Sacred Heart Parish
5th SUNDAY OF LENT (C)
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In our first reading God speaks to his suffering people through his great prophet Isaiah. The Israelites at that time were prisoners-of-war in a foreign land having been taken into what is called the Babylonian Captivity by their Babylonian captors, who had destroyed the city of Jerusalem and torn down its Temple. Psalm 137 poignantly captures the exiles longing for Jerusalem. “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, remembering Jerusalem. For it was there that they asked us, our captors, for songs – sing to us, they said, one of Zion’s songs. O how could we sing the song of the Lord on alien soil? God says to his people: “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not. See, I am doing something new.” What does this mean? God is reminding his people, now in exile, that their God and Savior is not just the God of the Egyptian captivity of long ago. God will now show himself in the present moment as the God also of the Babylonian captivity. Just as God had promised and brought about freedom and restoration when he once delivered his people from Egyptian slavery; so now once again God promises to bring about freedom and redemption when he delivers his people, even though a remnant, from their Babylonian captivity. Just as God was active and effective in the first exodus from Egypt, so God will now be equally active and effective in the new exodus from Babylon.
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If we fast-forward to our Gospel passage, we see God the Father at work in Jesus, reconciling the sinful woman to himself. As we reflect on this amazing story of divine mercy, we should remind ourselves that God in Christ is no less active and effective in our lives here and now through the sacraments of the Church, especially in the Lenten work of penance and forgiveness. In this context how appropriate is our responsorial psalm: “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy”. This was the song of the Egyptian exodus; this was the song of the Babylonian exodus; this was the song of the woman caught in adultery. This must be our song always as we begin to recognize the real and true presence and activity of God in every aspect of our lives, especially when it comes to forgiveness.
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Our theme, then, is penance and forgiveness. The Gospel narrative illustrates the tension between the Law and the Gospel. Only God can resolve this tension. We should note in the narrative that the Lord does not abolish the Law. The crowd calls Jesus “Teacher”, which meant for them that he was an arbiter of the Law. Jesus seems to transcend the Law as he ignores the questioners and introduces the note of forgiveness – even reminding the woman as he forgives her: You may go, but from now on avoid this sin. Forgiveness is primarily an act of God by which he graciously takes away the sinful obstacles which separate us from God thus opening the way to reconciliation. Secondarily and closely associated with God’s action, and necessary on our part is our willingness to forgive others if we hope to enjoy God’s forgiveness of ourselves.
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Lent is a good time to reflect on some forgotten truths about penance and forgiveness. First of all, the Holy Spirit is the forgiveness of our sins. Listen to the words of absolution which the confessor says at the end of the confession of sins: “God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of our sins”. A second point is to remember that penance is both a virtue and a sacrament. The sacrament takes away sin; penance attacks the roots of sin. Both virtue and sacrament must always go together. Then, too, we must remember the words we cite when we pray the “Our Father”. We set the conditions. We say in prayer: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. We should also note the ecclesial nature of forgiveness. Sin does not hurt God; sin hurts the Church; sin weakens the Church; sin does to the Church what a broken ankle does to the body. Forgiveness means reconciliation with God; forgiveness means reconciliation with the Church. Finally, we must stress the social nature of forgiveness. How often the Church reminds us all, members of the Church and indeed members of the human race all over the world, that without justice there cannot be peace, and without peace there cannot be love, and without love there cannot be forgiveness. Forgiveness is the final form of love. This is true between two persons; this is true between nations as well.
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Our second reading gives us a wonderful insight into the autobiography of St. Paul. We can learn here an important lesson for living out our life in Christ. Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees; he boasted about living by the Law; he did great harm in persecuting the Church and was responsible for the death of St. Stephen. But he found Christ; or rather, Christ found him and gave him the great gift of forgiveness. He is grateful for the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord. His hope now has been to gain Christ and to be found in Him – not having any righteousness of his own based on the Law, but the righteousness that comes to him through faith in Christ. By God’s grace he turns his back on the past as he resolves to continue his pursuit of Christ in faith and in hope. What does he tell us? He writes, “Brothers and Sisters, I for my part do not consider myself to have attained perfect maturity. One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind but striving forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s calling, in Christ Jesus.” Paul is touching here on the question of faith and trust in God. He takes away our sins and throws them away and so we no longer look backward to yesterday but always forward to tomorrow, as we do what St. Paul did, that is, continue our pursuit towards the goal, the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.