03/30/2020
A Message From Fr. Andy Sensenig - March 29, 2020
Just a few thoughts on the Sunday's Gospel Reading (for March 29, 2020) from Gospel of John Chapter 11: 1-45.
After reading this Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, I am pondering, which person am I in this passage?
Am I like Thomas the Apostle? Brave, confident, even a little foolhardy that I would proclaim like him... “Let us also go to die with him (Jesus)."
Or am I just scared out of my cotton-picking mind?
This COVID-19 Pandemic is truly horrifying, but can I still follow Jesus nevertheless in the midst of this nightmare and Trust Him?
Am I like Martha? Worn out and torn down by the anxiety and confusion caused from this pandemic that all I can do is express my anger and disappointment to Jesus that He appears absent from my prayers and hopes and all I can do is to sneer at Jesus with a loaded statement like...“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
Can I be free enough in my relationship with Jesus let him know these dark feelings and be brave enough like Martha to hear what Jesus will say back to me?
Am I like Martha's sister Mary? Just broken by the agonizing grief caused this deadly pandemic and just want it to stop?
Can I just fall like Mary did at Jesus' feet and beg him to just help us and know that Jesus will hear us and answer us. Am I open enough like Mary to allow Jesus to see and know my brokenness of body, heart and soul?
Am I like Lazarus? Just dead in numbness from all that is happening from this COVID-19 Pandemic that I don't know where to turn but wait for Jesus' call? And when He does, will I be able to move out of deadly complacency and follow Him.
And finally, am I like the the crowd? Seeing the miracle of Lazarus raising can I assist Jesus in untying those people around me from their complacencies, their angers, their anxieties, their fears, their pride, and their doubts and let them go?
Or will I save the memory of those people's behaviors (misbehaviors, really) in this tumultuous time and remind them at a later date when this pandemic is history?
Hopefully, you and I can be like Jesus in this Gospel passage from John and just be a healing presence in the midst of the anger, fear, anxiety, grief, self-centeredness and complacency caused by COVID-19, because it is Jesus that we all should imitate. Just as Thomas, Martha, Mary, Lazarus and those in the crowd did, when they realized that Jesus is the Son of God. They all followed Jesus all the way in through the rest of their lives.
Please know that all of you are in my prayers and together, we will know as those in this Gospel from John that Jesus is here too, helping us all through the pandemic of COVID-19 and beyond.
Keeping you all in my prayers.
Fr. Andy Sensenig OMI
