St. Carthagh's and St. Edmund's Catholic Churches

Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus

Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus were evidently close friends of Jesus. He came to their home simply as a welcomed guest, rather than as one celebrating the conversion of a sinner like Zacchaeus or one unceremoniously received by a suspicious Pharisee. The sisters felt free to call on Jesus at their brother’s death, even though a return to Judea at that time seemed to spell almost certain death.

Martha’s great glory is her simple and strong statement of faith in Jesus after her brother’s death. “Jesus told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world’” (John 11:25-27).

No doubt Martha was an active sort of person. On one occasion, she prepares the meal for Jesus and possibly his fellow guests and forthrightly states the obvious: All hands should pitch in to help with the dinner. The Lord recognizes that Martha is “worried about many things,” also noting that Mary, who has spent the preparation time at Jesus’ feet listening to his words “has chosen the better part.” John 12:1-8 describes Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet at Bethany, an act which he praised highly.

Immediately after we are told that the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus “because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.” Lazarus was the one of whom the Jews said, “See how much he loved him.” In their sight Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.

Legends abound about the life of Lazarus after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of what he saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some say he followed Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being put into a leaking boat by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters, and others landed safely in Cyprus. There he died peacefully after serving as bishop for 30 years.

It is certain there was early devotion to the saint. Around the year 390, the pilgrim lady Etheria talks of the procession that took place on the Saturday before Palm Sunday at the tomb where Lazarus had been raised from the dead. In the West, Passion Sunday was called Dominica de Lazaro, and Augustine tells us that in Africa the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus was read at the office of Palm Sunday.

-Sourced from Franciscanmedia.org–

My homily last Sunday was to help prepare you, our dear parishioners, for the celebration of the First World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. The CCCB Standing Committee for Family has prepared a video for this upcoming Sunday, July 25, 2021. The video will be of particular interest to you, dear parishioners. Please, find the video by clicking on this link.

With grateful hearts for God’s grace of one faith, one baptism, one hope and one Lord Jesus Christ, the  Good News of God’s unconditional love for all, we stand united as a community of God’s people in the  Archdiocese of Kingston. Conscious of our equality in God’s eyes and His personal love for us and  imbued with the evangelical zeal of our patrons and Mary, the Mother of the Church, we reflect God’s  goodness in our community and in our dealings with others. Guided by the Spirit and assisted by prayer  and the Sacraments, we strive to deepen our personal relationship with Christ Jesus and to share him  with others.

Pope Francis has declared the Year of St Joseph, from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021. This coincides with 150th anniversary of Pope Pius IX's declaration of St Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church.