Fifth Sunday of Lent, April 6, 2025

2025 Apr 6 SUN: FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
Is 43: 16-21/ Ps 126: 1-2. 2-3. 4-5. 6 (3)/ Phil 3: 8-14/ Jn 8: 1-11

Last week I spoke of the Easter Triduum and specifically the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper. That will be 7 p.m. Thursday, April 17th right here.  I mentioned foot washing and, along with the sign-up for the chicken dinner, I have a sign-up for people who will commit to having their feet washed at that Holy Thursday Mass. So I hope you will sign up. I think I had, last time I looked, I had four out of the twelve. So please give that careful consideration. 

I have something rather disturbing to talk about first of all. I, just yesterday, I read about a priest in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas who was shot to death on Thursday. He was from India and specifically the Diocese of Cuddapah. Now just in the past couple of weeks I have been in touch with another priest of the Diocese of Cuddapah, one who works in South Carolina, because the Diocese of Cuddapah is to be the recipient of our offerings on the occasion of our Mission Co-op weekend. When we do this once a year we have someone make an appeal to aid the church in places that really need it. The priest in South Carolina, Father John Bosco, said, "Well, I won't be coming, but I will be finding for you a priest working in the States to come to your parish." And we think it will be in July. But that's particularly shocking because we already feel a connection with that particular diocese in India. So we pray for the priest who was killed and for the shooter and for all who are in mourning over this tragic act. And we want to remember that as a matter of fact there are numerous [such] priests working in the United States. We refer to them by our shorthand as international priests and they are serving us so very well right here in our midst. And we are grateful for them. 

Well, the prophet Isaiah says today that God is doing a new thing. And we might consider a new thing that comes to be in our own hearts. This is the gift of compassion, mercy, and forgiveness which is exercised by Jesus himself in this very tense Gospel incident. It's unclear what particular law these experts in the law were referring to when they said, "This woman should be stoned. What do you say, Jesus?" Well, we have Jesus going much, much deeper than looking at observed behavior. He is looking deeply into the hearts of this woman and the accusers and in fact all of us. And it's interesting that these men go away one by one beginning with the elders. I trust that that is a sign of the wisdom we all hope to gain as we reflect on our lives.

So Jesus and the woman are there and Jesus exercises complete mercy. And this is a mercy that you and I all count on. And it does settle our hearts, makes them very, very peaceful. We grow in a sense of personal connection with the one who died for us.

We also hear today from St. Paul and he is saying that his conversion experience, his Damascus Road experience -- when he turned from persecuting the Christian way to embracing it -- Paul says that in light of that, so many other things in life are just so much rubbish. "Rubbish" is the polite translation. You go back to the original; he is actually talking about earthier stuff. But we want to develop this attitude as well: to learn to value all the gifts we have received from our God, especially the forgiveness of our sins.

We accept the peace which comes to us and we proceed to celebrate the gift of Jesus' death and resurrection.