From the Pastor&#039;s Desk: April 3, 2022

“Has no one condemned you?... Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”
Reminding us of God’s readiness to forgive sin and to restore people to His friendship, today’s readings challenge us to show the same mercy to the sinners around us and to live as forgiven people, actively seeking reconciliation. This Sunday invites us to look into our own hearts and see that we need forgiveness, so we can become people after the example of Jesus Himself who showed inexhaustible mercy and compassion to sinners by dying for our sins. Today we learn from Jesus that God goes beyond the law, for He forgives and keeps forgiving. This is the attitude we learn from God.

Today’s Gospel captures the image of a woman caught in adultery. According to the Jewish law, that was one of the gravest sins punishable by death. And the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the time, know it. She can’t escape. The penalty is death by stoning. But Jesus does not condemn her. Actually, He forgives her. When He looks at her, He sees what St. Paul says in Ephesians 2:10: “You are God’s masterpiece.” St. Augustine, commenting on this gospel passage, says that a great misery meets a great mercy. In Latin it sounds really good: misery is miseria and mercy is misericordia. So a great miseria meets an even greater misericordia.

This leads to true conversion. John Paul II once said: “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.” When we meet that love, in Jesus, it moves us to change in response. This is why Jesus says to the woman, “Go, and sin no more.” We are called to a new relationship with God. We come as sinners, and we leave forgiven. God is with us. Christ heals us, fills us with joy, and challenges us to be saints. Go, and sin no more.

And yet, how often we are self-righteous, like the Pharisees, ready to spread scandal about others with a bit of spicy gossip. We are judgmental about the unmarried mother, the alcoholic, the drug addict and the shop-lifter, or even the person in the pew next to you, ignoring Jesus’ advice: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” We need to learn to acknowledge our sins, ask God’s forgiveness every day and extend the same forgiveness to our erring brothers and sisters. We need to learn to hate the sin but love the sinners, showing them mercy, compassion, sympathy and acceptance, leading them to noble ways by our own exemplary lives.

Have you ever hurt someone very much but the offended person forgave you, perhaps with difficulty, accepted your apology, and that was the end? Do you remember how relieved you felt, as if you were a new person? That is the story of our merciful God who keeps forgiving us: He makes us new every time- to restore us and become new people. This the test of our Lenten renewal: are we willing to set aside our hunger to condemn, our joy in others' failures, and embrace instead the "something new" that God is doing in our lives? Are we ready to see in ourselves and in others the sinners who have been redeemed? Are we ready to remember the true meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross - the Just One giving Himself for the sake of the unjust?

Next Sunday – Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord will lead us to enter the celebration of Holy Week. Let us take advantage of these final days of the journey of Lent to return to our relationship with the Lord.

Have a blessed and grace filled Fifth Week of Lent!

With prayers,

Fr. Andy