“NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU”

We often hear people say that past is past and there's nothing more we can do about it. It's time to move on and think of what needs to be done at the present time and this is the truth. We must admit that we get disappointed and annoyed when we hear people narrate of guilt feelings of what they did in the past or happened a long time ago already which they keep on saying repeatedly and reminding themselves. A speaker in a convention once said that what took place 2 hours ago is irreversible and can not be undone but we're still gifted with the present time wherein we are still able to do and achieve whatever we set our minds on. Today's 1st reading reminds us that we have to be grateful to God for the present. This could also be the reason why we call a gift the present. God sends us daily assurances and confirmations that we can get from the scriptures, mass readings and from the very people we meet and get in contact with. The Lord is inviting us to step forward and enter into greater heights of faith. We might have been accustomed to our old ways we thought that we are just doing fine with what we are presently doing for the Lord. Our God is great and infinite. We must open ourselves to new things from the Lord. For as long as we have life, we should not stop and grow weary. Each day presents to us an opportunity to see and experience the desert or dry land that we are encountering in our lives. Let us be aware of the water that springs forth from it.   We need to keep on going and be better Christians each day and eventually become the person that God has meant us to be, the best we could ever be. Amen. Hallelujah!

Isaiah 43:16-21
...Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; 19 See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers. 20 Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, for I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, 21 the people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.

Somebody from our bible study group asked Fr. H (Hyacinth) this question, "How come God chose Israel (Jewish) to be the chosen people when they are so stubborn and stiff necked." The answer that Fr. H gave him was so satisfactory and centered on the unsurpassed and infinite love and mercy of God and so much like what I read and chanced upon in the Book of Romans 11:33-36 as I read the 1st reading, " Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given him anything that he may be repaid?" For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." We tend to take for granted or worst we become ungrateful in a way when we fail to realize the things that God has done for us. It is undeniable that if we will just look very closely at our lives we'll see and find out that the Lord has indeed done marvels for us. There are times when we really have to strengthen our faith and hope for something we do not see and wait with endurance. We may be experiencing right now, so many unforeseen events but we should always wait and hope that the Lord will be gracious and reveal His glory. There is some truth to the famous saying, “Easy come, easy go.” If there are some things that we've been praying for and it seems like nothing is happening we should never give up. Every good work should be carefully planned and carried out to completion. Though the process may be long and hard we can always count on God to stick with us through and through and make it happen. If we are always manifesting in our lives the values of the passion and death of Jesus then we are assured of the resurrection. For this reason it is good to share this prayer of Mother Angelica in times of temptation and whenever we are on the verge of giving up when undergoing trials and tribulations. The prayer suggests that we focus on the 12^th station of the cross which is when Jesus dies on the cross while reciting the following: Eternal Father, I offer you the 6 hours of agony, the death and the piercing of Your Son’s Sacred Heart for… (mention the need or petition). This is effective in the sense that the Lord looks down upon His Son, His agony, death and the piercing of His sacred heart for our sake. Only to God can we look with so much hope and confidence that the desert we are presently encountering at the moment will be turned into a refreshing spring of water. We may be suffering long enough under the heat of this life's difficulties but we must not forget that God is able to turn everything into green pastures. It is undeniable that if we will just look very closely at our lives we'll see and find out that the Lord has indeed done great things for us. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalm 126:1-2. 2-3. 4-5. 6 (3)

R: The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

1 When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion, we were like men dreaming. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing. (R) Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” 3 The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad indeed. (R) 4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the torrents in the southern desert. 5 Those that sow in tears shall reap rejoicing. (R) 6 Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, they shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves.

