Moving From Grief to Hope

This homily begins with an Alpha testimony, celebrating transformed lives and inviting others to the next Alpha after Easter. It then reflects on the covering of statues as a Lenten “fast” that deepens our longing for Easter joy.

Finally, the homily moves into a guided meditation, inviting us to remember loved ones who have died, to bring our grief, hope, and questions to God, and to encounter the truth that Jesus weeps with us.

From there, we are led to hope: Jesus proclaims, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and asks, “Do you believe this?” Like Martha, we are invited to respond in faith.

The meditation concludes with the image of Jesus calling our loved ones by name—“Come out!”—and entrusting them into His hands, holding onto the promise that death is not the end.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Good morning. A couple of things before I begin with my homily on the Word of God today. First, uh, this past week, we concluded our first 11-week uh alpha course, and we were blessed to have over 300 people who experienced this first alpha. And I want to let you know that we are going to be launching a second alpha course right after Easter on Tuesday evenings. So if you didn't get a chance to experience this first uh alpha, or you would like to invite a family member or a friend, I would love to encourage you to experience our second alpha. And actually, to help make this invitation, we have somebody with us today who experienced the full alpha course for the first time. And we've invited her to share a very brief uh testimony of what she experienced, encouraging us to consider trying out our second alpha. So at this moment, I'd like to invite uh Analysia to come forward to uh share her brief testimony. Could you help me please invite her this door?

