THEOLOGICAL CLUE

The Fifth Sunday of Lent has not only lost its name, judica, but it has also lost its liturgical function, which was quite positive in the pre-Vatican II liturgy; it used to announce the beginning of the holiest part of Lent, the two weeks of the Passion of Our Lord. Now it is simply part of Lent, and, practically, the Last Sunday in Lent, introducing the week before Holy Week. Again, the theological, and therefore the liturgical/homiletical, clue comes more from the Gospel for the Day than it does from the theological framework of the Sunday. The Roman Church reads the story of Jesus and Lazarus, omitting the reaction of the religious leaders to the raising of Lazarus and Jesus' other miracles; the Episcopal and Common lectionaries make the reading of verses 1-17 optiona…