
The Gospel for the fifth Sunday of Lent is John 11:1-45


Over the last few weeks, our hearts and minds have become consumed with thoughts of the rapid spread of the Coronavirus and how all our lives have been impacted.
As we try to find out as much information as possible to keep our families, communities, and ourselves safe, it can be overwhelming. As we stay at home from school or work, many have fears of affording rent and/or where our next meal may come from.
In this moment, many of us may feel spiritually dead as we wonder where God is right now? Why would God allow us to suffer either physically or mentally from the Coronavirus?
It is during this time that we feel it may be impossible to “resurrect” personally and as a society again, especially as many are indicating we will be combatting this pandemic for a longer time than we had imagined.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus resurrected from the dead. Like Martha from this week’s Gospel reading, we understand that we will all resurrect at the end times, but we struggle to imagine that the resurrection applies to us in the here and now.
How can we, when the media gives us frightening statistics showing the rapid spread of the Coronavirus and its devastating effects on the elderly and immuno-compromised?
Yet, what the lesson of Lazarus tells us is that Jesus is here with us as we fight the virus in our hospitals, fighting alongside our doctors and nurses, comforting the infected, and helping us learn how to maintain proper social distancing.
As Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
Our faith and trust in Christ can help us receive the strength we need to persist and keep fighting, even when there seems like there is little hope. Our current crisis seems as hopeless as Lazarus, who was dead, yet we can take hope in knowing that Lazarus was able to walk freely again after Jesus resurrected him.
There is always hope in the resurrection of Christ.
The Coronavirus is terrifying, but through the strength in knowing all things are possible in the resurrected Christ, we can find comfort in knowing that we can make it past this scary time in the world as a community, both Christians and non-Christians alike.
Download a PDF version of this reflection.

Brother Andrew Wozniak is a Postulant with the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He currently studies, lives and ministers in Philadelphia, PA.
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