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March
28, 2004 - 5th Sunday of Lent
A.
Throw No Stones
B. Look First Into Your Own Heart
Readings
Is 43:16-21;
Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6;
Phil 3:8-14;
Jn 8:1-11
(Listen to MP3
- Forgives
the Adulteress)
Commentaries
/ Gospel Reflections from:
Sunday's
Into Silence • Diario
Biblico • Daily Gospel
Greeting
(See Second Reading)
With
St Paul we say today:
"I forget the past
and I strain ahead for what is still to come,
for the prize to which God calls us."
May the strength of the Lord Jesus
be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction
by the Celebrant
A.
Throw No Stones
Have
you ever had the experience of hurting someone very much but that the
offended person forgave you, perhaps with difficulty, and accepted your
apology, and that was the end? Do you remember how relieved you felt,
as if you were a new person? That is how God keeps forgiving us: he
makes us new every time again. Do we live as forgiven, new people? Do
we make others new by our pardon? Let us encounter again in this eucharist
our patient, forgiving Lord Jesus.
B.
Look First into Your Own Heart
When
they have sinned, especially when grievously, some people are afraid
that God is out to catch them, like a policeman who has to implement
the law. Today we learn from Jesus that God goes beyond the law, for
he forgives and keeps forgiving. This is the attitude we learn from
God. Look into your own heart and see that you need forgiveness. And
repeatedly so. Then you will also easily forgive others. Let us ask
Jesus for this attitude, even when we still feel the hurt inflicted.
Penitential
Act
During
this Lent we have looked into ourselves
and, hopefully, realized that we are sinners
in constant need of forgiveness.
Let us seek the Lord's pardon.
(PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, you throw no stones at us
and you don't want us to throw them at anyone:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you do not condemn us
for you have come to save what was lost
and you want us to be free and alive:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you tell us to go
and to sin no more:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
forgive us and make us new.
Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening
Prayer
Let
us ask our Father
that we may imitate his mercy
(PAUSE)
God of life,
this is the Good News you let us hear today
through your living image, Jesus Christ:
Love is stronger than death,
you want the sinner to live
and to become all new.
Let us no longer live in the past of sin
but make us free for life and for love.
Give us hearts as merciful to one another
as you have been lenient and loving to us.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Scripture
Readings
First
Reading Introduction: Forget the Past; Go Forward
with Me
To his chosen
people suffering in exile, God says: I have done great deeds of salvation
for you in the past. I will do greater things for you in the future.
First
Reading: Is 43:16-21
Thus says Yahweh,
who opened a way through the sea and a path in the mighty waters, who
brought down chariots and horses,
a whole army of them, and there they lay, never to rise again, snuffed
out like a wick.
But do not dwell on the past, or remember the things of old.
Look, I am doing a new thing: now it springs forth. Do you not see?
I am opening up a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
The beasts of the land will honor me, jackals and ostriches, because
I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert that my chosen
people may drink.
I have formed this people for myself; they will proclaim my praise.
Responsorial
Psalm: Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
R.
(3) The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
When
the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Then
they said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Restore
our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Although
they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Second
Reading Introduction: Push On to What Is Ahead
Once Paul
had been "seized" by Christ, the past no longer counted, and
he strained toward his future in Christ, by the strength of the risen
Lord.
Second
Reading: Phil 3:8-14
Everything seems
to me as nothing compared with the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord.
For his sake I have let everything fall away and I now consider all
as garbage, if instead I may gain Christ. May I be found in him, not
having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but with the
righteousness that God gives to those who believe.
May I know him and experience the power of his resurrection and share
in his sufferings and become like him in his death, and attain through
this, God willing, the resurrection from the dead!
I do not believe I have already reached the goal, nor do I consider
myself perfect, but I press on till I conquer Christ Jesus, as I have
already been conquered by him. No, brothers and sisters, I do not claim
to have claimed the prize yet. I say only this: forgetting what is behind
me, I race forward and run towards the goal, my eyes on the prize to
which God has called us from above in Christ Jesus.
Gospel
Introduction: Go Away and Don't Sin Any More
The mission
of Jesus is not to judge and condemn but to forgive and to give new chances
in life. Isn't that our mission too?
Gospel
Reading: Jn 8:1-11
(Listen to MP3
- Forgives
the Adulteress)
 Jesus
went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak Jesus appeared in the Temple
again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach
them.
