April 8: Following-up on Sunday’s Mass / Recordatorios de la Misa Dominical

It has been suggested that “repentance” is not something we do. Rather, it is allowing the forgiving power of God to touch our lives and lead us along new paths. The powerful Gospel passage we shared on the Fifth Sunday of Lent (John 8, 1-11) reminded us that the adulteress woman opened her heart, allowed Jesus’ grace to touch her, and then she willingly heeded His call to walk a new path (“sin no more”). Clearly, we are invited to do the same. “Repentance” is not meant to be a lot of hard work ... it is creating an opening for God’s goodness to break through in our lives. As the popular expression goes: “Let go and let God.”

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What are we to do with St. John’s comment that “Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger?" (8, 6). Jesus’ words and actions were saying that He would not permit the Law to be manipulated by the Pharisees, especially to condemn those they labeled as sinners. The fact is that all of us are sinners and we have no right to judge each other. That judgment, reserved for God, will be a judgment filled with His mercy. Thus, just as the scribbling of Jesus on the ground would eventually disappear with the wind and rain and be forgotten, so will the sins that God has forgiven disappear and be forgotten.

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¿Recuerdan el episodio del Evangelio de la Misa del domingo, tomado del Evangelio de San Juan? La situación es dramática: los fariseos están tensos, la mujer, angustiada; la gente, expectante. Jesús guarda un silencio sorprendente. Tiene ante sí a aquella mujer humillada, condenada por todos. Pronto será ejecutada. ¿Es esta la última palabra de Dios sobre esta hija suya?

Jesús, que está sentado, se inclina hacia el suelo y comienza a escribir algunos trazos en tierra. Seguramente busca luz. Los acusadores le piden una respuesta en nombre de la Ley. Él les responderá desde su experiencia de la misericordia de Dios: aquella mujer y sus acusadores, todos ellos, están necesitados del perdón de Dios. Jesús sabe bien que "Dios no quiere la muerte del pecador, sino que se convierta y viva.”