If we can truly find ourselves in total surrender to God's will first and foremost and focus on Christ then we will definitely find ourselves on top of everything else. The prize of God's call encompasses all other things and that we have to fully realize if not now then soon enough before it's too late. According to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a distinguishing mark of Christians is the fact that they have a future it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general that their life will not end in emptiness. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well. The Pope reminds us that this perspective does not mean that we live only for the future. A people of hope builds up a kingdom on earth but is also on a pilgrimage to that eternal kingdom God has in store for those who follow Him. Poet Robert Browning said, “our reach must be beyond our grasp or what’s a heaven for.” Hope is a future oriented virtue. It acknowledges that there is a future awaiting us that there is much better than the present. The virtue of hope and its orientation in the future enables us to handle present distresses and struggles in a positive way. Amen. Hallelujah!

Philippians 3:8-14
...For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him,...forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

It is not surprising to know that we often place our trust and confidence in the closest, most dependable and dearest people that we have in our life. Only to them can we open up and reveal everything about us without the fear of being let down and rejected. Although there are times too when we get disappointed by the fact that people are not perfect and could eventually let us down. It is a consolation to know that there is one whom we can be totally confident of not being let down or rejected no matter how mess up we are. Everybody might have turned our backs on us but God remains faithful, loving and accepting to us at all times. The gospel for today speaks of a life spared and this Lenten season speaks of the sparing of all of us. Believe it or not but we have all become like this woman in the gospel. We may not have committed the same sin but we have all been spared and forgiven from all our countless offenses and sins. Aren't we happy about this? To be happy is an understatement once we fully realize the great price that Jesus has to pay for our sake. Although women in the olden times are of less worth than men and have no rights and privileges that women enjoy in this present day, their good example in scriptures compel us to really take part and be involved in God's saving power. This truth has to sink in deeply into our beings so as not to neglect it and treasure and value this great privilege of being forgiven and saved. We did not contribute a single effort on this the only thing we need to do is clearly and specifically stated in today's gospel. We can be made innocent again and not be condemned as we sin no more. Every sin of all of us is laid on the whole body of Jesus on Good Friday. What does the prophet Ezekiel said, “Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord GOD. Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live?” God is about mercy and reconciling ourselves to Him. It doesn’t matter how far, long it’s been and ugly our sins, God is calling us back, to rise up from the darkness, shame and guilt of our sins because Jesus our Savior is coming for us. Jesus died for all the sins of the world. Every pain, scourge of His passion, nail of crucifixion, He would have endured even if it’s just only one of us who have sinned. Our souls should be aware of what’s to unfold in Holy Week, the week that saved the world. It’s wonderful, all of us who have sinned and denied God one way or another are being embraced by this truth. Jesus forgave this woman caught in adultery but the scribes and the Pharisees wanted to test him. If Jesus said no when asked, should we stone this woman? It would mean that He doesn’t follow the law of Moses and approves of adultery. But if He said yes then He can no longer be identified as friend of sinners. Everything that is written in the Old Testament and before the time of Jesus is partial revelation, a line has to be drawn in the sand. In today’s gospel, Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the sand. Jesus revealed the mercy of God. On our part we need to repent which means being sorry for our sins, turn around and embrace what is right but not to diminish the seriousness of sins. It doesn’t mean that Jesus is more tolerant of adultery than the God who spoke to Moses. He is the same God. The advancement of revelation in the Christian era does not diminish the sin but enhances the magnificence of the mercy of God. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, the trap and test for Jesus does not work. He stoops down writing in the sand like keeping a record of something, of the sins. He knows that we know the difference from right or wrong but we have to look at that in the light that we all have sins. We must recognize that we all have to turn to the Lord. The name of the woman in the gospel is not mentioned. The passage does not say anything about her, the people don’t care about the person and just making her an object to test Jesus. Every day this gospel passage is taking place again and again, Nowadays we see a culture that sees the doing away of a life of a person as the solution to a problem. We need to bear a clear witness to Jesus in whom we believe tells us, “Neither do I condemn you.” We need to build a society that rejects death penalty and abortion. We have to constantly hear these words of Jesus in order to find this path leading to peace. We have to know the Lord in prayer, sacraments and in virtue to find ourselves in the embrace of God’s mercy.  Amen. Hallelujah!

John 8:1-11

...“Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”