Life Transformed

Arise!

my friend and live.

Arise!

for God lives in you.

Arise!

and show forth God’s glory.

Arise!

be a witness of life.

Arise!

celebrate God’s mercy and love.

Arise!

be free of all that binds you.

Arise!

to embrace goodness and healing.

Arise!

and know the bond of friendship.

Arise!

to walk in the hope of the resurrection.

Arise!

to taste life everlasting.

Arise!

and know I love you.

Arise!

for I AM the way, the truth and the life.

Arise!

for you live in me and I live in you.

Arise!

Life of Jesus Mafa was an initiative undertaken in the 1970s to help teach the gospel in Northern Cameroon

Lord Jesus,

like Lazarus you call us to life each day

and free us from the bonds of death.

As we continue our earthly pilgrimage

we trust in your ways, walk in your light and

are assured of the promise of everlasting life.

We pray for courage, strength, joy and hope

to arise and live as the Child of God we are:

transformed by love, transformed by life,

being open to the gift of hope and freedom

because you are the Resurrection and the Life.

When our time comes to face death,

may we trust in your embrace and

may we know your love surrounds us

welcoming us to a life that is beyond

anything we have known here.

Amen.

The gospel for the 5^th Sunday of Lent is the story of Jesus of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus called forth his friend from the grave… “Lazarus come out!” he was calling him to a new reality, to a life transformed, to the power of life. He was saying arise because life is more powerful than death.

As I reflected on this gospel I was awakened to the gifts that life calls us to and how Christ unbinds us and sets us free so that we may arise from the traps that the world calls life. May the story of Lazarus allow for us to reflect on our own lives and relationships and call us forth from the tombs we create for ourselves. May we arise to the gift of life that we have here as we keep our eyes on the gift of everlasting life. May we give thanks for the relationships that call us to life and that allow us to be free. May we be challenged to bring life to those, which like Lazarus, are bonded and need us to guide them to life set free – to life anew. May we have the courage to arise transformed and open to God continually working in our life. May we have the courage to step trustingly into the light when we here Jesus call to us… “Come Out!” This is truly life… this is the gift of a life transformed.

Here is to life and the blessings of this Lenten week.