5th Sunday of Lent - Raise the Dead

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. He had been dead four days and was warned that if the tomb would be opened, there would be a stench due to his decaying body. But, Our Lord, prayed to His Father and then said with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” He rose from the dead and came out, still tied hand and foot with burial bands and face wrapped in a cloth.

The miracle of Jesus Raising Lazarus from the dead reminds us Jesus is the Resurrection and the life. Jesus, is both human and divine, and as God He has power over all things including death. The raising of Lazarus from the dead is foreshadowing of Our Lord’s resurrection on Easter and the General resurrection of the dead at the end of the world mentioned by Martha. At the end of the world, all the dead will come forth from the tombs and immediately receive a resurrected body, like the body of Jesus when He rose from the dead. Lazarus, however, though he was brought back to life, would die again because he was not resurrected.

Did you know Jesus raised two others from the dead, there are others in scripture who raised people from the dead and saints raised many from the dead?

Elijah the prophet of the Old Testament, by God’s power, raised a child from the dead. (1 Kings 17:17-24)

Jesus raised the son of a widow, who was being carried away in a funeral procession. (Luke 7:11-15)

Our Lord took the hand of the daughter of Jarius, who had died, and said, “Talitha cumi”, which means “Little girl, get up.” (Mark 5:21-43). And she came back to life.

In Matthew’s Gospel, at the death of Jesus, some were raised from the dead. “At that moment (of His death) the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.” (Matthew 27:51-53)

When Our Lord sent out His apostles, he commanded them:“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8).

And this is exactly what happened, we know that Peter and Paul raised the dead. In the Acts of the Apostles, a Christian woman named Tabitha died in the city of Joppa. “Peter... knelt down and prayed; then turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, rise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.” (Acts 9:36-42)

In the Acts of the Apostles, we learn that Paul raised a man from the dead, “Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and died. Paul went down, bent over him, and embracing him, said, “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!”...The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.” (Acts 20:7-12)

According to St. Irenaeus in the early 2nd century, “Some persons that were dead have been raised again and have continued among us many years.”

Did you know there are over 400 true stories of saints raising people from the dead? There is a book called Raised from the Dead written by Fr. Albert Hebert. Here is a list of some saints that raised people from the dead: St. Francis of Paola, St. Bernardine of Siena, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. John Capistrano, St. Joseph of Cupertino, St. Peter of Alcantara, St. Dominic, St. Ignatius Loyola, St. Philip Neri, St. Paul of the Cross, St. John Bosco, St. Rose of Lima, St. Martin de Porres, St. Francis Solanus, Marianne de Jesus of Quito, St. Stanislaus, St. Peregrine, St. Gerard Majella, St. Charbel, St. Padre Pio, St. Margaret of Cortona, St. Felix of Cantalice, St. Rose of Viterbo, St. Francis Xavier, St. John Francis Regis, etc..

St. Marcarius, a holy monk living in the deserts of Egypt, encountered a man who didn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus. In order to convince him, the saint invoked God’s power over a dead man and he was raised back to life. This miracle was spread throughout the Egyptian desert.

In the 300’s, during an excavation, St. Helena found the true Cross and two other crosses belonging to the two men who were crucified with Jesus. Not knowing which was the true Cross, she brought a sick man to the crosses and after touching the first two crosses, nothing happened. But when he sick man was touched by the 3^rd cross, he was healed. In order to be absolutely certain it was the true Cross, they dug up a dead man, who was just buried, and brought him before the 3 crosses, and after touching the first 2 crosses, nothing happened. Only when the dead man was touched by the 3^rd Cross was the dead man raised from the dead and became alive.

One of greatest miracle workers in the history of the Catholic church was the Dominican priest St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419). He converted 25,000 Jews and 8,000 Muslims; his total number of conversions was around 200,000 souls- among them Muslims, Jews, heretics, and apostate Catholics. St. Antoninus said that St. Vincent had raised 28 persons from the dead.

Here is one example: There was a rich Jew named Abraham, who began to leave a church in anger while Vincent was preaching. The instant the man left, part of the porch structure fell on him and crushed him to death. Then the saint rose from his chair and went to the body. He knelt there in prayer. Abraham came to life, and his first words were: "The religion of the Jews is not the true faith. The True Faith is that of the Christians."

When invoking the name of the Holy Trinity, St. Patrick is said to have raised 33 people from the dead.

Among the many miracles worked by St Philip Neri in his lifetime was the raising to life of Paolo Massimo, the 14-year old son of his friend Prince Fabrizio Massimo, on March 16, 1583. St Philip had tended the boy spiritually during his long illness, and was sent when it became clear that he was about to die. He was then living fairly close by at the church of San Giorolamo della Carità, but he was celebrating Mass when the messenger arrived, and the boy died before he could finish and be informed. Coming to the Palazzo Massimo, he prayed at the boy’s bedside, sprinkled holy water on his face, and, like the Prophet Elijah, breathed upon his face. He then called his name loudly twice, and Paolo Massimo returned to life. On seeing his spiritual father at his bedside, the boy asked to confess a sin that he had forgotten; St Philip heard his confession and absolved him of his sins.

Bishop Fulton Sheen is noted for raising a child from the dead. “Fulton Sheen, Fulton Sheen,” prayed Bonnie Engstrom. She had just given birth, and her baby boy was dead, his umbilical cord tied tightly around his neck. He did not breathe; his heart did not beat. Sixty-one minutes after delivery, his heart still did not beat, and the monitor showed nothing but “pulseless electric activity.” He could not be revived, and the ER doctors turned away to call the time of death. Still his parents prayed to Fulton Sheen. Then the baby’s heart began to beat. His mother and father believe it was the intercession of Fulton Sheen that brought him back to life – not only back to life, but back to health. James was stillborn and without a heartbeat for 61 minutes. He is now a healthy young boy! The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved this miracle on July 6, 2019. The child, James Fulton Engstrom, shows no physical or mental defects from the hour he spent among the dead nine years ago.

All those who were raised from the dead, would later die again. But the raising of the dead, shows us how much God loves each and every person and how He desires us to live in this life.

In a few weeks, we will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. By His own power, after He had been dead for three days, He rose with a new resurrected body.

At the end of the world, everyone will receive a new resurrected body. The dead will come forth from their graves and those who are still alive will also receive a new resurrected body.

St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians 3:20-21 said, “But our common wealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body...” And Jesus Himself said, “..for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29).

In this life, we are to respect our bodies and after we die, we give them a proper burial to be prepared for that day when our body will be reunited with our soul after the resurrection of the dead.

Jesus said, “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.” When He said, this He meant it in two ways. One way is that those who believe in Him, will not suffer eternal death and those who do believe in Him will live with Him forever in heaven. But, He also meant that He has power over physical death and at the end of the world, our bodies will be resurrected from the dead.

As we approach Easter in several weeks, let us prepare our souls by making a good confession, and receive Jesus in the Eucharist as often as possible, because as Jesus said, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, will live forever and I will raise Him on the last day.”