Daily Retreat 03/25/07
2007 Mar 25 SUN: FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
Is 43:16-21/Ps 125(126)/Phil 3:8-14/Jn 8:1-11
From today’s readings: “In the desert I make a way.... The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.... I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.... The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.”
My Own Sins
A fundamental yet oft-forgotten insight about sin is - our own personal guilt! It’s relatively easy to talk about sin in the abstract: “Sin is an offense against God, breaking His commandments, rupturing our relationship with Him and with our neighbors.” It’s even easier to talk about sin concretely as we see it so clearly in the lives of others: “What horrible things I read in the newspaper this morning! What awful things we see on TV! What disgusting things has my neighbor been involved with lately!”
And yet, the sin that is closest to us, lurking in our own hearts, so often manages to keep a low profile in our own eyes - those sins seem so insignificant, illegibly scribbled in sand, compared with the sins of others, indelibly etched in stone! The Pharisees and scribes who confronted Jesus invite Him to either keep sin abstract (“In this case, Moses commanded stoning, but what do you say?”) or to aim all of His indignation against the easiest target, namely, the woman caught in adultery.
But Jesus sees, not just the high profile sin of the adulterous woman, but also the secret sins in the hearts of each one of her accusers, the crowd of accusers of that time, and the even more numerous accusers of our modern times. Note that Jesus is never soft on sin - He never says, “Don’t worry about it, it’s no big thing!” Yet Jesus is merciful toward sinners who approach Him with awareness and confession of their own personal guilt, and with contrition in their hearts: “Neither do I condemn you,” He assures the woman, but adds, “Go, and from now on, sin no more!” Mercy for the sinner, but no toleration of sin.
Perhaps thus far in this season of Lent, you and I have fallen into the error of primarily seeing sin in the abstract, or mainly seeing sin in the lives of others. Yet today, Christ is among us, patiently re-directing our attention to the sins written in the sacred ground of our own consciences, eager not to condemn us for those sins, but to erase them with His forgiveness when we finally decide, “Lord, I’m ready now to talk with You about my own sins....”
Is 43:16-21/Ps 125(126)/Phil 3:8-14/Jn 8:1-11
From today’s readings: “In the desert I make a way.... The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.... I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.... The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.”
My Own Sins
A fundamental yet oft-forgotten insight about sin is - our own personal guilt! It’s relatively easy to talk about sin in the abstract: “Sin is an offense against God, breaking His commandments, rupturing our relationship with Him and with our neighbors.” It’s even easier to talk about sin concretely as we see it so clearly in the lives of others: “What horrible things I read in the newspaper this morning! What awful things we see on TV! What disgusting things has my neighbor been involved with lately!”
And yet, the sin that is closest to us, lurking in our own hearts, so often manages to keep a low profile in our own eyes - those sins seem so insignificant, illegibly scribbled in sand, compared with the sins of others, indelibly etched in stone! The Pharisees and scribes who confronted Jesus invite Him to either keep sin abstract (“In this case, Moses commanded stoning, but what do you say?”) or to aim all of His indignation against the easiest target, namely, the woman caught in adultery.
But Jesus sees, not just the high profile sin of the adulterous woman, but also the secret sins in the hearts of each one of her accusers, the crowd of accusers of that time, and the even more numerous accusers of our modern times. Note that Jesus is never soft on sin - He never says, “Don’t worry about it, it’s no big thing!” Yet Jesus is merciful toward sinners who approach Him with awareness and confession of their own personal guilt, and with contrition in their hearts: “Neither do I condemn you,” He assures the woman, but adds, “Go, and from now on, sin no more!” Mercy for the sinner, but no toleration of sin.
Perhaps thus far in this season of Lent, you and I have fallen into the error of primarily seeing sin in the abstract, or mainly seeing sin in the lives of others. Yet today, Christ is among us, patiently re-directing our attention to the sins written in the sacred ground of our own consciences, eager not to condemn us for those sins, but to erase them with His forgiveness when we finally decide, “Lord, I’m ready now to talk with You about my own sins....”
posted by FrPitstick | 3/23/2007
<< Home