Christ in the House of Martha, Mary and Lazarus
Jacopo and Francesco dal Ponte known as Il Bassano (Bassano del Grappa 1515 – 1592) / (Bassano c. 1549 – Venice 1592) and workshop1 John 11:19-27
Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died]. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
Saintly Siblings’ Memorial
The saintly siblings’ memorial was instituted on 26 January 2021 by a Decree of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The Decree was signed by Cardinal R. Sarah. I include a couple of paragraphs for our reflection:
“In the household of Bethany the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit and friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and for this reason the Gospel of John states that he loved them. Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the One who humiliated death.
The traditional uncertainty of the Latin Church about the identity of Mary – the Magdalene to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection, the sister of Martha, the sinner whose sins the Lord had forgiven – which resulted in the inclusion of Martha alone on 29 July in the Roman Calendar, has been resolved in recent studies and times, as attested by the current Roman Martyrology, which also commemorates Mary and Lazarus on that day. Moreover, in some particular calendars the three siblings are already celebrated together.”
Welcoming the Lord
The decree then stresses “the important evangelical witness they offered in welcoming the Lord Jesus into their home, in listening to him attentively, in believing that he is the resurrection and the life”.2 By paying attention to these important elements we can also observe this new liturgical memorial: it offers us the opportunity to celebrate Christ’s friendship with the saintly trio, as it appears in the evangelical narrations and ecclesiastical tradition. It is, at the same time, a grace for us if we try to imitate Martha, Mary, and Lazarus’ desire to welcome Christ in our minds, hearts and homes as they did. Listening to him so as to fulfil his will and to celebrate Him as our Resurrection and our Life is not a minor grace either.
God bless you all,
Fr. Marcelo Javier Navarro Muñoz, IVE
Author: The Contribution of Cornelio Fabro to Fundamental Theology. Reason and Faith, Cambridge Scholars Publishing: https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-9315-2 Poesía Sacra, Quemar las Naves, and Desde Fossanova, IVE Press: https://ivepress.org/libros-en-espanol/?page=1
1 https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/christ-in-the-house-of-martha-mary-and-lazarus, accessed July 27, 2026.
2 https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/02/02/210202c.html, accessed July 27, 2026.
