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