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Martha was devastated, devastated when she heard the news about her brother, devastated over the death of her brother Lazarus. And there was an extra twist in that wound, the fact that Jesus didn’t come, the fact that Jesus wasn’t there and appeared not to care about his friend Lazarus. Nevertheless, we see that Martha had great faith. We all know about Martha’s temperament. She was not afraid to be outspoken, and yet the way she approached Jesus when he showed up was with faith, humility, and trust. Listen to her words, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give to you. Those are not words of accusation, those are not words of distrust or suspicion, those are words of faith, humility, and trust. When Martha approaches Jesus with faith, humility, and trust, Jesus responds in an unexpected way. Now Jesus knows exactly what he’s about to do. He told his apostles about the death of Lazarus before they knew about it. He intentionally delayed arriving in Bethany, and yet, and yet this mystery, this mystery of tears of Jesus, this mystery of why he wept, he knew exactly what was going to happen. He knew he had power to raise people from the dead. What’s more, because Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, he had no uncontrollable emotions. He was in perfect control of his humanity, and that means he could use whatever emotion he needed at the time. So he chose to experience Martha’s misery. He chose to experience her sadness. He chose to allow himself to feel those painful emotions before he manifested his power. And his way was right. His way of answering Martha’s prayers was correct. Think about the souls that were saved on account of this miracle of rising from the dead. There’s no doubt that those who witnessed this would have been some of the first apostles in Jerusalem, would have been the bedrock of that Jerusalem community from which the entire church spread. God has a plan right now. God knows what he’s doing. God, being God, the all-knowing, the all-powerful and all-loving, does not allow anything bad to happen without the possibility of good coming from it. Moreover, in heaven, Jesus still has a human heart. Jesus still has a human heart. In heaven, Jesus still has a human heart. Jesus still feels the misery, our pain, still understands that as a human being. He’s not farther from us. He’s closer to us on account of his ascension into heaven. And he still has a heart that’s moved when his disciples approach him with faith, humility and trust. At this time, all of us are praying. All of us have so many aching concerns on our hearts. If not for yourself, certainly, then for your family, your friends. Nobody is spared anxiety from the situation we’re in. So when we pray, we must follow Martha’s example. We must follow Martha’s example of bringing our anxieties, our concerns before God with faith, humility and trust. So present your petitions to God. God wants to hear them. God wants to hear what you’re concerned about. But don’t despair. Don’t despair. God would not have allowed this pandemic, this plague to happen without knowing that good could come from it. Without knowing what he was doing and how this was going to work out for the better. Look for opportunities to love. Use this time as an opportunity to grow closer to Christ, as an opportunity to pray, as an opportunity to witness to Christ in our fallen world. The fundamental truth of our faith is that the most serious problem facing humanity is no disease, no death, no economic troubles. The truth of our faith is that sin is the worst thing in the world. That sin was the only problem bad enough to cause Jesus to become incarnate in the world. And so, just as I’ve encouraged you to find opportunities to show God’s love in the world, we here at St. Alphonsus are going to do the same thing. We’re going to be having more confession times. Tuesday from 530 to 630, Thursday from 530 to 630, and Saturday from 4 to 5. And in order to make this more available to the community, we will be doing these confessions, weather permitting, on 10th Avenue, the drive-through confessional. This is an opportunity for us to bring the power of God’s mercy from the church out into the world. God is at work. And if we approach him with faith, humility, and trust, then we will see the good that he’s bringing out of it.