St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

The raising of Lazarus, today's Gospel, contains the shortest verse in the New Testament: "Jesus wept."  If the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead isn't enough to give us unlimited confidence in Christ, this verse should be more than enough.  Jesus is God, all-knowing and all-powerful.  And yet, in the face of His friend's death, and in the face of the grief of His other friends, Martha and Mary, He is moved to tears. 

Jesus Christ is not a distant God.  Jesus wept, and he weeps.  He weeps with us when we weep.  He stays with us in the Eucharist when everyone else abandons us.  Jesus wept with Martha and Mary before He raised Lazarus from the dead, because He wanted to assure us that He will always be with us in our sufferings, too.  When we are temped to be angry at God or to feel abandoned by Him, we need only think of the shortest verse in the New Testament:  "Jesus wept."

All the saints learn this lesson.  St. Lydwina, who was paralyzed at age sixteen as a result of an ice-skating accident, learned it exceptionally well.  For the next thirty-eight years she was an invalid, confined to a bed of rough boards, covered with ulcers, and in constant pain.  But she refused to complain, because she knew that Jesus was with her, weeping with her.  She used to say, "God's eye is on me; He sees and knows all.  That is sufficient."  When God permits us to suffer, He is lovingly giving us a chance to share in His saving cross.  As St. Therese of Lisieux wrote:  "The greatest honor God can do a soul is not to give it much, but to ask much of it."

The best way to express this confidence is by following Church teaching.  Christ has promised to shepherd His flock faithfully through the ministry of the pope and the bishops in communion with Him.  He has kept that promise for two thousand years.  Through all that time, as empires and kingdoms rose and fell, as fashions, cultures and entire civilizations came and went, Christ's Church has continued to teach the same doctrine that Christ had taught, faithfully applying it to history's changing circumstances.  It has done so in spite of the personal imperfections of some popes and bishops.  An so, when it comes to issues of faith and morality, that's the voice we listen to.

In some parts of the world today, however, it has become fashionable for Catholics to pick and choose among doctrines, as if the Catechism were a buffet.  This is the origin of groups that call themselves Catholic but then contradict basic Catholic teachings, like the immorality of abortion and homosexual marriage.  But when we pick and choose among doctrines, what are we really doing?  We are telling God that we don't trust Him.  We are telling Him that we trust some psychologists, doctors, or philosophers more than we trust Jesus Christ, who alone died and rose to save us from our sins.

Jesus doesn't ask us to be unreasonable.  There are excellent reasons behind all of the Church's teachings, and we should study them.  But even experts disagree on many issues.  Human reason alone is not enough to guide us to heaven, just as human effort alone was not enough to save Lazarus.  Like Mary and Martha, there comes a time when we have to trust Jesus, putting our lives, decisions, problems, and hopes in His capable hands.  That time is now.