The world is so full of suffering and anxiety at the moment it is good to take up the Gospels and draw comfort from them. There we shall strengthen our faith and find reassurance in anxiety. The sisters of Lazarus, in concern for their brother, sent word to Jesus: He whom you love is sick. Yet Our Lord was in no hurry to go to the bedside of his friend in his suffering, but remained where he was for two days. When he reached Bethany, the sisters had already spent four days grieving their brother.
Let us turn to the preface of today which shows us how these events bear on our lives: “as true man Jesus wept for Lazarus his friend, and as eternal God raised him from the tomb, just as, taking pity on the human race, he leads us by sacred mysteries to new life.”
We who are reborn in the waters of Baptism are made alive by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We are subject to death, but we know that death does not hold sway over us. We fall asleep in the hope of a blessed resurrection in Christ. So it was with Lazarus: Our Lord waited In Galilee until he knew that Lazarus had died, and only then went to arouse him from sleep, reversing the process of corruption as Ezekiel had prophesied.
Our Lord warned us of the wars, famines and earthquakes which are to come. He waits to bring healing to the troubles of the world until the time appointed by the Father. Yet even now the leaven of the Holy Spirit is powerfully at work inspiring the peace workers and the compassionate to come to the help of the suffering. We should pray also for those who take the risk of opposing war waged by their rulers. They are preparing the way of the Lord at great cost.
The searing pain of bereavement, and all other sufferings of humanity are a part of God’s plan. Through them we learn to live in the Spirit, and to yearn for eternal life with all the energy of our souls. Through the sickness of Lazarus, the Son of God, the divine Physician, is glorified. Everything in human history unfolds according to Divine Providence. Not a sparrow falls to the ground unless God wills. The sickness of the world will work out for the glory of God. So, too, for those who love God, all is working for our salvation. All manner of things shall be well.
We are, each of us called to glorify God by the way in which we live and the way in which we die. We learn to accept the dispositions of Divine Providence as our faith grows. As we begin to recognise God’s love in our own lives, we come to know him and respond to his love. The challenges in our lives are no reason to doubt it, nor are twists and turns of world events. In prayer we can learn to accept the challenges God sends us, some through our own weakness, some through the sickness of humanity. Faith in the resurrection enables us to hope in the words of Jesus: “This sickness is not mortal, it is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.”