Pastor's Letter -- April 3, 2022

Beloved parishioners,

My heart overflows with joy writing this reflection. First, I am grateful for our recent parish mission. I was awed to see so many people attend and participate; we averaged about 80 - 90 people daily all four nights. Praise God! The speakers and witnesses were amazing; these were wounded people who made no fuss about their wounds, but acknowledged the healing power of Christ manifest in their lives. To my mind, the joy of life is not to have no wounds at all, because that is not possible in a world tainted by the woundedness inherited from our first parents. Rather, the joy of life is to know that although we go about with history of personal or collective wounds, we have been redeemed by Jesus. And he heals us daily if we let him. This is why we can declare ourselves wounded healers. We heal the world by feeling our wounds and the world’s wounds, not by denying them. My gratitude to all who attended, our staff and all volunteers who helped make our parish Lenten Mission a successful one. We pray that the fruits of this mission would continue to endure even long after.

The gospel reading for this weekend about the woman caught in the very act of adultery offers a rich story to reflect on the mercy of God. St. John describes this event in a very graphic way, and I thought to share some reflection with you as Lent progresses smoothly into the fifth week. The chief priests and Pharisees had sent the temple police to arrest Jesus, but they came back not accomplishing the purpose for which they had been sent because they were cut to the heart by Jesus’ words and the division among the crowd as they wondered that Jesus might be the messiah. This also stirred some dispute among the religious leaders as to Jesus’ identity. Our gospel text follows these events. Jesus had returned to the temple area and was teaching. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman whom they had accused of being caught in an immoral behavior. I know many would wonder why and how they found this woman. Were they looking or searching for something against Jesus? Why was the woman alone caught and not the man? Why did they bring her to Jesus and not to their religious leaders? Our reading of the text tells us that they quoted the prescription in the Law of Moses, but wanted to know what Jesus thought. This woman was a pawn on their chessboard; they objectified this woman only as a prop to advance their hatred for Jesus so they could bring up charges against him. This beloved daughter of God became an object of derision and used by evil-minded men whose intent went beyond whatever she might have been accused of. Have you ever being caught doing the wrong thing? How did you feel? Pride? Shame? Guilt? They made a public show of this woman; they humiliated her, and made public her private sin. How do we authenticate that this woman actually did what they accused her of? Could have taken advantage of her helplessness and the fact that she could not defend herself and made up the story accusing her of a sin punishable by stoning to death? How often do we find people accused and humiliated for a crime they did not commit? What of one-time offenders of rather minor crimes whose lives are ruined by that one offense?

Obviously, this woman felt shame. But what was Jesus’ response? He bent down and wrote on the ground. What was he writing? Was Jesus writing the name of this nameless woman, who is now only identified by her sin? Was he writing the sins of all the proud righteous people who saw themselves as better than this sinful woman before them? Was he drawing a line to determine who among the crowd had not crossed that line ever in their life? We may never know what he wrote. But the fact is, he stoops. Jesus lowers himself to the status of the accused woman who dared not stand upright due to shame. When everyone who accused the woman had departed in acknowledgment of their own sinfulness, Jesus goes to this woman and straightens her up. He picks her up and restores her dignity. Now she can stand erect and not cower out of fear and shame. This is what Jesus does to us when his mercy meets with our misery, especially in the sacrament of reconciliation. He looks beyond our shame and tells us we are his beloved. He restores our dignity and makes us fit to stand upright. Jesus does not condemn this woman, neither does he approve of her sin. He tells her “go and sin no more.” This is the attitude of the Lord to us when we truly turn from sin and come to him. He does not condemn us. Our past no longer matters to him; only our present and the amazing future of friendship in store for us matters now. Our gospel this weekend teaches me that human beings might think differently of me, but praise God, God does not condemn me!

May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!