FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT  – CYCLE  C – 2019

INTRODUCTION

v  In this V Sunday of Lent, Jesus continues to show to us through his actions the mercy of his Father and our Father.  

v  Today it is a woman, who has been caught in the act of adultery, who experiences Jesus’ kindness and respect toward her.  

FIRST READING   Is 43:16-21

·         This Reading is taken from the Second Isaiah or Deutero-Isaiah, which goes from chapter  40 to 55 of the book of Isaiah.  

·         God speaks to his people and introduces himself as the author of the exodus from Egypt  

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

o   And a road through the raging waters   

o   Who throws off horse and rider who end up being like a quenched wick. 

·         But now think of the past only to look forward to the present and to the future.   

o   I am doing something new 

o   It springs forth, do you not see it?   

o   I open a way in the desert, now it is not in the sea, but in the desert.   

o   In the dry lands I open rivers.   

o   The wild animals look for me,    

o   Because I put water in the desert,    

o   For my chosen people to drink

o   The people I have formed for me to praise me and make others praise me too.   

·         These words are addressed also to us  

o   “Do not stop in the past, or in its sufferings, or in the great things God has done for you.  

o   May the memories be only to open your eyes and, see the present around you, and see the wonderful things God does for you,  in your family, in your society, in your church, in your place of work, in the youth who blooms around you, see and  discover…  

 RESPONSORIAL PSALM. Ps  126

R. (3) The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. 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.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy. Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

      Beautiful psalm that describes and paints, in a poetic way, the difference between sowing and ripping.    

      The sowing of the earth, and of our heart too, is always difficult, full of uncertainties, not knowing the results, with the danger of storms and losing the harvest.  

      The harvest is always a time of great joy, winter is gone as well as the difficulties, now it is time to rejoice and to collect the fruits.   

      This is true in our life at all levels: material and spiritual.   

SECOND READING  PHL 3:8-14

Ø  Paul speaks to his dearest community, the community of Philippi.   

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

Ø  Because he only wants to be with him, not being found just in his own eyes, not being righteous according to the law, but through faith-love-trust in Christ.    

Ø  Thus, to know him and the power of his resurrection.  

Ø  In his encounter with Christ, Paul has discovered the treasure of the risen Christ. The law   was only a preparation to encounter the Lord.   

Ø  He does not consider that he has reached the goal, but he continues. According to the words of the first reading, he does not look behind to the past, but to the future, to his dream, to be able to reach the reward, that is Christ Jesus himself.    

GOSPEL John 8:1-11

      The frame of this narrative of John is the Temple, where Jesus returns every day during the week preceding his death. At night, he goes to the Mount of Olives to pray, and he stays probably with his friends Lazarus, Martha and Mary.  

      He is already in the Temple, people are listening to him and asking him about the kingdom, the good news, the Father, and he teaches them tirelessly.

      While he is still speaking some scribes and Pharisees, come dragging a woman caught in the act of adultery.     

o   Estrange situation and accusation, adultery is always between two: a man and a woman, it is never a question of only one person.    

o   They explain the situation to Jesus, their intentions are not right, they do not care either about the woman or about what she was doing. They do not care either about the sin, as an offense to God, they only want to use this woman to be able to accuse and condemn Jesus. 

o   Jesus writes with his finger on the ground. The finger of God, in the exodus the finger of God wrote the commandments on the stones.    

§  The commandments, which God had first written in the human heart.   

§  To teach us how to be sisters and brothers, to recognize that we are all equals: sinners, poor, in need of pardon from the  Father of all.   

§  Jesus, our eldest brother; the only son of the Father; the beloved, writes on the sand. What does he write? We will never know. We will imagine many things, but they will be only that, imaginations.  

§  The woman’s accuser continue to annoy Jesus with their demands of a sentence, the woman also waits for his words.   

§  She has probably heard about the rabbi Joshua, the good man who listens to all, but she has committed a great sin, she is dirty, impure, and this is a just and holy man, he will probably condemn her.  

o   Now something surprising happens, Jesus tells them that the one without sin may throw the first stone to her.    

§  We have to give credit to them, to their honesty; they put the stones down and leave one by one, beginning by the eldest. At least they recognize themselves as sinners.  

o   Jesus and the woman are left alone, face to face. 

§  Woman, where are your accusers? No one has condemned you?  

§  Nobody,  Sir.

§  Neither do I condemned you, go, do not sin anymore. Jesus has not come to condemn but to save, to restore, to seek what was lost. His word, his gaze,  his respect for this woman probably helped her not to sin anymore, to seek for the true love and not for the false love.  

o   We are all called to make Jesus’ salvation reach all, and avoid our condemnations which do not help anyone, because they do not come from love but from our falsehood and sin. 

o   We are all called to see each other as brothers and sisters, to feel sorry for our sins and for the sins of others, to give up our life as Christ gave up his life for the salvation of all, and thus make the kingdom of the Father present among us, little by little, person to person, one by one... 

o   Pope Francis has invited in his homily the last day in Morocco,  to dare to live among us as brothers and sisters.  

 CLARETIAN CORNER 

Ever since this vision I have loved very much evangelical poverty ( I loved her already very much before) because our Lord told me that Holy Poverty should be the foundation of this new Apostles, and for lack of this holy virtue all religious order has collapsed.

Since then our Lord has given me the grace to have him present, and to have very intimate communication with Hid Divine Majesty, especially with the Most Holy Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Blessed sacrament. There were so many tokens of love shown by our Lord to this miserable sinner that many times I was obliged to exclaim: “enough, Lord enough!  You either widen my heart or put an end to these attentions of love. Venerable María Antonia Paris, Foundress of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 10-11.

This idea of a lost eternity that began to move me so vividly at the tender age of five  and that has stayed with me ever since and that, God willing, I will never forget is the mainspring and goad of my zeal for the salvation of souls.

In time I felt a further stimulus for zeal of which I shall speak later, namely, the thought that sin not only condemns my neighbor but is an offense against God, my Father  This idea breaks my heart with pain and makes me want to run like… And I tell myself, "If a sin is infinitely malicious, then preventing a sin is preventing an infinite offense against my God, against my good Father."  St. Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Claretian Missionary Sisters. Autobiography 15-16.