Saint Augustine on the Raising of Lazarus

"What good would it have done Lazarus when he came out of the tomb, if it had not been said, ‘Unbind him and let him go’? He came forth bound; not on his own feet, therefore, but by some power leading him. Let this be in the heart of the penitent: when you hear a man confessing his sins, he has already come to life again; when you hear a man lay his bare conscious in confessing, he has already come forth from the sepulcher; but he is not yet unbound. When is he unbound? By whom is he unbound? 'Whatever you loose on earth,’ he says, ‘shall be loosed in heaven.’ Rightly is the loosing of sins able to be given by the Church, but the dead man cannot be raised to life again except by the Lord’s calling him interiorly for this latter is done by God in a more interior way." 

— St. Augustine of Hippo

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Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer You are the resurrection and the life. No one else can give eternal life. Make our faith in You strong. Help us to remember that You defeated sin and death, and that we will also defeat death because we belong to You. We pray this in Your most holy name. Amen.