Tuesday, March 12, 2013

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT - CYCLE C – 2013

INTRODUCTION

v  We have reached the fifth Sunday of Lent, Jesus continues to show, though  his actions the mercy of God his Father, and ours.    

v  Today it is a woman caught in adultery who will experience the love and tender care of Jesus and his respect for her. 

FIRST READING  Is 43:16-21
·         This first reading is taken from the book of the Second Isaiah, chapters 40-55 of the Book of Isaiah.     

·        God speaks to his people and introduces himself as the author of the Exodus  

o   He is the one who opens a way through the sea 

o   A way through the mighty waters 

o   He is the one who leads out chariots and horsemen   

o   That  end up being nothing more than a quenched wick.   

·        But now do not remember the past, but look toward the present and the future, see  

o   I make everything new  

o   It springs forth, don’t you see it? 

o   I open a way in the desert, not in the sea as before, now it is in the desert    

o   In the waste lands I open rivers  

o   Even the savage beast look for me   

o   Because I put water in the desert  

o   For my chosen people to drink   

o   Yes the people I have made for me     

o   A people to praise me and make me be praised by other peoples.   

·        These words are also addressed to us   

o   “do not stay in the past, either in its sufferings or in  the great things I have done for you   

o   The remembrance of the past must serve only to open your eyes to the present and look around you to see the marvels I am doing now. The mighty deeds I am doing for you, your family, your faith community, your place of work, your friends, among the youth, everywhere.  Look and discover my presence…    

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  Ps.  126

THE LORD HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR US; WE ARE FILLED WITH JOY

When the Lord brought back the captives from Zion
We were like men dreaming
Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with rejoicing.  

Then they said among the nations
“The Lord has done great things for them”
The Lord has done great things for us
We are glad indeed. 

Restore our fortunes, O Lord
Like the torrents in the southern desert
Those that saw in tears
Shall reap with rejoicing  

Although they go forth weeping
Carrying the seeds to be sown
They shall come back rejoicing
Carrying their sheaves. 

*      Beautiful psalm which describes and paints in a poetic way the difference between the moment of the sowing and the moment of the reaping.    

*      The sowing of the land and of our heart is always difficult, uncertain, not knowing the results, with the danger of storms and of losing the crop.   

*      The harvest is the time for rejoicing, the winter is gone as well as the difficulties, now is the time to reap the fruits.   

*      Thus it happens in our human life at all levels: material and spiritual.   

SECOND READING  Phl 3:8-14
Paul speaks to his beloved community of Philippi      

Ø  He considers everything as a loss, the only thing that is valuable for him is the knowledge of Christ, his Lord, for whom he has accepted to lose everything.   

Ø  He wants only to be in Him, not with the justice that comes from the Law, but from the faith, love and trust in Christ.   

Ø  And thus be able to know him and the power of his resurrection.   

Ø  In his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul has discovered, that  the risen Lord and not the Law is his treasure. The Law was supposed to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah who is be the real law.   

Ø  He does not think that he has reached the goal, but he continues forward. According to the words of the Deutero-Isaiah, he does not look at the past, to what he has already attained, but he looks forward, toward his dream to see if he can reach the prize who is Christ Jesus.   

GOSPEL  John  8:1-11

*      The event that John describes takes place in the Temple during the week before the death of the Lord. At night he goes to the mount of the Olives to pray and he probably stays at Lazarus, Martha and Mary’s home.  

*      In the morning he is at the Temple where people ask him and listen to him, anxious to know about the Kingdom, the good news, the love of the Father and Jesus teaches them with love and tenderness.   

*      While he is speaking the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman caught in the act of adultery.  

o   This is an unusual situation, adultery is always between two, and here only the woman is accused.    

o   They explain the situation to Jesus, they do not have good intentions, they do not care about the sin that the woman has committed, their only concern is to find something to accuse Jesus, the woman is an excuse.   

o   Jesus writes with his finger on the sand. The finger of God, that wrote the commandments on the two stones  

§  The commandments which God has first written in the human heart, before giving them to Moses.   

§  Through these commandments our God and Father wants to teach us that we are all brothers and sisters, all sinners, all equal, all poor all in need of the forgiveness from our one and only Father.   

§  Jesus, our older brother, the only Son of God, the beloved, writes on the sand. What does he write? We will never know it.  We may imagine many things but in reality we do not know.  

§  The accusers of the woman continue asking him his opinion. 

§  She has heard about this good Rabbi, just and holy. Would he condemn her? He is a holy man, pure and honest, she is a sinner, she is unclean, she is dirty.    

o   Now  something unusual happens, Jesus tells them  “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw the stone at her.”   

§  We have to acknowledge that they were honest, they all left beginning by the elders.   .

o   Jesus and the woman are left face to face 

§  Where are your accusers?  No one has condemned you?  Nobody Sir.   

§  I do not condemn you either, go and do not sin anymore. Jesus has come not to condemn but to save. His eyes, his words, his respect for the woman must have helped her to turn way from her sins and live a new life.   

o   All of us are called to bring the salvation of Jesus to everyone. We are called to love and not to condemn. Our condemnations are of no use, they come from our sinful nature which we try to hide behind the appearance of zeal for the glory of God.  

o   We are all called to recognize that we are all brothers and sisters. We are called to feel sorry for our sins and the sins of others. We are called to give up our life, as Christ has done, for the salvation of all, and to make present in our world the Kingdom of the Father.    

CLARETIAN CORNER

Today I want to share with you some sentences from the writings of a very young Claretian Missionary Sister called María Teresita Albarracín.  She died a couple of month before being 19 years old on March 12, 1946.  She had not done yet her second renewal of vows. Her heroic virtues have been officially recognized by the Church.    

v  My heart belongs to God; I cannot love anyone but God. I belong completely to him.   

v  I am going to consecrate myself to God by the religious profession. I am going to consecrate my body… my soul… my heart and something consecrated to God is sacred, and can be only used for the divine service…  

v   I trust in you, because you are Jesus, because I am your spouse.   

v  Goodbye  sweet Mother, I send a kiss to you  

                                                Within it you will find my heart  
                                                With its weeds and its roses   
                                                So that you may make with the roses your throne of love.  

v  The last verse of her last poem whose title is “Do not look at the gift but at the giver.” We read
What will you do with the thorn?
Will you throw it with anger?  
Kiss it, because the same love   
Gave you the thorn and the rose.   

 

 

Novice at Barcelona-Spain (photography)              
 

                             

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