PASTORAL LETTER
OF THE
MOST REVEREND BERNARD LONGLEY
ARCHBISHOP OF BIRMINGHAM
FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
1/2 APRIL 2017
Unbind him, let him go free.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I want to offer a few words of encouragement this weekend as we enter into the final two weeks
of our Lenten pilgrimage. The coming weeks give us a chance to re-focus our prayer, fasting and
almsgiving on the generous love that brought Our Lord to give His life out of love for us on the
cross. Love lies at the heart of Jesus’ sacrifice for you and me and He calls for a response of love
from each one of us. We can never forget that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son.
God’s love accompanies us from the first moments of our existence, throughout our childhood and
youth and all along life’s journey. We believe that the Lord is always at our side, at times
supporting and comforting us, but often challenging and urging us onwards. During the coming
fortnight, often known as Passiontide, we can return Christ’s love for us by placing ourselves at
His side, accompanying Him through the events of His passion and death on the cross and into
the joy of His resurrection when Easter comes.
When we are at one with Our Lord in His passion we become more compassionate ourselves,
because we begin to see other people as He sees them - with love. This is how the world looks
from the cross. We realise the need to place ourselves at the side of those who suffer or struggle
with the daily demands of living. In our own sinfulness and when we seek forgiveness we also
feel for those whose lives are overshadowed by the tyranny of addiction or of sin. Trying to see
as Christ sees we become more alive to the compassion that others show in the face of great need
or distress.
I was reminded of this recently, during the indiscriminate attack on Westminster Bridge, where
nearly fifty innocent people were struck and four lost their lives. The compassion and courage of
those who came to help them was a sign of God’s loving presence. Whether they were fellow
pedestrians or members of the emergency services, they were clearly moved by compassion to
help the injured and the dying. Christ was truly present in the love they showed on that day.
This year, as Passiontide begins, we hear the wonderful story from St John’s Gospel of the raising
of Lazarus, with those arresting words of Our Lord unbind him, let him go free. In the Eucharistic
Prayer at Mass we often proclaim Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you
have set us free. The raising of Lazarus points us towards the resurrection and reminds us that the
Lord has come to liberate us from everything that burdens or ties us down, from the bonds of sin
to the shackles of death itself.
Pastoral Letter for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, 1/2 April 2017 - 1/2
In the chapel of New College in Oxford there stands a remarkable statue of Lazarus by the sculptor
Epstein. As a singer in the chapel choir forty years ago I would walk past that statue every day
and I never failed to be struck by its meaning. Lazarus stands with his body still wrapped in the
bands of cloth in which he was buried and facing a door into the graveyard. But his head is
completely turned with an expression of wonder, looking towards Christ calling him back to life.
The artist has captured a truth that lies both within and beyond what we can see. Lazarus stands
for all of us, caught in the bonds that tie us down: our sinfulness and pride, our selfishness or the
circumstances of life that can sometimes hold us back. As Lazarus is called back to life by the Lord
so must we find our true freedom in the crucified and risen Christ. That is the invitation held out
to us in these final two weeks of Lent.
In our Archdiocese we are blessed by the witness of holy and compassionate men and women
who helped others find their freedom in Christ. In his compassionate love for those he came from
Italy to serve in Staffordshire Blessed Dominic Barberi had a decisive influence on the life of
Blessed John Henry Newman. He offered the example of humility and holiness within the
Catholic Church which Cardinal Newman had been longing to see. Perhaps he saw in Blessed
Dominic a reflection of that generous love which led Our Lord to die for us on the cross and which
Blessed John Henry describes in his hymn Praise to the Holiest.
Blessed Cardinal Newman certainly felt the presence of the crucified Christ in the experiences of
his own life. In a beautiful reflection, from his sermon entitled Tears of Christ at the Grave of Lazarus,
he writes: Let us take to ourselves these comfortable thoughts, both in the contemplation of our own death,
or upon the death of our friends. Wherever faith in Christ is, there is Christ Himself. He said to Martha,
“Believest thou this?” Wherever there is a heart to answer, “Lord, I believe,” there Christ is present.
There our Lord vouchsafes to stand, though unseen - whether over the bed of death or over the grave; whether
we ourselves are sinking or those who are dear to us. Blessed be His name! nothing can rob us of this
consolation: we will be as certain, through His grace, that He is standing over us in love, as though we saw
Him. We will not, after our experience of Lazarus's history, doubt an instant that He is thoughtful about
us.
When Lent draws to a close may you and your parish community be blessed by the presence of
the risen Christ, giving us new life and always thoughtful of all our needs.
Yours devotedly in Christ
Bernard Longley
Archbishop of Birmingham
Given at Birmingham on the 28 March 2017 and appointed to be read in all Churches and Chapels
of the Diocese on 1/2 April 2017
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