Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
Memorial
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: A, B, C | Lectionary Cycle: I, II
Introduction
On January 26, 2021, Pope Francis ordered the inscription of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus into the General Roman Calendar, to replace the existing celebration of Saint Martha alone. Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus are celebrated each year as an Obligatory Memorial on July 29.
In its 2021 decree on combining veneration of Mary and Lazarus with Martha, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments said, “In the household of Bethany, the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit and friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and for this reason the Gospel of John states that he loved them. Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words, and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the one who humiliated death.”
Opening Prayer
O God, whose Son
called Lazarus back to life from the grave
and was pleased to be a guest in the home of Martha,
grant us, we pray,
that, faithfully serving him in our brothers and sisters,
We, with Mary, may be found worthy to be nourished
by the contemplation of his word.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.
First Reading
God Is Love
Beloved, let us love one another because love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
Those who do not love have not known God, for God is love.
How has the love of God appeared among us? God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us first and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Beloved, if God’s love has been shown to us, we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us.
How can we know that we live in God and he in us? Because he has given us his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
We have come to know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
R. (2) I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. (9) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Fear the LORD, you his holy ones,
for nought is lacking to those who fear him.
The great grow poor and hungry;
but those who seek the LORD want for no good thing.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
or:
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
many Jews had come to Martha and Mary after the death of their brother to comfort them.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him while Mary remained sitting in the house.
Martha said to Jesus:
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
But I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
Jesus said:
“Your brother will rise again.”
Martha replied:
“I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, will live.
Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Martha then answered:
“Yes, LORD, I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.”
Prayers of the Faithful
Prayer over the Offerings
As we proclaim your wonders in your Saints, O Lord,
We humbly implore your majesty,
that, as their homage of love was pleasing to you,
So, too, our dutiful service may find favour in your sight.
Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon
Cf. Jn 11:27
Martha said to Jesus:
You are the Christ, the Son of God,
Who is coming into this world.
Prayer after Communion
May the holy reception of the Body and Blood
of your Only Begotten Son, O Lord,
turn us away from the cares of this fallen world,
so that, following the example of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus,
we may grow in sincere love for you on earth
and rejoice to behold you for eternity in heaven.
Through Christ our Lord.
REFLECTIONS
Today the Church celebrates the Memorial of Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus. In the household of Bethany, the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit and friendship, and for this reason, the Gospel of John states that he loved them. Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words, and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the One who humiliated death.
Pope Francis, in 2021, considering the important evangelical witness they offered in welcoming the Lord Jesus into their home, in listening to him attentively, in believing that he is the resurrection and the life, and accepting the proposal of this Dicastery, has decreed that July 29 be designated in the General Roman Calendar as the Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus
John 11:19-27
Today, the Church honours Martha, Mary, and Lazarus for their hospitality and testimony to Christ. In 2020, Pope Francis approved the modification of the liturgical feast of St. Martha on July 29 to include her sister and brother, Mary and Lazarus, on the church's universal calendar of feast days.
The Gospel recounts how Jesus comforted the family of three siblings—Martha, Mary, and Lazarus—following the death of one of them. His sisters, Martha and Mary, reported their brother’s illness to Jesus by simply saying, “The one you love is ill.” At a deeper level, this phrase applies to each of us.
Biblical scholars today explain that this family of three siblings represents the community of brothers and sisters whom Jesus loves. In this family of Bethany, there is no mention of a father, mother, spouses or children. It represents the Christian community where all are brothers and sisters, children of God the Father. The evangelist places great emphasis on the friendship between Jesus and these siblings. It symbolises the deep bond between Jesus and every disciple: “I do not call you servants”— Jesus would tell later at the Last Supper—"but I have called you friends” (Jn 15:15).
Jesus does not come to the house of the siblings, Instead, he waits outside the village for the sisters to come out of the house, where everyone is crying. The Lord invites them to come out of their world of frustration and despair to the new world of faith, hope and happiness.
‘If you had been here, our brother would not have died’ is the complaint of the two sisters. Many individuals start to question the existence of God when they encounter death. They wonder why there is death if God is real. The reality is that those who have faith in Jesus are already in eternal life with the Lord. Physical life on this earth is a period of gestation and transition to the world of God.
The Feast of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary is the feast of the Christian community. These three siblings remind us to get out of the hopelessness, fear, and weeping that surround us and to believe in the joy of the resurrection.