The readings today for Palm Sunday and throughout Holy Week invite us to journey to the Holy Land where the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus took place. Whether or not you've made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, we all have a special connection to that place where our Lord lived, died, and rose again from the dead.
The Gospel for this Fifth Sunday of Lent concerning the raising of Lazarus from the dead is the third "scrutiny" Gospel. The past two weeks, we heard the first and second scrutiny Gospels with the Samaritan woman at the well and the healing of the blind man. These three Gospels are geared not only to us who are already living the Catholic life, but also toward those in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults who are seeking to be baptized this Easter.
This Fourth Sunday of Lent teaches us the importance of seeing as God sees. We all have narrow vision due to being finite human beings with a limited perspective.
This Third Sunday of Lent, we hear about Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. This woman went to the well at noon (in the heat of the day) precisely because she didn't want to meet anyone there.