Then the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who
had been caught in the act of adultery. They made her stand in front
of everyone. "Master," they said, "this woman has been
caught in the act of adultery. Now the Law of Moses orders that such
women be stoned to death; but you, what do you say?" They said
this to test Jesus, in order to have some charge against him.
Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. And
as they continued to ask him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let
anyone among you who has no sin be the first to throw a stone at her."
And he bent down again, writing on the ground.
As a result of these words, they went away, one by one, starting with
the elders, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before
him. Then Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?" She replied, "No one." And
Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go away and don't sin again."
Commentary
LAST
Sunday we had the story of the prodigal son, with its theme of God's
loving mercy. Today we see it being worked out in reality.
Everything was
clear until Jesus started: the woman was a sinner, her accusers could
remain just accusers. It had the clarity of logic, and it was meant
to trap him. Everyone knows, of course, that this clarity is deceptive:
no one is squeaky clean ("All have sinned" Rom 3:23). So
they have to appeal to the clarity of a written law. The gowns and
wigs that lawyers wear in court (in some countries) enable them to
some degree to be uninvolved at the personal level. I'm sure it's
a necessary insulation in their case; but in this case the accusers
wanted to be very personal indeed, using the law only as a noose.
If Jesus said,
"No, she must not be put to death!" they could accuse him
of breaking the Law; and if he said, "The Law has to be obeyed,"
his teaching about the mercy of God (for example, his story of the
prodigal son) would only be fine words. It was a trap.
The brilliant
way in which he sprang their trap on themselves makes this one of
the world's great stories. It shows that mercy isn't the sentimentality
of soft-minded people, but a power that goes straight to the heart
of the matter-and to the human heart.
Read
also Sundays Into Silence: You
Must Feel Good to Become Good
General
Intercessions
In
his love, God wants to make the world ever new. Let us entrust to his
mercy our intentions and those of our brothers and sisters. Let us say:
R/ Lord of life, in you we trust.
- For
the Church we love, that it may be in our world a place and a sign of
forgiveness and reconciliation, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, in
you we trust.
- For
those who condemn and for those who are condemned, let us pray: R/
Lord of life, in you we trust.
- For
broken homes and for families that are united, let us pray : R/ Lord
of life, in you we trust.
- For
those wounded by the hardships of life and for those who keep hoping,
let us pray: R/ Lord of life, in you we trust.
- For
those in authority, that they pay attention to the people's needs and
not crush anyone with their power, let us pray: R/ Lord of life,
in you we trust.
- For
our Christian communities, that we keep accepting everyone with understanding
and compassion, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, in you we trust.
Lord
our God, we thank you for listening to us and for showing us your patient
mercy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Prayer
over the Gifts
Lord
God, merciful Father
in these signs of bread and wine
we share in the forgiveness and life
of your Son Jesus Christ.
By his body and blood
make us, limited and fallible people,
your new creation, your people of hope,
capable of rising above ourselves
and preparing your new heaven and new earth.
For we expect everything from you
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction
to the Eucharistic Prayer
Through
Jesus our Lord we thank our Father for forgetting our past and leading
us to a future of love and justice and freedom.
Invitation
to the Lord's Prayer
In
the words of Jesus our Lord
we call on our Father in heaven
to forgive us as we forgive others: R/ Our Father...
Deliver
Us
Deliver
us, Lord, from a past of evil,
from everything that estranges us
from you and one another.
Gather us in the solidarity and peace
of one faith, one hope, one love,
as people set free by your Son.
May we spread your reconciliation
to build up a liberated world
and to wait in hope for the coming in glory
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation
to Communion
This
is the Lamb of God
who does not condemn us
but makes with us
an ever-new beginning.
Happy are we to be invited
to hear his words of forgiveness
and to eat his bread of life. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer
after Communion
Tender
and compassionate Father,
we thank you for letting us share
in the sacrifice of your Son
that brought us your pardon and peace.
Let him give to us, pardoned sinners,
the strength to remain faithful to you.
Let us be disciples demanding to ourselves
and very merciful to others.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
We
have heard today our Lord's invitation
not to shut ourselves up
in the mediocrity of our past
but to set out boldly for the future
with fresh generosity.
This future will not be without difficulties:
the Lord never promises an easy life.
But he promises to be with us
with the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let
us go in the joy
and the strength of the Lord. R/ Thanks be to God.
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