May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for
us.
We are nearing the end of our journey to Jerusalem. We have received the invitation to repent and
believe in the Gospel. We have made our
confession of faith in the goodness of God and our confession of confidence in
the power of God. We have joined the
Lord Jesus and the three disciples on the mountain of the Transfiguration and
we have heard the promise of God proclaimed to us. Called to join in the work of God we have
experienced the gift of divine patience.
Last Sunday we heard of the great gift of the share in divine
relationship that is our true inheritance.
We heard of the loving and forgiving father who desires to welcome our
return to his house. In this Lenten
season, we have witnessed the divine power, we have heard the divine promise,
we have experienced the divine patience and we have rejoiced in our divine
relationship. Today, in the words and
actions of the Lord Jesus, we behold the divine mercy. In three weeks we will celebrate the feast of
Divine Mercy. That will be the
proclamation of the mercy of God following the glorious resurrection of the
Lord which will enable us to join him in heaven. Today we hear of the mercy of God as seen in
the ministry of Jesus in anticipation of his suffering, and that will enable us
to join him in Jerusalem and at Calvary.
This is the encounter with the mercy of God that strengthens us for the
journey.
In our first reading today from the book of the prophet
Isaiah, we hear the announcement that the Lord God is doing a new thing. The past events of disobedience are
forgiven. The chosen people of God are
given a river of water to refresh them so that they can announce the praise of
the Lord. They are strengthened for the
journey.
In our reading from the letter of Saint Paul to the
Philippians, we hear of the precious value of the mercy of God. Everything else in this world is counted as a
loss when compared with the knowledge of the Lord Jesus and the power of his
resurrection. Accepted in faith and
purified in suffering, the experience of the mercy of God enabled Saint Paul
and enables us to pursue the great goal of union with Christ Jesus.
Today in our reading from the Gospel, we behold the mercy of
the Lord Jesus. While he was teaching in
the Temple area, the Pharisees and the scribes of the law brought a woman
caught in adultery before him. There is
no doubt about her guilt. Her past is
clear. The only question that remains as
she stands before the Lord Jesus is her future.
The scribes and the Pharisees wanted to use this woman, as she has been
used by others, and put the Lord Jesus to the test. The Lord Jesus, however, writes something on
the ground with his finger, and invites any of the accusers who are without sin
to cast the first stone. He then wrote
again on the ground. As the accusers
walked away, the Lord Jesus helped the woman stand again, and commanded her not
to sin anymore. He had shown mercy in
the face of guilt. He had raised her
from sin just as he would raise Lazarus from the tomb. She was condemned to death by the law, and he
gave her life and freedom in his mercy.
She was a new creation because she had faced death and encountered life
in the face of Jesus Christ. She was
strengthened for the journey and everything else in her life would be counted
as loss compared with her encounter with the mercy of God.
We are one week from Jerusalem and two weeks from the empty
tomb. During this Lenten season we have
sought to hold nothing more precious than our relationship with Christ. We have sought to be faithful, but our past
is clear and we cannot doubt our guilt.
The law will likely condemn us, but the mercy of God will set us free.
As we gather before the Altar to participate in the mystery
of our redemption, we are face to face with the Son of God. We confess our guilt and admit our need for
his mercy. And we beg him to help us
stand again, and live in the light of his mercy. Amen.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic
Church, Monroe, NC
