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FIFTH
SUNDAY IN LENT
EZEKIEL 37:1-14
PSALM
130
ROMANS
8:6-11
JOHN
11:1-45
COLLECT
Almighty God,
your Son came into the world
to free us all from sin and death.
Breathe upon us with the power of your Spirit,
that we may be raised to new life in Christ,
and serve you in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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A
READING FROM THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the
spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it
was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many
lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me,
"Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord
God, you know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these
bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to
enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will
cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put
breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am
the Lord." So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I
prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones
came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews
on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them;
but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me,
"Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the
breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." I
prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and
they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he
said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of
Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost;
we are cut off completely.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them,
Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring
you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to
the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I
open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.
I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will
place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord,
have spoken and will act," says the Lord.
EZEKIEL 37:1-14
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PSALM
REFRAIN The Lord shall redeem us from all our sins.
Out
of the depths have I called to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice;
let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication. R
If
you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, O Lord, who could
stand?
For
there is forgiveness with you; therefore you shall be feared.
I
wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; in his word is my hope.
R
My
soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning, more
than watchmen for the morning. R
O
Israel, wait for the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy;
With
him there is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from
all their sins. R
PSALM 130
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A
READING FROM THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS
To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the
Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on
the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law
indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please
God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since
the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the
Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you,
though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the
dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give
life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in
you.
ROMANS 8:6-11
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THE
HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
ACCORDING TO JOHN
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary
and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with
perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was
ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom
you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it, he said,
"This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's
glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."
Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer
in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the
disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples
said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone
you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered,
"Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk
during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this
world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is
not in them." After saying this, he told them, "Our
friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken
him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen
asleep, he will be all right." Jesus, however, had been
speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring
merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is
dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may
believe. But let us go to him." Thomas, who was called the
Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we
may die with him." When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near
Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to
Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha
heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary
stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been
here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God
will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her,
"Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him,
"I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the
last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and
the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will
live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do
you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I
believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming
into the world." When she had said this, she went back and
called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher
is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she
got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the
village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The
Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get
up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that
she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where
Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him,
"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have
died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with
her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply
moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to
him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the
Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them
said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have
kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly
disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying
against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha,
the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there
is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said
to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would
see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus
looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard
me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the
sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you
sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice,
"Lazarus, come out!" 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."
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen
what Jesus did, believed in him.
JOHN 11:1-45
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PRAYER
OVER THE GIFTS
Giver of life,
your Son has destroyed the power of death
for all those who believe in him.
Accept all we offer you this day
and strengthen us in faith and hope;
through Jesus Christ, the Lord of all the living.
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PRAYER
AFTER COMMUNION
God of hope,
in this eucharist we have tasted the promise
of your heavenly banquet
and the richness of eternal life.
May we who bear witness to the death of your Son,
also proclaim the glory of his resurrection,
for he is Lord for ever and ever.
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