5th Sunday of Lent (Year C) - 3 April
3rd April 2022
5th Sunday of Lent (Year C) - 3 April
A reflection on today's gospel by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
"As Our Lord appeared at the temple and began to teach, the Scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman who had been found committing adultery. So set were they on their barren controversy with the Messiah that they did not scruple to use a woman’s shame to score a point.
"The 'holier than thou' men who had caught her in the act were very anxious that she should be publicly paraded, even to the point of interrupting the discourse of Our Blessed Lord. Human nature is base when it headlines and parades crimes of others before their fellow men. Some faces are never so gay as when regaling a scandal, which the generous heart would cover and the devout heart pray over. In those days there were no scandal columns, but there were scandalmongers. Dragging her into full view of the crowd was their way of dragging her into publicity.
"A double trick was hidden in presenting her to Our Blessed Lord. First of all, the Romans, who were the conquerors of the country, had reserved to themselves the right to put anyone to death. But there was another side; the Law of Moses was that a woman who had been taken in adultery should be stoned. Here was the dilemma in which they put Him: If Our Blessed Lord let the woman off without the death penalty, He would be disobeying the Law of Moses; but if He respected the Law of Moses, and said that she should be stoned because of adultery, then He would be encouraging the breaking of the Roman Law. In either case He would be caught. He was either a heretic to Moses or a traitor to the Romans. There was still another trick in their question. Either He would have to condemn the woman, or release her. If he condemned her, they would say He was not merciful; but He called Himself merciful. On the other hand, if He released her, then He would be acting in contradiction to the Sacred Law of Moses, which He had come to fulfill. It would be a hard question for a mere man to solve, but He was God as well as man. They had invoked the Law of Moses. So would He! Whence did the Law of Moses come? Who wrote it? Whose finger? They reminded Him of the Law! He in turn reminded them that He had written the Law! The same finger, in a symbolical sense, that was now writing in the tablets of stone of the temple floor, also wrote on the tablets of stone on Sinai!
"Moses had written on stone his Law of death against unchastity. Our Lord would not destroy the Mosaic Law, but perfect it by enunciating a higher Law: none but the pure may judge! He was summoning a new jury; only the innocent may condemn! He looked from the Law to conscience, and from the judgement of men to the judgement of God. Those who have guilt on their souls must withhold judgement.
"By defending the woman, Christ proved Himself a friend of sinners, but only of those who admitted that they were sinners.
"But why would He not condemn her? Because He would be condemned for her. Innocence would not condemn, because Innocence would suffer for the guilty. Justice would be saved, for He would pay the debt of her sins; mercy would be saved, for the merits of His death would apply to her soul. Justice first, then mercy; first the satisfaction, then the pardon. Our Lord really was the only One in the crowd who had the right to take up the stone to execute judgement against her, because He was without sin. On the other hand, He did not make light of sin, for He assumed its burden. Forgiveness cost something and the full price would be paid on the hill of the three Crosses where justice would be satisfied and mercy extended." (Life of Christ)
Prayer of Repentance
I beseech Thee, O Most Blessed Trinity, to shed the fire of Thy merciful love upon this most frigid heart, to let shine upon this most darkened mind, the light of the Son, in Whom alone is every grace and truth. Have pity on me, most Merciful God, and regard not my sins and offences, but in Thy mercy forgive me yet again, and grant me the graces to serve Thee now in fidelity and truth. Amen. 💖🙏💐