“Stay awake and pray”, Jesus tells his disciples as he enters the Garden of Gethsemane on Holy Thursday night before he died. He teaches all of us there that prayer brings you through times of testing and temptation.

Facing the weakness of the flesh, death by crucifixion, Jesus doesn’t wave it away in stoic resignation or look to himself. “Not my will, but your will be done,” he says. Facing the consequences of his mission, the limits of human power, the “form of a slave,” he depends on his Father for the strength he needs.

In the garden Jesus teaches his disciples how to face trials that come. He kneels on the ground and humbly looks beyond himself to his Father, “Abba”, who hears him. He falls to the ground, trusting his Father’s strength and not his own. Troubled and distressed, for an hour’s time he pleads for help. 

“He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.” Luke says. Then, an angel comes to strengthen him. The cup of suffering isn’t taken away; he will drink from it, but it will not crush him. God will raise him up.

He teaches us pray as he did and promises to support us in our trials.

A Franciscan church in the midst of an olive garden stands today on the Mount of Olives where tradition says Jesus prayed. Pilgrims come to pray for themselves and for all facing trial and temptation.

The church is dark as that night was and Jesus kneels on a rock. There’s a rock exposed before the altar of the church. “The Lord is my rock,” we read in the psalm for today. Yes, God is our rock.

Mountains last for centuries. The Mount of Olives, the two mile mountain ridge facing the Old City of Jerusalem goes back well beyond the time of Jesus Christ, over two centuries ago. On its slopes, olive trees that gave it its name still grow.

Ancient tombs along the mountain and into the Kidron Valley below tell us this place is holy. One day “God’s feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,” calling the dead to be raised, the Prophet Zechariah said. (Zechariah 14,4) The tombs are mostly Jewish, though some ancient Jewish-Christian tombs are there.  Mary’s tomb is near the garden of Gethsemane. Facing the ruins of holy city and its temple, the tombs signify humanity waiting for the promised resurrection on the last day. 

Jesus as a boy knew this mountain when he came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feasts. Most likely he stayed at Bethany, a village on its eastern slope of the mountain. Galilean pilgrims to Jerusalem stayed there. (Luke 21,37-38)

Like many today,  he would have stopped on this mountain to gaze at the ancient city across the way. The gospels say he spoke to his disciples about the days to come here. (Mark 13,3-27; Matthew 24,3-25,46) He wept over the city here: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling! Behold, your house will be abandoned, desolate.” (Luke 19,29-44) 

Roman legions under Titus fulfilled that prophecy in 70 AD, when they destroyed Jerusalem and its temple. Some of the temple stones thrown down can still be seen at the base of the old walls.

Days before he was crucified, Jesus rode on a donkey down this mountain to the city from Bethphage, surrounded by followers and admirers who sang and danced and cast palm branches before him. (Mark 11,1,11; Matthew 21,1-11; Luke 19, 28-40; John 12,12-19) The ancient path down the mountain to the city may well be the one he took.

On the night before he died, Jesus prayed with his disciples here in a garden at the foot of the mountain. He fell into an agony as he prayed. Judas, a disciple, knew the place and led soldiers here who arrested him and led him away to be tried and humiliated and crucified. (Mark 14: 32 ff; Matthew 26,36 ff; Luke 22: 39ff; John 18:1ff)

When Jesus died, Matthew’s gospel says “The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.”(Matthew 24: 51-54) Tombs like those around the Mount of Olives– all the dead– received the promise of Jesus’ resurrection. “He descended into hell.” Every grave, like the tomb of Jesus, is open to the promise of risen life.

Jesus taught his disciples for 40 days and then ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, Luke’s Gospel says. (Luke 24,50; Acts 1,1 ff) No wonder, then, that Christians early on were attracted to this holy place so associated with Jesus.

In the 5th century the Emperor Constantine built a large church on this mountain where tradition said Jesus taught and prayed with his disciples and ascended into heaven. It was called Eleona, after the emperor’s mother, Helena, an early pilgrim devoted to the Holy Land. Luke’s unique view of the ascension, which inspired the building of this church, also inspired our celebrations of the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost and the easter season.

Great numbers of Christians flocked to the three major shrines built by Constantine: the church over the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem; the church over the cave in Bethlehem and the church on the Mount of Olives where he ascended into heaven. Soon other churches were built to mark events in Jesus’ life. On the Mount of Olives, a church marked the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem, “Dominus Flevit,” another where he prayed in agony. The churches have been destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries.

The Mount of Olives became a Christian sanctuary; monks and nuns built large monasteries and pilgrims came, as once Jesus and Jewish pilgrims from Galilee did.

For a commentary of the Passion Narrative from the Gospel of Luke, cf. Fr. Donald Senior, CP.

The Gospel of John, Chapter 11, verses 1-45 tells the story of the raising of Lazarus. Ten years ago, after my conversion, this Gospel was the most important to me. Of all the biblical characters, Lazarus was the one that I most related to for a number of years. Part of the reason is because I ended up “playing” him on four different occasions. 

     On two different Fifth Sundays of Lent , at St. Joseph’s Parish in Miami Beach, FL, they dressed me up like him, one year wrapped in toilet paper, the other year shrouded by a huge white sheet. I would “come out” in front of the catechumens at the moment when the teacher read the climactic part of the Gospel to the group. From the stricken looks on their faces I must have looked more disturbing than funny in that get-up. Death is serious business. I was so touched that I could not stop crying.    

