March 22, 2026
Father, help us to be like Christ your Son, who loved the world and died for our salvation. Inspire us by His love, guide us by His example, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Commentary
As we approach the season of Easter, we take the time this weekend to reflect on the promise of immortality.
The Prophet Ezekiel presents an awesome picture of graves opening up and the dead rising from them.
The promise is for a restored Israel where all people will “Know God.” We read:
“I will put my spirit in you that you may live, and I will settle you upon your land; thus shall you KNOW that I am the Lord.”
As Christians, we speak of a new Israel (a new Jerusalem) which is heaven. Heaven is more than a place. Instead, it is a state of being – of being one with God. To “Know God” is to be one with God.
True life – even before we die and are raised to heaven – is to know and live with God. As Christians, we live when we live for God!
Commentary
Q: Why did God make you?
A: God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven.
This is our purpose! We live to live for God. In fact, if we don’t live for God, then we don’t live. Our life has no purpose here or in the world hereafter.
If we are honest, we know that we can fall short in our desire to live for God. Thankfully, as St. Paul reminds us in our Second reading, we have the Holy Spirit who lives for God in us.
The Holy Spirit is God and the Spirit finds a dwelling place in us making it possible for us to live for God. St. Paul writes:
“Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
Thankfully, this Spirit has been planted within us to live for God – to know Him, love Him, to serve Him, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven.
Continued...
Commentary
Our Gospel today invites us to be restored to God in Christ.
Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, is resuscitated from death. The resuscitated life of Lazarus is symbolic for a restored life with God.
It is Christ who gives us the Spirit of life and restores us so that we can live – live for 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.”
Now, in this story, Lazarus is resuscitated. Resuscitation is not resurrection. Eventually, Lazarus would die and be raised from the dead. However, this Gospel story today is a foretaste of the real Resurrection account of Jesus on Easter.
One day, we will all be raised from the dead and, if we live for God, we will be raised to Eternal Life. However, this does require that we respond to the Spirit of life within us who calls us to live for God here and now.
God chooses to restore us to life. Our life only has meaning if we live for God!
In Lent, we have an opportunity to be restored to life in Christ through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is a perfect way to prepare for Easter and renew our Baptismal commitment to Christ, the Spring of living water, who washes away our sins.
In preparation for Reconciliation before Easter, the leader invites the group to make a brief examination of conscience in silence. Then, the leader invites the community to say the Confiteor:
I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do; and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.
The leader invites the gathering to pray the psalm for the 5th Sunday of Lent.
Psalm 23
Response: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
R: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the LORD
R: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
R: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
Used with Permission. All rights reserved. Christ in Our Neighborhood © is a Scripture program designed by Bishop John Dolan of the Diocese of Phoenix. Free resources at dphx.org/christ-in-our-neighborhood.
