Fifth Sunday of Lent

La Salette Laity Reflection by the Laity of St. Ann’s, Marietta, Georgia

In the Gospel, after thanking the Father, Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb. Once dead, he emerges still wrapped in burial cloths, and Jesus commands, “Unbind him.” As astonishing as this miracle is, it is not hard to recognize ourselves in it.

At different moments in life, and perhaps especially during Lent, we are invited to ask: What part of me needs to die? Lazarus’s tomb becomes a place to leave behind whatever keeps us from abundant life in Christ. What needs to die may differ for each of us, pride, resentment, the need to be right, or the inability to forgive. Lazarus had been dead for four days,

Yet God brings him back to life. Nothing in us is beyond God’s power to restore.
Jesus’s final words carry deeper meaning. “Unbind him and let him go” is spoken not to Lazarus, but to the community around him. Jesus gives life, but others help remove the bandages. In the same way, we are not meant to be healed or reconciled alone. God works through the Church, through relationships, and through those who walk with us in faith.

This command is both spiritual and practical. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Christ calls us out of the tomb and loosens what binds us, restoring us to right relationship with God and with one another.
This is the same call Mary makes at La Salette. She weeps not to condemn, but to loosen what binds God’s children and lead them back to her Son, so that we may step out of the tomb and live as people set free.