 Two years later at the Holy Week Retreat in Bishop Molloy Retreat House in Jamaica,NY, a group of us helped out by playing different characters from the Gospels before the large group of retreatants. We were “remembering” Jesus on Holy Saturday, after He had been buried. I played risen Lazarus and improvised on my imagined memories of his childhood , playing among the olives above Bethany, with Mary and Martha, his little sisters, and of course Jesus, who was already special. I “recalled” His visits, His preaching, our belief in Him. I described how:   “I got so sick and eventually lost all consciousness. Suddenly in the darkness, I heard His powerful voice saying, ‘Lazarus, come out!.’ Somehow I found myself blinking in the dazzling light before Him. It turned out the Lord had brought me back to life! But then, a few days later, here He was dead and buried like I had been. I was so grief stricken, dazed and confused, but there was this strange hope in my heart.’   

 The fourth time I felt possessed by Lazarus was when I was crawling out of this dark, ancient tomb, way under ground, in Al-Azariah, Palestine, on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives. Al-Azariah means in Arabic: “the town of Lazarus”. Not far up the street from the Church of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, the Arab owner of Avery old private house, charges to let pilgrims wind down a steep staircase to the “grave”. It is a dreary place, specially after one crawls, one at a time, into the claustrophobic “cave”. As I was crawling back out, Fr. Vasko, our guide, took a picture of me.  

   I did not look very happy. Why? I had just been meditating on my sinful God-less life, the darkness where my soul languished on life-support. My Lord had the stone that covered my grave be taken away. He brought me back to life. He removed so many things that had bound me. He freed me in so many ways. I thank and love Him so much for that. So why that unhappy look? Perhaps because there were so many souls still stuck behind me in that hole. In a way our whole world seems to our earthly eyes to be still inside that hole. The mystery of suffering was weighing upon my mind on that day. Like Mary and Martha, I felt like complaining to the One Who saves me: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Why all this suffering dear Lord?  

   It has taken me a few years to come to terms with this mystery. Surrender to the will of God in prayer helps a lot. We get some inner peace. And yet I must admit, I am still trying to cope with the mystery of suffering every day, when my Lord faces me like He did Martha and challenges me: “I am the Resurrection and the Life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”   

 Humankind has come down with a serious illness, like Lazarus. All of us friends of Jesus, cry out to Him: “Master, the one you love is ill.” Please bring a miracle. Deliver us from this disease. So many of us are suffering and dying. You, my Lord, can stop this pandemic.   

 He told us to “Ask and you shall receive.” No matter how desperate, I feel it’s my duty to ask God for the welfare of everyone on this Earth. I am doing this with all hope and faith. Yet I realize, that in another way I must be part of the answer to that prayer for someone else, just letting them know in their enclosed isolation and fear the I am there for them, even if just to listen, to pray together, because most importantly, our God is there with us. I truly believe that in God’s own time our Lord will again cry, “Come out!” And we will be able to emerge from the confining insides of our houses, from the hospitals, and we will praise our loving God. Sadly for us, some will open their eyes to be before Him, like Lazarus, but now in the delight of Eternal Life. We will mourn them, but pray for God’s grace so that we will be able to cry out to Him with tears similar to the ones He shed at Bethany: 
                                                          “Yes Lord we believe. We believe that You are the Resurrection and the Life!”
Orlando Hernández

The story of the man born blind (John 9) is an important story in John’s gospel– as you can guess from its length. It’s a sign summarizing Jesus’ teaching in the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles, our gospel readings for most of this week.

 Jesus claims that he not just a prophet, or the successor to Abraham. He is God’s only Son. “I Am.” True God from true God.

The story of the blind man reminds us that belief in Jesus Christ is a gift God gives, a gift we only grasp little by little. The story is a good example of biblical catechesis, meant to deepen our faith in the lenten season, and so we’re encouraged to reflect on it these last weeks of Lent.

For this week’s homily please watch the video below.

MARCH 28 Mon Lenten Weekday6 Is 65:17-21/Jn 4:43-54                                         

29 Tue Lenten Weekday Ez 47:1-9, 12/Jn 5:1-16                                               30 Wed Lenten Weekday Is 49:8-15/Jn 5:17-30                                                31 Thu Lenten Weekday Ex 32:7-14/Jn 5:31-47                                       APRIL 1 Fri Lenten Weekday  Wis 2:1a, 12-22/Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30                2 Sat Lenten Weekday [St Francis of Paola] Jer 11:18-20/Jn 7:40-53                 3 SUN FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT Is 43:16-21/Phil 3:8-14/Jn 8:1-11 or, for Year A, Ez 37:12-14/Rom 8:8-11/Jn 11:1-45 or 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45

Our gospel readings for this week and the remainder of lent are mostly from St. John’s gospel. Until now, they were often from the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew’s Gospel – Jesus’ teaching on prayer and mercy and forgiveness of others. Some readings from Luke’s Gospel presented Jesus’ journey through Galilee where he taught and worked wonders, but he was not well received. 

Yet God’s Mercy, made flesh in Jesus Christ, continues a saving journey.

As he reaches Jerusalem, Jesus works wonders, gave sight to the man born blind, raised Lazarus from the dead and taught in the temple, but opposition to him grew stronger, John’s Gospel reports. 

More than the other gospels, John sees Christ on his glorious way to accomplish his mission to bring life to the world, even if that world opposes him or clings to the darkness, like Nicodemus. (John 4:43-54)

John’s Gospel dominates the readings for the next few weeks of Lent.

For this week’s homily, please watch the video below.