In death,
Lazarus hears the voice of Jesus and responds; –returning to life. We too have heard the voice of Jesus calling
us to: “Come Out!”
Come out of the darkness
Come out of death’s grip
Come out of the world of sin and corruption
Come out of the tomb -
Into the
Light – into Life eternal and - the heavenly embrace of God.
Be alive - live
in peace and joy!
Be free from
the binding cloths of sin and sorrow.
Come out - live
in the perfection of God’s love.
We too, in
sin, were dead, like Lazarus, - but in the death of sin, we too, like Lazarus -
were still able to hear the words of Life, - the voice of Jesus calling to us –
Come Out! Come out of the darkness! Come into my Light!
How sweet
the sound that stirred our hearts. We
moved toward His voice – a sound, so pure and inviting – even in death we could
not resist! We responded to His voice - emerging
from the dark and lonely place, where the evil-one lured us by his invitation
to taste the temptations of worldly pleasures.
The corrupter, who enticed us away from the grace of our baptism – down into
the dark tomb of sin - where we dwelled despairing of hope and freedom.
Then we
heard the voice of Jesus calling us to come out. We struggled, like Lazarus, within our shroud
of death to emerging from the tomb still wrapped in the trappings of death. We hopped and hobbled: struggling with the
cloths that still held us: yearning to be free, but kept in place, trapped by
the whispers of the evil-one, who still seeks to hold us within his grasp.
Jesus greeted
us and called others to unbind us from the cloths wrapped around us: the
garments of death given to us when placed in the tomb. It was through our called brothers and
sisters in Christ, heeding Jesus’ Word, that we were freed from our bonds to
walk in His Light.
Through God’s
love and mercy, in His sacrament of reconciliation, we moved back into the Light
and Life of Christ. Like the Prodigal children,
beloved of God, we were received into the Father’s loving embrace. He calls for celebrations in heaven at our
return- for:
We who were lost are now found –
We who were dead are now alive!
We, who lived in darkness and have re-emerged
into the Light of Life.
We, like
Lazarus, found our way back to life through the call of Jesus Christ and aided
by the helping hands of the community of believers.
Jesus continues
to use the community of those who believe in Him to help bring about the
Kingdom of God. He calls each of us, as
believers of the Truth, to be witness to the grace of our baptism and the
graces freely given us in our lives, so we may help free others who respond to
His call from the death of sin to Life.
He ask us to
‘unbind them and let them go free’ - from the trappings of worldliness that hold
them in darkness. We who are God’s holy
people, - in response to the Word of Jesus, - help others emerge from the shroud
of sin that surrounds them to go into His Light and new Life.
We, the
community of believers – who have heard the voice of Jesus and witness His
saving grace in our lives, are called to be witness to others of Jesus’ saving
action that has brought us to live as one in Him. We are the called and blessed - people of
God, who work through:
Our prayers,
Our lives of Christian fidelity
Our active participation in the life of the
Church
Our faithful witness of the Gospel to the
world
And
our devotion to bringing all people to Christ.
So, let us
rejoice in this Gospel message: witnessing Christ calling - “Come
Out!” to all our brothers and sisters who are dead through sin. Let us be His hands; helping others to unwind
the cloths that bind them, so they may be free to walk in the Light of Life with
Christ and be welcomed into the Kingdom of God. ~Amen
Peace,
Deacon Don Ron
