FRIENDS OF JESUS
Introduction
This memorial is originally of St Martha alone. But on January 26, 2021, Pope Francis ordered the inscription of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus into the General Roman Calendar, to replace the existing celebration. Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus are to be celebrated each year as an Obligatory Memorial on July 29.
However, let think about Martha. To serve without being asked, to be ready for others. To be given little publicity but to work backstage. Not to ask for honours and pass on the shoulder but to do one’s work quietly. This is how she followed the Lord. And her faith was deep and strong in Christ as the Son of God who could raise the dead back to life.
Opening Prayer
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that the example of your Saints may spur us on to a better life,
so that we, who celebrate the memory of Saints Martha,
Mary and Lazarus,
may also imitate without ceasing their deeds.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen!
1 Reading: 1 John 4:7-16
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
Responsorial Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
R. (2) I will bless the Lord at all times. or: (9) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad. R.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears. R.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him. R.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him. R.
Fear the LORD, you his holy ones,
for nought is lacking to those who fear him.
The great grow poor and hungry;
but those who seek the LORD want for no good thing. R.
Alleluia: Matthew 5:10
Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: John 11:19-27
Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother Lazarus, who had died. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “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.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
Commentary
A little beyond the end of today’s reading there is the shortest verse in the Bible. It is Jn 11:35, and it says simply, “Jesus wept.” It shows sensitivity in the people who first divided the Scriptures into chapters and verses. And the following verse is explanative: “So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’” When someone weeps you just have to give them time to weep. Weeping may be saying a lot, but it is a deep language, and it doesn’t require an answer or an explanation. There are two occasions in the gospel when Jesus told people not to weep (Lk 7:13; 8:52). On both occasions there was an error of fact: the persons being mourned were not dead. But in today’s story there is no doubt about Lazarus being dead. So Jesus wept; he did not take death lightly. He is sometimes made to seem a sort of magician who “leaped up on the third day.” If we make little of death we make little of the resurrection.
Martha did and said a lot to have merited today’s celebration alone before the Pope added Mary and Lazarus to the memorial. Martha is not playing second fiddle to Mary (especially not in this passage). With Peter’s, hers is the most explicit confession of Jesus as Messiah—which is the whole purpose for which the gospel was written (Jn 20:30,31). A scholar says that this points to the prominent women like Martha.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
In every Eucharist
your Son Jesus serves us at his table.
Let him fill us with the love and dedication
needed to wait on our brothers and sisters
without imposing ourselves,
but in all simplicity,
because we know that in them we are serving
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!
Prayer after Communion
May the holy reception of the Body and Blood
of your Only Begotten Son, O Lord,
turn us away from the cares of this fallen world,
so that, following the example of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus,
we may grow in sincere love for you on earth
and rejoice to behold you for eternity in heaven.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Blessing
What a great statement of faith from Martha. She said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother [Lazarus] would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” May Jesus continue to intercede for us with blessing of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen!