July 29, 2026
Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus
Memorial
Gospel: John 11:19-27

Today is Wednesday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time. Today the Church celebrates the Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus.

The recently published Missal tells us: Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus (1st century) were close friends of the Lord. Jesus often came to their home in Bethany. The Gospel according to John clearly states that Jesus loved them deeply. Martha provided hospitality for Jesus, while Mary listened attentively to His teachings—presenting us with the two dimensions of “action” and “contemplation” in discipleship. Lazarus was restored to life after four days in the tomb, and the chief priests even considered putting him to death, so great was the attention they were attracting. According to tradition, the three siblings went out to preach the Gospel after the Ascension of Jesus and are particularly associated with the southern region of France. Lazarus is claimed to have been both Bishop of Kition (Cyprus) and Bishop of Marseilles (France).

Here, I would like to make special mention of the Decree De Ss. Martha, Maria et Lazarro in Calendarium Romanum Generale describendis issued by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on January 26, 2021 (Prot. N. 35/21). The Dicastery teaches us: In the home at Bethany, the Lord Jesus experienced family spirit and friendship with Martha, Mary and Lazarus, therefore the Gospel according to John indicates how Jesus loved them. Martha hospitably welcomed Him, Mary was devoted to listening to His words, and at Jesus’ command Lazarus immediately came forth from the tomb, freed from the shame of death. Latin ecclesiastical tradition could not definitively determine the identity of Mary—Mary Magdalene, to whom Jesus first appeared after His Resurrection; the sister of Martha, the Mary who had been forgiven many sins—so that on July 29, only Martha alone was inscribed in the Roman liturgical calendar. This uncertainty has been resolved by recent scholarship, as attested by the present Roman Martyrology, which also commemorates Mary and Lazarus on the same day. Furthermore, in certain particular calendars, all three siblings are commemorated together on the same day. Therefore, the Supreme Pontiff Francis, considering that they welcomed the Lord into their home, listened attentively to Him, and firmly believed that He is the Resurrection and the Life, thus providing an important witness to the Gospel, and adopting the proposal of this Dicastery, has decreed that July 29 in the Roman liturgical calendar shall be designated as the Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus.

Today’s passage from the Holy Gospel according to John mentions Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Let us attempt some reflection.

We often face partings of life and death in our lives. In our view, when our loved ones are separated from us, we think that we have lost them forever and that they are no longer with us. Even we, like Martha (cf. John 11:24), believe that only on the last day of the world will our deceased relatives and friends be resurrected and reunited with us.

Through the Baptism we have received, we have been cleansed of original sin by the living water that flowed from the heart of Jesus—that is, what Jesus proclaimed in the Temple on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles: “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. As Scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.'” (cf. John 7:37-39)—according to the riches of His mercy. Through the Baptism we have received, we are united to Christ, and our spirits are set free, as Paul says: “If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:10) When we received the Baptism of Christ, we already departed from the shadow cast over our souls by sin and death, because we now live in the light of the true Light that enlightens the world; thus we walk in daylight and will not stumble (John 11:9), for the Holy Spirit illumines and guides us. Once we return to evil and refuse to accept the illumination of the true Light that enlightens the world, we live in the darkness caused by sin, we walk in the night and will surely stumble (John 11:10), leading to eternal perdition.

As soon as Jesus arrived at Bethany, the Jews who were with Martha and her sister Mary came to Jesus together with Martha. They hoped that Jesus would raise Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, just as He had healed the man blind from birth who had lived in darkness for thirty-eight years on the Sabbath (cf. John 11:17-37). But in the dialogue between Jesus and Martha and Mary, Jesus told them plainly: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26) The meaning is: as long as we constantly cherish the desire for eternal happiness, receive the Baptism of Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and live out each day well, even if our life ends in this present world, we still have the hope of obtaining eternal life.

Almighty ever-living God, whose Son was pleased to be welcomed in Saint Martha’s house as a guest, grant we pray, that through her intercession, serving Christ faithfully in our brothers and sisters, we may merit to be received by you in the hall of heaven Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica