Fifth Sunday of Lent at St Brendan’s Church, Bruny Island – 22 March 2026

Dear People of God,

It is a real joy for me to be with you and Fr Mike today, here on Bruny Island. In a community such as yours, where Mass is not every week but once a month, each gathering carries a particular weight and a particular grace. You come not out of routine, but out of desire—a real hunger for the Lord and for one another. And it is a privilege for me, as your bishop, to be here with you for the first time.

Over the weeks of Lent, we have been on a journey. The Word of God has taken us through desert places, we have stood on the mountain of the Transfiguration, paused at the well with the Samaritan woman, and last week we came beside the man born blind. Today, the Gospel brings us to Bethany.

Bethany in today’s Gospel is not a place of joy. It is a place of grief. A family is mourning. Martha and Mary have lost their brother Lazarus. Their home, once full of welcome and friendship, is now filled with sorrow.

Into that sorrow comes Jesus.

Martha goes out to meet him and says words that are both full of pain and full of faith: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” It is the kind of prayer many of us have prayed in one form or another—when we have faced loss, disappointment, or unanswered questions.

Yet Jesus does not turn away from her grief. He leads her deeper. He says: “I am the resurrection and the life… Do you believe this?”

Martha responds with one of the most beautiful professions of faith in the Gospel:
“Yes, Lord, I believe.”

What is striking is that she says this before anything has changed. Lazarus is still dead. The miracle has not yet happened. Her faith is not based on seeing, but on trusting.

And that is where this Gospel touches us, perhaps especially in a small and faithful community like yours.

You know what it is to live by faith—not by numbers, not by visibility, not by constant activity—but by quiet trust. You gather when you can. You hold onto the Lord. You remain faithful even when things are not easy or certain.

In that sense, you are very close to Martha.

There are three simple things we might take from Bethany today.

First, Martha shows us that faith and grief can live together. To believe does not mean we are spared sorrow. But sorrow does not have the final word.

Second, we see the love of Jesus. The Gospel tells us plainly: Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. That same love burns for you—for this community, for each of you by name. The Lord who came to Bethany comes here too.

And third, there is the question that echoes through the Gospel and into our own hearts:
“Do you believe this?”

Not just in moments of clarity or comfort, but in the ordinary, quiet, sometimes fragile rhythm of life.

Today, as your bishop visits you for the first time, perhaps that question is being asked of all of us in a fresh way.

Do you believe that Christ is present here, even in a small gathering?
Do you believe that your faith matters, that your witness matters?
Do you believe that Jesus is, even now, the resurrection and the life?

Dear friends, your presence here today is already an answer.

As we continue our Lenten journey towards Easter, may that answer grow stronger and more joyful:

“Yes, Lord, I believe.”

Most Rev. Anthony J. Ireland
Archbishop of Hobart
22 March 2026

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