May 31, 2015
The Raising of Lazarus (1)
A reading from the Gospel of Saint John 11, 1 – 26:
Now a man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. So the sisters sent word to him saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” When Jesus heard this he said, “That illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks at night he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” He said this and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” So the disciples said to him, “If he is asleep he will be saved.” But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.” So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.”
As some of you know I have the Book of Remembrance. People can write names of people in that book. They can write the names of the living and of the dead. I celebrate three Masses a week for a whole year for those written in the book. That means I celebrate over 150 Masses for these people. It costs only $15.00 to write one person in the book for all those Masses. One can write relatives and friends, especially those who are sick or those Catholics who no longer practise their religion. They can also write the names of their relatives and friends who have died and these Masses will help them to get to heaven if they are in Purgatory. Many of those written in the book have had great changes in their lives and others have returned to pray and go to church every Sunday. You can send the money via Paypal. Thank you very much.
Below you will find the message of Our Lord and Redeemer given to Father Melvin. Jesus spoke to him these words,
“My brother Melvin and all My brothers and sisters who follow Me, you know that I performed many miracles when I was on earth. Now I wish to talk to you about Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha who lived in Bethany. He took sick and his sisters wrote to Me that he was sick. At that time I was at the Jordan River and I decided to wait until he died before going to Bethany. I did this to show the Apostles that I could raise the dead to life so that their faith in Me may be strong, for I am their Lord and Savior. My death on the cross was fast approaching, and they needed strong faith to remain attached to Me during these difficult days. When I told the Apostles after two days that we would go now to Bethany, they were afraid and told Me that the Jews wanted to stone Me only a short time ago. I told them not to worry about that for I knew that My time had not yet come for Me to die on the cross. As we left for Bethany, Thomas said these words, ‘Let us also go to die with him.’
My dear friends, this miracle of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, touched many people and they came to believe that I was the Messiah, the Son of God. Open your hearts and come and accept this miracle so that your faith may grow and you will be committed to Me for the rest of your life.”
Father Melvin