Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

posted in: Homilies, Saints | 0

Today’s readings

Today’s memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus is a feast of siblings.  It’s a wonderful reminder of how family should be: united in faith, and bringing each other to Christ.  The story of the raising of Lazarus, of which we have a fragment in today’s Gospel reading, is a story of how shared faith can triumph over death.  It’s our responsibility to bring our loved ones to Jesus, and for Martha and Mary, the need for that was very real.  Today’s memorial remembers Martha who toiled for the sake of hospitality, and professed her faith in Jesus when her brother died; it remembers Martha too, who famously sat at the feet of Jesus, drinking in his every word.  And we also remember Lazarus, from whom we never hear, but who Jesus loved enough to raise him from death.  In them we see ourselves: called to serve and profess our faith, called to contemplate the presence of Jesus, and called to the resurrection of the dead, which Lazarus saw firsthand.