Reflection for 22 March 2026: 5th Sunday of Lent (Year A).
“If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you” (Rom 8:11).
Dear Marian Helpers and Members of our Marian Family,
Here, in the midst of Lent, we’re given a glimmer of hope: a reminder of the Resurrection. Often, we think of Christ’s Resurrection, but many people forget (or just don’t know) that we too will be resurrected! Every time we say one of the Creeds, we profess as much.
However, all this talk about Heaven and the resurrection of the dead can make us think that eternal life is something for the future. But it’s not! It’s happening right now.
Every faithful Christian, through their Baptism, has the Holy Triune God living within them, dwelling in their hearts and souls. This indwelling of God is the gift of eternal life, not for sometime in the future, but right now.
It is because of this indwelling that we can move forward, that we are able to be raised on the last day. Just as we seek to imitate Jesus in His life and death, we will also at the end, imitate Him in His Resurrection as well. This is a cause for hope! Death and pain do not have the final word…God does.
Right now, our world is experiencing so much chaos and evil: war, death, destruction, political factionalism, a breakdown in decorum and communication in society, and attacks against Christianity and morality. We look to the future for hope and reassurance, but we can also see, right, now, that the Spirit of God promised to us in the future is already with us, already at work in the world.
Like Martha and Mary, we profess our faith and trust that Jesus is the Lord and that He has power over life and death. Trusting in Him, we know that just as He will raise our bodies at the end, He will raise our souls from death today and give us the gift of eternal life.
May God bless you now and always!
Fr Alex Pumphrey, MIC
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Contact Father Alex at info@divinemercy.org.uk
Please send us your prayer intentions during Lent! (click here). We will place them at the foot of our altar in the Divine Mercy Apostolate’s Chapel here in West Ealing, London and will remember them in our daily Chaplets of Divine Mercy.
