5TH SUNDAY OF LENT (YEAR A) - APRIL 06, 2014

Saturday, April 05, 2014 

5th Sunday of LENT – Year A

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady 

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass in English

First Reading 

EZEKIEL 37:12-14

¹² So, prophesy. Say to them, "The Lord Yahweh says this: I am now going to open your graves; I shall raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel.

¹³ And you will know that I am Yahweh, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people,

¹⁴ and put my spirit in you, and you revive, and I resettle you on your own soil. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken and done this -- declares the Lord Yahweh." '

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS 129:1-4, 6-8

¹ [Song of Ascents] Often as men have attacked me since I was young -- let Israel repeat it-

² often as men have attacked me since I was young, they have never overcome me.

³ On my back ploughmen have set to work, making long furrows,

⁴ but Yahweh the upright has shattered the yoke of the wicked.

⁶ let them be like grass on a roof, dried up before it is cut,

⁷ never to fill the reaper's arm nor the binder's lap.

⁸ And no passer-by will say, 'The blessing of Yahweh be on you! 'We bless you in the name of Yahweh.'

Second Reading 

ROMANS 8:8-11

⁸ and those who live by their natural inclinations can never be pleasing to God.

⁹ You, however, live not by your natural inclinations, but by the Spirit, since the Spirit of God has made a home in you. Indeed, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

¹⁰ But when Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is alive because you have been justified;

¹¹ and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has made his home in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading 

JOHN 11:1-45

¹ There was a man named Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha, and he was ill.

² It was the same Mary, the sister of the sick man Lazarus, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair.

³ The sisters sent this message to Jesus, 'Lord, the man you love is ill.'

⁴ On receiving the message, Jesus said, 'This sickness will not end in death, but it is for God's glory so that through it the Son of God may be glorified.'

⁵ Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,

⁶ yet when he heard that he was ill he stayed where he was for two more days

⁷ before saying to the disciples, 'Let us go back to Judaea.'

⁸ The disciples said, 'Rabbi, it is not long since the Jews were trying to stone you; are you going back there again?'

⁹ Jesus replied: Are there not twelve hours in the day? No one who walks in the daytime stumbles, having the light of this world to see by;

¹⁰ anyone who walks around at night stumbles, having no light as a guide.

¹¹ He said that and then added, 'Our friend Lazarus is at rest; I am going to wake him.'

¹² The disciples said to him, 'Lord, if he is at rest he will be saved.'

¹³ Jesus was speaking of the death of Lazarus, but they thought that by 'rest' he meant 'sleep';

¹⁴ so Jesus put it plainly, 'Lazarus is dead;

¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there because now you will believe. But let us go to him.'

¹⁶ Then Thomas -- known as the Twin -- said to the other disciples, 'Let us also go to die with him.'

¹⁷ On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already.

¹⁸ Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem,

¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.

²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house.

²¹ Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,

²² but even now I know that God will grant whatever you ask of him.'

²³ Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.'

²⁴ Martha said, 'I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.'

²⁵ Jesus said: I am the resurrection. Anyone who believes in me, even though that person dies, will live,

²⁶ and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

²⁷ 'Yes, Lord,' she said, 'I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.'

²⁸ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in a low voice, 'The Master is here and wants to see you.'

²⁹ Hearing this, Mary got up quickly and went to him.

³⁰ Jesus had not yet come into the village; he was still at the place where Martha had met him.

³¹ When the Jews who were in the house comforting Mary saw her get up so quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

³² Mary went to Jesus, and as soon as she saw him she threw herself at his feet, saying, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.'

³³ At the sight of her tears, and those of the Jews who had come with her, Jesus was greatly distressed, and with a profound sigh he said,

³⁴ 'Where have you put him?' They said, 'Lord, come and see.'

³⁵ Jesus wept;

³⁶ and the Jews said, 'See how much he loved him!'

³⁷ But there were some who remarked, 'He opened the eyes of the blind man. Could he not have prevented this man's death?'

³⁸ Sighing again, Jesus reached the tomb: it was a cave with a stone to close the opening.

³⁹ Jesus said, 'Take the stone away.' Martha, the dead man's sister, said to him, 'Lord, by now he will smell; this is the fourth day since he died.'

⁴⁰ Jesus replied, 'Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?'

⁴¹ So they took the stone away. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said: Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer.

⁴² I myself knew that you hear me always, but I speak for the sake of all these who are standing around me, so that they may believe it was you who sent me.

⁴³ When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!'

⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with strips of material, and a cloth over his face. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, let him go free.'

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him,

“The Gospel of the Lord”