This weekend we hear the third in three long and powerful Lenten Gospels from John—this time telling us of how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus is urged by Jesus to come out of the bonds of death and the cloths that symbolize being tied in the final grip of death. The word that accompanies this invitation and challenge is RISE. You will notice the word RISE in our font this weekend, and it encourages us to respond to what binds us—what ties us and restricts us, particularly things that are sinful and limit us, like the burial cloths of Lazarus.
As a primer for the raising of Lazarus story, we hear from the Prophet Ezekial in our first reading. Ezekial had a series of prophetic visions about Jerusalem and the kingdom of the Jewish people being overtaken. As you may know, eventually the chosen people were indeed captured and forced into exile by the Babylonians. The passage we hear this weekend likens this experience to being buried. Ezekial speaks for the Lord (as any good prophet does) and proclaims a message of hope and resurrection by saying, “Oh my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them…I will put my spirit in you that you may live.”
This powerful imagery inspires us to seek ReNEWal during this Lenten season toward the ultimate ReNEWal of Easter. Not only are we moving closer to the life giving waters of Baptism, but toward the ultimate Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
We continue this weekend to tell the story of our partnership with Catholic Extension Society and the church in Cuba as Lent unfolds, and we move toward ReNEWal at Easter. We are focusing on the parish of San Miguel Arcangel in Los Banos in the Diocese of Matanzas. Their beautiful church has fallen into disrepair and we can partner with them to restore the interior of the church building. Our Lenten Social Justice Project goal is always to raise $25,000. In the past three years we have raised well over twice that amount and this year, if we raise $43,000, we will be able to restore the ENTIRE interior of the church, enabling their larger community to gather for Mass, which they have not done for many years in that building. It also opens up additional space in the Church for continued and increased ministries of outreach, education and social service.
You may place your donation to help them in one of the envelopes located in the box in front of our altar or in our Parish Office. The basket in the Narthex is NOT for donations, but it contains envelopes for your donations. If you are writing a check out for this project, please make it payable to Holy Family and indicate San Miguel on the memo line, and know that you are enabling a community of faith to ReNEW its identity and mission.
This weekend we also welcome Fr. Ron Hicks to Holy Family. Ron is the Vicar General for the Archdiocese, a position that links him with Cardinal Cupich, the ministries of the Pastoral Center, and the Vicariates that constitute 6 large geographic areas of Lake and Cook counties. Ron accompanied us on our recent trip to Cuba and he will offer additional insights about the importance of our Lenten Social Justice Project.
As we move toward Easter may I remind you of the importance for us to warmly welcome many visitors, newcomers and people who are considering joining us on a regular basis, to ALL of our Triduum and Easter Masses and services. Each one of us is a greeter for these guests and newcomers. Let us give them the warmest Holy Family welcome and spiritually feed them with the most vibrant and uplifting liturgies. A huge part of that is making sure that we have enough liturgical ministers. Please sign up for at least one Triduum or Easter Mass in at least one area of ministry. Sign-up sheets are in the Narthex.
We held our annual Lenten Reconciliation Service this past week and if you missed it, may I leave you with a simple image from our font that last week held a reflective dome and the message, SEE. As people left the individual confession with one of our priests, they were given a card that had the word FORGIVEN written on both sides. One side it was written backward so that as each person then approached the dome in the font and held their card up, they saw their reflection with the word FORGIVEN reflected back at them. Please see yourself as forgiven.