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Lifelong Catechesis

Forming Catholic identity across generations
October 13, 2024
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Lent

Forty days before the Triduum, the Lenten season disposes Catechumens and the faithful to celebrate the paschal mystery through prayer and penitential practices.

Sunday Readings and Backgrounds

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Fifth Sunday of Lent

Reading I : Ezekiel 37:12-14

I will put my spirit in you.

  • The reading from Ezekiel is part of a longer vision of the movement from death to new life.
  • Ezekiel was preaching to the exiles in Babylon who were convinced that as a people, they were dead.
  • Ezekiel understood that the power of life belonged to God alone.

Reading II : Romans 8:8-11

You are in the Spirit.

  • In the second reading, Paul stresses that life in the Spirit is the true life that Jesus came to bring.
  • The death of Jesus led to the gift of everlasting life for those who believe in him.
  • The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in believers and will also bring their death-bound bodies to life.

Gospel : John 11:1-45

I am the resurrection and the life.

  • The story of Lazarus is a drama that plays between two understandings of life and death.
  • Jesus announces that he himself is the Resurrection. Lazarus, though raised, will die again. This is different from the Resurrection of Christ.
  • Lazarus rises again to this present earthly life. This miracle is a sign of the greatest miracle of all, resurrection.