Lent, 5th Sunday (A) The story of Lazarus is dense and full of little details. Even though he evidently loves Lazarus, Jesus does not respond immediately. When he finally does come, it looks like he is too late. But he then raises Lazarus from the dead. It is never too late for God.

Is there something in your life that feels it is "too late" for God? Where have you prayed and pleaded like Martha and Mary and have not heard the answer? But nothing is "too late" for God. He is actively at work in our world even today. Just look at the miracles that are happening:

• Our Lady appeared to Adele Brice in 1859, and later saved the shrine from the Peshtigo fire.
• Joe Anderson, a three-year-old with acute leukemia, was cured by a trip to this same shrine.
• Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun, was cured from Parkinson's by the intercession of Pope John Paul II.

We might complain that we haven't seen our own miracle, or had our relatives raised from the dead. But the point of the Lazarus story is that God can and does take care of everything. A few cures here and there ar meant to remind us that God really does take care of us no matter what happens. We need to keep believing. "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"

“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." Do you believe this?

(10 Apr 2011)

Image Credit The Compass