Up to now the Lenten Liturgies have nourished us with invitation after invitation to conversion. Each Lent seems to encourage us to the “more” in deepening our relations with our God, Jesus, the universe and all that lives.
Todays Scriptural messages are particularly poignant and pointing – pointing to expand our hearts and horizons to the new, the more, the deeper, “No need to recall the past… see I am doing a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see it?” (Is. 43:18, 19) As we read these words, I’m sure each of us taps into what they could mean in our lives here and now.
In John’s eighth chapter, we see Jesus being challenged by the authorities. With the woman caught in adultery standing in the open for all to condemn, the Pharisees wanted to know what spin Jesus would have on this situation. They knew him to value each person, even women and children. This situation would surely catch him off guard, so much so that they slunk away without a response.
Rather than throw stones, we are called to love our neighbour, to help restore their dignity and leave them with hope in the mercy of Christ. We know that the capacity to forgive is one of the infallible signs of Christian maturity or holiness, the proof that we are growing in wisdom. Like St. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians we “strain ahead for what is still to come” … “racing for the finish”. (Phil. 31:13)
Let us not allow this season of grace to pass in vain. Let us ask God to help us continue on a path to true conversion, leaving behind our selfishness and self-absorption, so as to stand firmly beside our sisters and brothers in need and hopefully radiate God’s powerful grace and transforming power to all creation.
- Sister Betty Berrigan, CSJ