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Good morning. My name is Elisia and I am part of the OCIA group, the Adult Faith Formation, but I was also part of the first Alpha group. I went through the first few sessions of Alpha and the OCIA, but we were presented with the opportunity to go through the full experience, and I knew I had to jump on it. My experience with Alpha was very meaningful. Every session created a space where we were free to explore our faith and ask questions. There was no pressure at all, and it was just an open conversation. We built a community not just at the table but in the whole hall. Since going through Alpha, my whole experience and connection with God has changed and become so much stronger. I've grown in my understanding of faith and have a new sense of peace in my everyday life. Instead of just going through the motions every day, faith is now more a more intentional part of my everyday life. I take time to turn to God and see God in the good things in life, even in the bad, and pray regularly, even if it's just a thank you, and find peace in myself and what's going on around me. So if you're looking for something more or want to grow in your relationship with God, I invite you to sign up for the next session of Alpha starting Tuesday, April 7th from 6.30 to 8.30. You can find more information on the QR code to register in the Parish Bulletin. Even if you are curious, I invite you to sign up and go try it out. This experience has changed my faith journey in the best way, and I have no doubt it'll do the same for more people.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Thanks, Anna. One of the more exciting things about our first experience of Alpha is just the presence of young adults just like Analysia who are there, who are encountering faith for the first time, who are experiencing a relationship with Jesus, who are building friendships and community. So something very beautiful is happening with Alpha, and not only just with young adults, but just people with no faith, uh, people who are not even Catholic came to our first uh Alpha experience, and people who have been Catholics for decades. Everybody was able to benefit from that experience. So we'd just love to encourage you right after Easter on Tuesday evenings to consider trying out our second launch of Alpha. Okay. Uh second thing before I begin with my homily. Now, if you look at the sanctuary today, do you notice something that's a little bit different in our sanctuary? I'm not talking about Deacon Kent, okay? But the uh covered statues, right? So why are the statues covered? Is it because we don't like them? This is actually a very ancient tradition in the church, going back uh many centuries of covering the statues on the fifth uh Sunday of Lent. So why do we do that? Well, uh maybe if I can put it this way. During Lent, we fast from food, right? Like on Fridays, we fast from meat. Well, in a similar way, the church invites us to fast even from our senses, even from our sight. And so the statues are covered. Here's an example that I can give to you. When you don't see someone that you love for a long time, you end up missing them more, right? Until finally you get to see them again, you experience the joy of seeing your loved ones again. And I think a similar principle is at play in what the church is inviting us to do. We cover up the images, we cover up the statues, we don't get to see them for a while until Easter comes and we experience the joy of the resurrection. We see them again, we see Jesus, we see Mary, our Lady of Guadalupe, and the full joy of the resurrection is present. I think that's what the church is trying to communicate to us with the covering of the statues. So that's kind of the why behind we cover behind why we are covering the statues. Okay, all right. Now, to the homily for today. We just heard the story of the raising up of who? Lazarus. I want to do something a little bit unorthodox today. Instead of my normal homily, I'd like to offer you a time of prayer and meditation on the gospel reading that we just heard. Now, if there's anybody here with us that's uh new today or is visiting our church for the first time, you've never experienced a meditation with me before, uh, what I'd like to do is I kind of invite us to close our eyes and enter into a deep meditation of the gospel reading and how it reflects on our life. And today I'm gonna invite us in a special way to think about somebody who has passed away, who has died, who has fallen asleep, just like Lazarus, to experience the pain and the grief of loss, but also the hope that comes with the resurrection. So if you would uh join with me in this moment of meditation, I'm gonna I'm gonna lead us uh in this moment of prayer. So I invite you to just be comfortable right where you are and um invite with you to maybe if we can take a deep breath together. Do another. Do one more. And if you feel comfortable, I'm just gonna invite you to close your eyes at this moment. I'm gonna do the same thing. I invite you not to worry about what the people around you may or may not be doing. Just let this moment be for you. A moment of prayer, a moment of encounter, a moment of reflection and meditation with Jesus. This moment I invite you to bring to your mind someone that you love, that you know, who has passed away, who has fallen asleep, who has died. Just like Lazarus in the gospel. I invite you to bring to your mind what the person looks like. Maybe you can imagine what they're wearing, their posture, maybe even a sense like a cologne or a perfume. Can you imagine their face? What their countenance, their face looks like? Can you even imagine maybe their smile? Can you imagine them smiling at you? Now I invite you to just notice what are some of the thoughts and emotions and feelings that are just arising in your heart right now. Maybe some of you experience joy and being able to think about your loved one again. For some, maybe it's sadness or grief. For some, you're not sure what you may be feeling, or maybe for some it's the mix of different emotions. Whatever it is, just allow that, just notice it, and allow that to arise in your heart. And give yourself permission to just experience that. He gave us our emotions. Just give yourself permission to experience whatever it is that's in your heart. Martha says to Jesus in the gospel, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And it was her questioning. It was her why? Why did my brother have to pass away? And maybe for some of us here today, as we think about our loved one, that's the question you have in your heart. You say, why? Why did they have to pass away? Why are they no longer with us? If you have that question, that's okay. Martha had that too. But right afterwards, she says this to Jesus. But I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. And she came to him with great faith, even in the midst of her questioning. And maybe for some of us that's where we are. We might have questions, but we also have faith. Hope, love, trust in Jesus. So again, whatever question, feeling, thought that you have, give yourself permission to experience that. Now I'll invite us to an experience of hope. Jesus says to Martha, your brother will rise. I invite us to hear those words of Jesus speaking to us for our loved ones. Your brother, your sister, your father, your mother, your son, your daughter, your grandpa, your grandma, your aunt, your uncle, your family member, your friend. They will rise. They will rise. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, will live. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Jesus asked Martha, Do you believe this? And she says to him, Yes, Lord, I've come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, the one who is coming into the world. That was Martha's response. What's your response? Whatever it is, whatever your response is, take a moment right now. Share that with Jesus. Speak to him from your heart. And finally, at the end of the gospel, Jesus says to remove the stone from the cave where Lazarus is. And with power and authority in his voice, with the command, he says to Lazarus, Lazarus, come out. He comes out alive and well. And Jesus wants to speak those same words of hope to you and for your loved one, saying to them with power and authority, with command, with a command in his voice, come out. Experience life and light in me. That's the hope we have as believers. That Jesus has power over death. Death has no dominion over him. And as we bring this time of meditation to a close, it's time to let our loved ones go into the hands of Jesus. And before we do that, is there anything that you would like to say to your loved one or to Jesus before entrusting them to the Lord? Or is there anything that you would like to hear them say to you? Take a moment now to share those words with them and allow them to speak to you. Maybe you need to say or you need to hear, I love you. I forgive you. I ask for your forgiveness. Or just a gentle assurance that it's okay. To let your loved ones go into the hands of Jesus. We thank you for this time of prayer and meditation and reflection. Lord Jesus, we acknowledge in faith that you are the Son of God, the one who has come into the world. That you have power and authority and dominion even over death. That for all those who believe in you and trust in you, we have the hope of being raised up again with you and Lazarus and all of our loved ones who have gone before us into the kingdom of heaven. Thank you, Jesus, for all that you've done for us. We give our lives, our hearts to you. We love you. Thank you for this time of prayer. And we pray this as we pray all of our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen.