Reading I
Thus says the LORD,
who opens a way in the sea
and a path in the mighty waters,
who leads out chariots and horsemen,
a powerful army,
till they lie prostrate together, never to rise,
snuffed out and quenched like a wick.
Remember not the events of the past,
the things of long ago consider not;
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.
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,
the people whom I formed for myself,
that they might announce my praise.
Reading II
Brothers and sisters:
I consider everything as a loss
because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things
and I consider them so much rubbish,
that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law
but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God,
depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection
and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death,
if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
It is not that I have already taken hold of it
or have already attained perfect maturity,
but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it,
since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, I for my part
do not consider myself to have taken possession.
Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind
but straining forward to what lies ahead,
I continue my pursuit toward the goal,
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.
Gospel
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“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.”
Reflection
Today’s readings offer us a humble reminder of our own sinfulness, and yet, at the same time, testify to God’s grace which enables us to leave behind our sinful histories and go—sinning no more.
St. Paul says in the second reading that he does not have any righteousness of his own based on the law, and indeed, none of us can claim to be holy from our own efforts. In the Gospel today, Jesus reminds the scribes and Pharisees, who were experts on the law, that none of them were without sin. We too, no matter how much we study or hone our abilities, live lives fraught with brokenness.
We are still filled with hope, however, because God makes all things—even our weak selves--new. As it says in our first reading from Isaiah, “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!” This verse clearly connects to the concluding lines of our second reading, where Paul says that he will forget what lies behind and strain for what lies ahead: God’s upward calling in Christ Jesus.
Our Lord does not want us to be caught up in past mistakes or miseries. Rather, He gives us hope. God constantly works new glories in the world and in ourselves. Through Jesus, God will give us all the grace we need for eternal life. In the Gospel, Jesus gives the adulterous women the opportunity and ability to go and sin no more. He forgives and empowers her to live a better life from this moment forward—now that she has encountered His love. All she needs to do now, and the same goes for us, is to accept and cooperate with His saving help.
We can encounter the life-giving love of God every day. Let us permit Jesus to take us and our sinfulness and make us into something new. Join me in praying for the grace to go—through, with, and in Christ—and sin no more.
Please be assured of my prayers for you before Our Lord, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
+ Bishop Schlert
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