10-Mar-2013 Dear Friend,
What has become second nature to us is to judge and evaluate others. Even without basic evidence we tend to pass judgement. Human beings have no right to judge others; we have to leave judgement to our God, who alone has the right to judge us. On the other hand it is in the nature of God to be merciful even when we stand condemned by our actions. Have a grateful weekend celebrating a merciful God! Fr. Jude Sunday Reflections: Fifth Sunday of Lent: "Has no one condemned you? Neither do I!" 17-Mar-2013 Readings: Isaiah 41: 16-26 Philippians 3: 8-14 John 8: 1-11 Today's reading from Isaiah shows us that a right relationship with God is not only important, but possible, no matter how difficult the situation. The Israelites were in exile, they had lost everything and were now in captivity. When everything seemed hopeless Isaiah was speaking of a new Exodus from Babylon, when God would work new wonders for his people. When things go wrong with us we easily give up hope and think that God is punishing us for our sins. But our God is not a God of punishment but a loving and caring God. Our past history should remind us of God's wonders. God has not only acted on our behalf in the past but He is always acting, always doing something new for us. The story is told of a young French soldier who deserted Napoleon's army, but who within a matter of hours, was caught by his own troops. To discourage soldiers from abandoning their posts the penalty for desertion was death. The young soldier's mother heard what had happened and went to plead with Napoleon to spare the life of her son. Napoleon heard her plea but pointed out that because of the serious nature of the crime her son had committed he clearly did not deserve mercy. "I know he doesn't deserve mercy" the mother answered. "It wouldn't be mercy if he deserved it" Anonymous In today's Gospel we have the moving account of the encounter between Jesus and the woman caught in adultery, the meeting between mercy and misery. All of us can identify with various aspects of this encounter and draw lessons for our life. The scribes and the Pharisees brought this woman caught in adultery to Jesus not because they are concerned about morality, nor are they worried about the breach of law. They don't mind using this woman because they want to test Jesus, to trap Jesus. What is the response of Jesus? He is not interested in giving the right answer but He is more interested in this woman who is the victim. He wants to avoid anything that would cause her further shame, so Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. This seeming show of indifference annoyed the scribes and they persist in their questioning. So Jesus, when prodded on by the Pharisees, charges the one who is without sin to cast the first stone. In Jewish law, that would make witnesses responsible for their judgements. If a witness was later proved to be lying, the witness was condemned to death. The Gospel tells us that the Pharisees got the point, and one by one they left the scene beginning with the eldest. The heart of the story is what happens between Jesus and the woman when all her accusers have vanished. Jesus is left alone with this woman. He turns to her and asks her, "Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and sin no more." The lesson of the story is not that sin is of no importance, or that God does not punish sin, but that God extends mercy to repentant sinners in order that they might turn from their sins. The Scarlet Letter In 1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne published 'The Scarlet Letter'. Its setting was a Puritan community in Boston in early New England. Hawthorne's novel tells the story of Hester Prynne who was forced to wear the scarlet letter "A" for "adultery" because she had given birth to an illegitimate child. The child's father was none other than the community's minister, Arthur Dimmersdale. Hester had to bear public scorn and humiliation, while the minister had merely to bear the pangs of conscience. After many years the minister finally confessed his secret sin to the people and later died in peace. Hester meanwhile went on to live like a saint bringing happiness to her disturbed illegitimate daughter and helping others in their troubles. 'The Scarlet Letter' has some similarities with today's Gospel story of the woman caught in adultery. Merciful Tenderness The incident of Jesus with the sinner woman has inspired a wide variety of Christian art. The most striking is 'Jesus and the Fallen Woman' by Lucas Cranach the Younger. At the centre of the painting are Jesus and the woman. Cranach captures the moment when Jesus turns towards the accusers and challenges those without sin to cast a stone. His expression is stern but troubled, and his right hand reaches out towards the woman. Most remarkable, the woman is not bowed to the ground in front of Jesus, but is standing at his left. She is very young, with eyes closed, looking forlorn and resigned to her fate. Her head is inclined towards Jesus' shoulder, and her hand rests on his arm. Most striking as one follows the lines of the painting is that her right hand is entwined with the left hand of Jesus in a gesture of exquisite tenderness. The hands of mercy are joined to the hands of a suffering person facing execution. When we gaze at the faces of Jesus and the woman, we might ask what face the Church presents the world today. Often much preaching, especially in the area of sexual morality, is stringent and condemnatory, with women often bearing the brunt of blame. Such preaching is the verbal equivalent of stone-throwing; yet Jesus holds the hands of a sinner. He does not claim the woman did not sin; he simply does not condemn her for it and saves her from the self-righteous accusers. Jesus and the young woman in Cranach's painting can be our guides through lent and Pascaltide. With heads inclined to Jesus and hands intertwined with his, we can go forward as forgiven sinners, yet called to be companions of Jesus. John Donahue in 'Hearing the Word of God' Pointing a finger at others When I was seven years of age, an elderly nun, a sister of the Adoration Convent in my home parish in India taught me a memorable lesson. She was preparing our class for our first confession. She told us to point one finger at each other. We did. Then she asked us, "Do you see that while your one finger is pointed at the other person, three fingers are pointed at you yourself? As young as I was, she had very clearly made her point. But she was not finished. "Try children, to spend more time in the future improving your own faults. Then you will have no time to criticize others and accuse others." She said this with no trace of a smile. The point is that the next time you find yourself pointing a finger in accusation at someone, look at the three fingers that are accusingly pointing themselves at your own honourable self. John Pachapilly in 'The Table of the Word' The compassionate Saviour In Texas, a 21- year old man- Dan Leach, murdered his wife- Nicole Wilson, and stage-managed it as if she had hanged herself. The post-mortem report said that it was a suicide. Her mother found her body on January 19, 2004 in her apartment. Two months later Dan Leach went and surrendered to the police saying that he was the one who murdered his wife and made it look like suicide. When the detectives asked him why he had surrendered, he said, "After watching the movie -'The Passion of the Christ', I was compelled to seek redemption." -The movie is 126 minutes of the torturing of Christ, both by the Jewish and Roman authorities. The whole movie is one unrelenting violence and bloodshed endured by Jesus -all for our redemption. The common reaction after watching the movie is either a deep silence of the audience or tear-stained cheeks. After watching the movie one man said, "No matter what you are -whether you believe in Jesus or not, you will begin to love Jesus, who suffered so much for you." The more we know Christ, the more we will love Him; the more we love Him, the more we will follow Him. There is something unique about Jesus; there is something lovely in Him; there is something divine in Him. Today's passage of the Gospel reveals the great compassion of Christ for a great miserable woman. John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies' Repaint and thin no more! A man was repainting the outside of the Church on Saturday to get it nice and spiffy for the service on Sunday. He had two sides of the Church done, when he realized that he didn't have enough paint to finish the job. What to do, since he was a long way from any store where he could buy more paint, and he would be running out of time? So he came up with the idea that he would thin the paint down so he would have enough to finish painting. After finishing the third side, he realized he would have to thin the paint even more if he was going to finish the job. Finally he finished the job and stood back admiring his work when suddenly it began to rain. The man watched in dismay as the paint ran off the last two sides he painted. The pastor came outside to see what was going on, and saw the look of disappointment on the man's face. The man confessed what he had done in order to finish the job. The pastor, wanting to ease the man's burden, said, "Repaint and thin no more!" What we hear in today's gospel is: 'Repent, and sin no more!" John Pachapilly in 'The Table of the Word' May we in our sinful misery meet the God of boundless mercy! Fr. Jude Botelho [email protected] PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site www.netforlife.net Thank you.
