Just a word before we go...Fifth Sunday of Lent...March 26, 2023

Our Gospel this weekend, the raising of Lazarus, seems an appropriate one as we mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Fr. John Baran.  In fact all the Gospels of Lent were favorites of Fr. John’s, most especially the past three...the woman at the well, the man born blind, and the raising of Lazarus.  They were favorites, perhaps because they each provide such a rich array of preach able opportunities to remind us of God’s great love and mercy for us;  perhaps because they spark our imaginations to widen the lens though which we view life and other people; or perhaps it was because he recognized that he was the woman at the well, in need of Living Water; he was the man born blind, yearning for the gift of sight; he was Lazarus, dying to be untied and raised.  He recognized his needs, as we all do at some point in our lives. 

We remember Fr. John today with gratitude for the gift that he was and continues to be to this parish.  We remember his compassion, his outstanding homilies, his wry sense of humor, his outrageous laugh.  We remember him in other ways as well...as a living example of courage as he navigated his muscular dystrophy, making accommodation after accommodation in order to remain doing what he loved best...being a parish priest.  We held our breath each Holy Thursday, when after washing parishioners’ feet, he pulled himself from the floor.

As we watched his suffering, we suffered with him, and when he was diagnosed with melanoma, we prayed and waited for the good news of his recovery, news that never came.  We greeted him after Mass, on his stool on the porch or in his wheelchair, never thinking that this time might be the last time.  And we cried in disbelief and sorrow when he was taken from us.  The timing of his death, on the heels of Holy Week, enfleshed the services of the Triduum with new resonance...he had become an icon of the suffering Christ, the personification of  the Paschal Mystery.  He made it real for us in such a way that no Holy Week, no Triduum, has been or will ever be, the same. 

Back to these Gospels...you, my friends, need to know that as much as Fr. John gave Living Water to us, you parishioners became Living Water for him.  Inasmuch as he helped us to see more clearly, you did the same for him; and even as he untied knots and brought new life to us, you did the same for him. You gave him purpose, you gave him hope, you made him party to your hopes and dreams, joys and sorrows, to your families.  You fed him as he fed all of us. 

How do we continue to honor this person who gave us so much, and who meant so much to us?  Perhaps we keep the legacy of Fr. John alive by  continuing to be the community that he nurtured, and by moving forward together into the future, fueled by the memory, grounded in the Gospel, and sharing the joys and meeting the challenges that will come our way.  Let us endeavor to become more authentic witnesses to the presence of God in our lives and in the world, as Fr. John taught us.