Dear brothers and sisters!

Happy Lazarus Saturday! It is the day preceding the Feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem and Passion Week.

The Holy Scripture reveals to us that the Lord wants to have a sincere and living relationship with everyone as a personality. And the raising of Lazarus, a friend of Christ, one of the most significant Gospel miracles, helps us to understand the depth of the love of God.

This story is well known: Lazarus, Christ's close friend, became sick and died suddenly. The Lord says that this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, and does not hurry to come to help at once. This delay of His becomes a test of faith and patience for the relatives.

And when He comes to the tomb on the fourth day, He is truly sorrowful, sharing the pain of loss with the relatives. The Lord is crying because He wishes nobody death. The Saviour comes — and life comes with Him. He demands that the stone be taken away and raises Lazarus, who was already subjected to corruption.

This event teaches us: God does not deprive man of freedom and responsibility. He expects us to do what is possible and Himself does what is impossible for man. So does He act in our lives as well: the Lord comes when hope seems to be completely buried underneath stones of despair and revives us for a new life by His authoritative word.


The Gospel story of the raising of Lazarus reveals to us that for Jesus Christ — God and the perfect Man — friendship was not an empty word but one of the numerous manifestations of His love. God has come to us, has become one of us, and seeks our friendship. He is able to be a friend and value this relationship.
'A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity', wrote the most wise Solomon. Lazarus became a friend of Christ by letting Him into his home and his heart. Like him, we can also become friends of God by renouncing our mistakes and opening our lives to meet His love.

In our times of tragic trials, it is realised particularly clearly: life without God is spiritual death and decay. A straying people that has lost faith inevitably loses both strength and unity and future. But even one person who keeps faithfulness to the Lord and His true Church and Christ, despite all hardships, persecutions, and fears, can become a lamp of hope for and a guide to many people. It was so, it is so, and it will be so.
I am sincerely convinced: only believing God and being faithful to the Church can change the condition of our society and save us. For when man firmly decides to become a friend of God, he revives spiritually and is bestowed with the power of the grace of God, which is capable of transforming one's own soul and the world around.

Happy feast, dear friends!

I wish all of us to become true friends of God.