“Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:44)

This year, the Sunday Gospels of Lent helped us prepare for the renewal of our baptismal promises. On the third Sunday, with the Samaritan woman we rediscovered the symbol of water. On the fourth Sunday, with the man born blind, we remembered that Jesus is the light of the world. On the fifth Sunday, Jesus reminded us that he gives us life through baptism. He brought back Lazarus to life “The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go’.” (John 11:44) Just as he unbounded Lazarus from death, Jesus himself was unbound when his Father raises him up from the dead.

When Simon Peter entered Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning, “He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.” (John 20:6b-7) Jesus was freed from the bonds of death. The same freedom is given to us at baptism. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:3-4) Since the day of our baptism, we too are freed from the bonds of death. This is important for our vocation as Vincentians. Freed from the bonds of death, we are called to unbind our suffering brothers and sisters and to let them go free.

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple.When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. (Acts3:1-8)