Fifth Sunday of Lent

First Reading

Isaiah 43,16-21

Thus says Yahweh, who made a way through the sea, a path in the raging waters, who led out chariot and horse together with an army of picked troops: they lay down never to rise again, they were snuffed out, put out like a wick. No need to remember past events, no need to think about what was done before. Look, I am doing something new, now it emerges; can you not see it? Yes, I am making a road in the desert and rivers in wastelands. The wild animals will honour me, the jackals and the ostriches, for bestowing water in the desert and rivers on the wastelands for my people, my chosen one, to drink. The people I have shaped for myself will broadcast my praises.

Psalmody

Psalm 126

Antiphon

Let us walk Lord to your house.

If the Lord does not build the house,
in vain do its builders labour;

if the Lord does not watch over the city,
in vain does the watchman keep vigil.

In vain is your earlier rising,
your going later to rest,

you who toil for the bread you eat :
when you pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber.

Truly sons are a gift from the Lord,
a blessing, the fruit of the womb.

Indeed the sons of youth
are like arrows in the hand of a warrior.

O the happiness of the man
who has filled his quiver with these arrows!

He will have no cause for shame
when he disputes with his foes in the gateways.

Second Reading

Philippians 3,8-14

Yes, I will go further: because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss. For him I have accepted the loss of all other things, and look on them all as filth if only I can gain Christ and be given a place in him, with the uprightness I have gained not from the Law, but through faith in Christ, an uprightness from God, based on faith, that I may come to know him and the power of his resurrection, and partake of his sufferings by being moulded to the pattern of his death, striving towards the goal of resurrection from the dead. Not that I have secured it already, nor yet reached my goal, but I am still pursuing it in the attempt to take hold of the prize for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not reckon myself as having taken hold of it; I can only say that forgetting all that lies behind me, and straining forward to what lies in front, I am racing towards the finishing-point to win the prize of God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus.

Reading of the Gospel

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

John 8,1-11

and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in the middle they said to Jesus, 'Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and in the Law Moses has ordered us to stone women of this kind. What have you got to say?' They asked him this as a test, looking for an accusation to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. As they persisted with their question, he straightened up and said, 'Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her.' Then he bent down and continued writing on the ground. When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until the last one had gone and Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained in the middle. Jesus again straightened up and said, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' 'No one, sir,' she replied. 'Neither do I condemn you,' said Jesus. 'Go away, and from this moment sin no more.'

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Homily

The Gospel of this Sunday opens recalling Jesus' nights and days before the Passion. The meeting with the adulteress probably occurred in this context. Jesus, faced with scribes and Pharisees with stones in their hands and already ready to hurl them at the woman, bent down and began to "write with his finger on the ground." We do not know what Jesus wrote; instead, we can imagine the irritated feelings of the Pharisees who insist that Jesus confirm the death sentence for the woman. Instead, Jesus raises his head and pronounces a sentence that those present immediately understand: "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And he bends again to write on the ground. He does not recall the law, but wants everyone to acknowledge their sins. He does not just want to save a life, but to unmask the instinct to accuse others and save oneself. An instinct that is still present in each of us today. We can also see it in the spirit of conflict of our time, which drives us not only to justify war but to portray it as an instrument of justice and peace. Like those stones that those present held in their hands, ready to hurl them to strike dead, to kill, not to save. Jesus' word and attitude saved the woman from stoning, disarming the violent hands of the scribes and Pharisees. All of them, the evangelist notes, "went away, one by one, beginning with the elders." Let us pray that this will also be the case at this time: let the weapons be silenced and dialogue for peace be established. We could say that it happened like that on that day too. When all the violent people left, Jesus resumed speaking. Yes, the Word of God resumed the scene: it is the only one that can defeat the violence and war that continues to claim innocent victims. This Word is one of salvation: 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" And she, meeting those eyes full of love for her too, answered simply: 'No one, sir." And Jesus: "Neither do I condemn you." Jesus, the only righteous one who could have raised his hand and thrown a stone, freed the adulteress from sin and gave her a new life to accept responsibly: "Go, and sin no more," means do not betray love anymore, but rather be committed walk on the path on which Jesus placed her, the path of mercy and forgiveness. We can all recognise ourselves in that woman: how many times in fact have we too betrayed Jesus' love in search of other loves, perhaps even just the love for ourselves that so easily makes us forget the Gospel, our brothers and sisters, the poor? That adulterous woman makes us realise how precious is the grace of being able to stand before Jesus: we can all rediscover how much the Lord loves us. In these days - as we prepare to celebrate the week of Jesus' passion, death and resurrection - let us not take our eyes off him. Let us allow ourselves to be looked at and questioned. We will discover that it is Jesus who needs our love, our companionship.