. Only three days in the tomb, a great many more days outside!

More generally this is how God deals with us. We  think He has forgotten us etc, but then He reveals His hand and we realize He has never left us.  How slow we are to adopt that message; can we go a little faster this final stage of Lent?