{"id":6320,"date":"2014-04-12T14:10:41","date_gmt":"2014-04-12T13:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=6320"},"modified":"2015-12-18T17:38:52","modified_gmt":"2015-12-18T17:38:52","slug":"5th-sunday-of-lent-06-04-14-a-world-in-a-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=6320","title":{"rendered":"5th Sunday of Lent (06.04.14) A World In A Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

5th Sunday of Lent (06.04.14)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

A World In A Word<\/strong><\/p>\n

A single word can hold a world of meaning. The proper name \u2018Jesus\u2019 is such a word. For the Baptised, \u2018Jesus\u2019, means the Son of God, helpless child, adventurous youth, preacher of truth, master of compassion, healer of humanity, the crucified Saviour who dies on the Cross and comes back to his human life to live for ever as God-made-Man. For the non-believer, the proper name \u2018Jesus\u2019 is used as an expletive or to infer contempt.<\/p>\n

The word \u2018life\u2019 used by a believer embraces how God and humanity are marvellously entwined from conception, through birth and out of womb existence to death and resurrection. The first four out of those five identified states are understood to a significant degree. The fifth remains a mystery of faith based on belief in the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ, God-made-Man.<\/p>\n

There is \u2018resurrection\u2019 (small \u2018r\u2019) meaning an extension of life \u2018on this mortal coil\u2019, pace Shakespeare, and Resurrection (capital \u2018R\u2019) as uniquely applied to Jesus of Nazareth. Resurrection to eternal life with God became possible, we believe, through the Resurrection of Jesus, the first human to rise permanently from the dead.<\/p>\n

St. John\u2019s Gospel excerpt for the 5th Sunday of Lent (11:1-45) focuses on Lazarus (the name means \u2018God is my help\u2019), the brother of Martha and Mary. Their shared Bethany home appears to have been a refuge for Jesus in his missionary years. Over time the word \u2018Lazarus\u2019 has been applied to the experience of people who have woken from a long-term comatose state. John\u2019s Gospel describes Lazarus as being four days entombed before being called by Jesus. As faith in and knowledge of Jesus the Christ has diminished in the western world, the derivation of the term \u2018Lazarus\u2019 has been lost. In much the same way, many who make use of the phrase \u2018touch wood\u2019 have no understanding of its origin. \u2018Touch wood\u2019 refers to a conscious calling on the Wood of the Cross on which Jesus the Christ suffered and died for us by way of authenticating the claims or hopes vocalised by a speaker.<\/p>\n

In our world, overwhelmed by an excessive use of words and where true silence is in short supply, conciseness or concision has value. The use of one word rather than many may aid comprehension without loss of meaning. Medically qualified people share knowledge of complex human medical conditions using proper names. For example, two words, \u2018subdural haematoma\u2019, identify a potentially life-threatening solid swelling of clotted blood within the tissues of the brain.<\/p>\n

Nursing staff, caring for comatose patients, are encouraged to talk to them as if they were awake as an aid to recovery. The voice of family member or close friend may provide even better therapy. When somebody, with whom a deep bond of love is shared, speaks your name it means so much more than the mere pronunciation of your name. A machine can be programmed to authentically speak your name but it can never replace the qualities communicable only through the living voice of someone who loves you deeply. So, in addition to there being a \u2018world of meaning in a word\u2019, there can be the inestimable communicative \u2018power of love in a word\u2019.<\/p>\n

John\u2019s Gospel leads us to believe that Jesus and Lazarus and his sisters were close friends. Jesus\u2019 familiar voice called Lazarus from the tomb and he came! He came to an extension of earthbound life not entry into eternal life. Further reading of the Gospel tells of how Lazarus, after his resurrection, was identified for elimination by the religious\/political powers that planned the obliteration of Jesus and his teaching.<\/p>\n

Jesus has been calling us to \u2018resurrection\u2019 since before our conception (Jeremiah 1: 5). With the coming of the age described as \u2018use of reason\u2019, we will have begun to identify and respond to that call. From that time we have drifted in and out of a semi \u2018comatose\u2019 entrapment by the Evil One. Too often we have allowed Jesus\u2019 call to be thwarted by Satan\u2019s deception. Our world is in the \u2018grip of Satan\u2019, as St John\u2019s first letter puts it (1John 5:19), and environmentally we are everywhere prone to sin. Its very seduction draws us stealthily into a habit of sin, little by little.<\/p>\n

When Lazarus\u2019 hearing returned, he heard more than his name being called. He recognised Jesus\u2019 call because his heart and soul were attuned to identify and willingly respond to God. St. John tells us that Lazarus came out of the tomb still bound! It\u2019s not easy to walk when you are bandaged from head to toe! As they say, where there\u2019s a will, there\u2019s a way. Today\u2019s \u2018bandages\u2019 can be likened to any of the multi-type headphones and mobile phones that \u2018entomb\u2019 us in constant chatter. Their use can all too quickly become an addiction and the ability to be silent is lost! Yet, only in silence can the call of Jesus be heard.<\/p>\n

So many people nowadays are frightened by silence. For many years I belonged to a parish where the church doors \u2013 open all day \u2013 were literally a few steps from a constantly busy pavement bordering a massively busy and noisy urban thoroughfare. The whole area was full of noise from daybreak to late. Five different emergency services \u2013 Police, Fire, Ambulance, Bomb Squad and Railway Police \u2013 constantly used the thoroughfare day and night with really noisy sirens. So many people of all faiths and none found refuge in the semi-silence of that large church. Daily, hundreds were so glad to come in and sit and just be quiet and still. Hopefully, many were able to begin to hear again the \u2018resurrectional\u2019 call of The Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n

With Holy Week just days away, why not review the quality and frequency of silence in your life? Ask yourself whether you welcome it or resent and even fear it? If you tick the resentment or fear boxes, ask yourself why that is? You may not have noticed how your waking hours have become so invaded with noise. A preacher once deliberately stopped speaking in the middle of a sermon. Immediately, nothing much changed in the congregation. Then the preacher noticed a few heads begin to lift. As the silence continued more and more were now paying close attention. After some time of silence and stillness, when even the children had stopped fidgeting, the congregation began to be restless. The preacher commented, \u201cEvidently, you listen more attentively to me when I am silent! Why is it that you don\u2019t hear more fruitfully Jesus when he calls you to come from your entombment in the affairs of the world and listen to him?\u201d<\/p>\n

Do the \u2018off\u2019 switches for the TV, radio and mobile appear scary? We could choose to dispose ourselves to listen for Jesus calling our name as we, the Church, commemorate these sacred days in a week that is demonstrably holy only when we choose to allow Jesus\u2019 holiness to resonate in us as he speaks our Baptismal name.<\/p>\n

If Lazarus had not had an attuned heart and ear \u2026\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5th Sunday of Lent (06.04.14) A World In A Word A single word can hold a world of meaning. The proper name \u2018Jesus\u2019 is such a word. For the Baptised, \u2018Jesus\u2019, means the Son of God, helpless child, adventurous youth, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archdiocese-of-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6321,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6320\/revisions\/6321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}