(Fifth Sunday of Lent (A): This homily was given on March 21, 1999 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read John 11: 1-45.)

"The lesson we learn from Blessed Margaret of Castello, the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, the man born blind and Lazarus: Things are not always as they first appear to be."

Parisio was a wealthy Italian nobleman of the late 13^th century. He held the title of "Captain of the People" in one of the papal states. In colloquial terms, that means he had big bucks and lots of political power. He lived in a beautiful castle on a high mountain with his wife, Lady Emilia. Early in the year 1287, the couple made a very happy discovery: Emilia was pregnant with their first child. Because of their political and social status, they made plans to have a magnificent feast and a town-wide celebration at the time of their child's Baptism. But those plans were scratched the moment the child was born. That's because their new daughter, Margaret, was dreadfully deformed. As one author later wrote:

Margaret was far from being beautiful, but her ugliness was the least of her handicaps. She was so small that it was evident she would never attain normal height. In addition, she was hunchbacked. As the right leg was much shorter than the left, it was obvious that the girl would be lame. All this was bad enough. But a week or so after her birth, her parents discovered that she had still another handicap. She was totally blind. [Fr. William Bonniwell, O.P., The Life of Blessed Margaret of Castello, (Rockford, Ill.: Tan Books, 1983), p. 7.]

I think we have all known parents who have had to deal with severe mental or physical handicaps in their children. Normally these men and women respond with selfless, generous love. They go "the extra mile"--and then some--in trying to meet the special needs of their children. But, unfortunately, that was NOT the case with Parisio and Lady Emilia! They were extremely proud, selfish, materialistic people, and they did not want their good name tarnished by a pathetic creature like Margaret. Consequently, they did their best to keep her in the castle and away from the public eye for the first six years of her life. But when it became clear that her condition was fast becoming common knowledge, they decided that they needed to get her out of the castle completely. So what did they do? Well, since Margaret had made it clear to them that she loved God deeply, they decided to have a little cell built onto a small, nearby church--a church which very few people attended because it was out in the middle of nowhere--and they proceeded to lock Margaret up in the cell! How charitable! In effect, they put their own daughter in prison. For 13 years! During those difficult days, Margaret's only consolation came from her faith. From her cell she was able to hear Mass and to receive the sacraments. A kind priest took the time to instruct her in the faith and to minister to her as best he could under the circumstances. Now you would think that Margaret would have been filled with hatred for her parents, but, amazingly, she wasn't. By the grace of God, she continued to love them and to pray for them throughout her life--and in the process she became extremely holy. After 13 years, Margaret was moved to another cell where she spent one more year. At that point her "kind and compassionate" mother and father decided to take her to a special shrine in Castello, Italy to pray for her physical healing. Now they didn't go because they cared about their daughter--they went because they wanted to look good in the eyes of others. Sad to say, no healing occurred. So what did the wonderful Parisio and Lady Emilia do? Why, they abandoned their child, of course! (At this point, let me add one editorial comment: I am not making this up! This is a true story! I think this is where the old saying originated: Truth is stranger than fiction!)

So here this blind, lame, deformed 20 year-old found herself all alone on the dangerous streets of a strange town--a town that she couldn't even see. Can you imagine being in that position?! Well, to make a long story short, Margaret lived on the street as a homeless beggar for a brief period of time, but eventually she became what we would now call a Third Order Dominican. She then spent the rest of her 33 years praying, and happily performing works of mercy and charity. She joyfully ministered to the sick and the imprisoned without giving a thought to her own handicaps. And through her, God blessed many people. Many miracles occurred through her prayers, and when she died practically the entire town came to her funeral. In 1609 she was beatified by Pope Paul V, and, as is the case with many saints, her body never decomposed. It remains incorrupt inside the Dominican Church in Castello, Italy to this very day.

Why did I share that story with you this morning? I did so because it bears a certain similarity to the Gospel stories we've heard for the past 3 weeks. In the story of Blessed Margaret of Castello, appearances were deceiving, were they not? Let's face it--to the people who knew both her and her parents, Margaret initially appeared to be the pitiable one--the wretched one--the one with a miserable, unhappy, unfulfilled life. But in reality her parents (who looked so good on the outside!) were the ones who were pitiable, and wretched, and miserable--as well as morally and spiritually bankrupt! In spite of her many handicaps and infirmities, Margaret was filled will faith, hope, love and joy, whereas her parents were filled with pride, greed, selfishness and misery. Things were not as they first appeared to be.

The same can be said about the Gospel story we heard two weeks ago--the story of the woman who came to draw water at Jacob's well. When Jesus first asked this woman for a drink, he appeared to be the one who had the greatest need of water. But, in actuality, it was the Samaritan woman who really needed the "water"--the water of God's forgiveness and mercy. Things were not as they first appeared to be.

Then last week, in the text from John 9, we heard about a man who was blind from birth. At first glance, because of his physical condition, he appeared to be the only one who needed the gift of sight, but that was definitely not the case. As Jesus made clear at the end of the story, it was actually the Pharisees who suffered from the most severe form of blindness--spiritual blindness. Even though they could see with their human eyes, they had the greatest need of healing. Things were not as they first appeared to be.

Which brings us to the incredible miracle that we heard about today: the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Here, once again, things were not as they first appeared to be. Initially we were told that Lazarus was dead. Or was he? Physically, of course, he had assumed room temperature. No doubt about it! But Lazarus had put his faith in Jesus; therefore, in the deepest sense, he was not dead: "I am the resurrection and the life,' said our Lord, 'whoever believes in me, though he should die, will come to life; and whoever is alive and believes in me will never die." That is to say, his soul will not suffer eternal death (which is the worst kind of death). Now, at the end of the story, we are told that many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary made the decision to put their faith in Jesus, after they saw this incredible miracle. But at the beginning of the story they did not believe in our Lord. That means that before Jesus commanded Lazarus to come out of the grave there was one "dead" man inside the tomb who was actually alive, and many "living" people standing outside the tomb who were actually dead (dead in the deeper spiritual sense). Interesting, isn't it? And even though many did believe in Jesus after this miracle, others did not. They still stubbornly refused to accept him and his message; consequently, they remained dead in their sins. There was a movie out a few years ago called "Dead Man Walking." Well, I suppose you could say that these men and women were the original "Dead People Walking." They looked alive--but they weren't.

There is a lesson here for all of us. We can look healthy, we can work out every day and pass our annual physical with "flying colors," and still be sick. We can look like we have it all together (like Parisio and his wife and the Pharisees), and still be in complete disarray on the inside. We can look alive and be spiritually dead at the very same time.

Things are not always as they first appear to be. That's important for us to realize, because we live in a society right now that makes a lot of appearances. And if you don't believe me, just watch a few minutes of the Academy Awards ceremony tonight!

Well, the gossip columnists may be interested in "what appears to be," but Jesus is only interested in "what is." He's interested in reality. That's why he came to this earth and suffered and died--to help us deal with reality: the reality of our daily joys and sufferings, and, most especially, the reality of our sins. If we have not already done so during this Lent, may we have the courage to deal with the reality of our sins in the next week and a half, by making a good, honest, thorough confession.