June 12th 2016 ~ Luke 7:36-8:3 “Celebrate Mercy”

In today’s Gospel Jesus is invited to Simon the Pharisee’s house for dinner when an ‘unwanted’ guest arrives. This woman has a bad reputation in the town; we are told nothing of her past except that she was a sinner and that she is carrying something that she wants to be free from. There are many things to say about the text but perhaps today we can focus on her celebration. The woman is able to receive God’s grace in contrast to the Pharisee who is unable to grasp what has happened. Those present find it difficult to comprehend a God who accepts sinners and they are also finding it difficult to accept someone who celebrates forgiveness so joyfully and extravagantly as this woman does.

Often when we receive forgiveness from others we are unable to forgive ourselves, unable to free ourselves from our own mistakes. We can take a good example from the woman in today’s Gospel who celebrates abundantly when she is freed from whatever it was that she was carrying. 

The last lines of the Gospel remind us of the prominent role of ‘many’ women who covered the expenses of Jesus and the twelve and journeyed with them.

“God's mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones... Let us be renewed by God's mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth.” (Pope Francis)

Fifth Sunday of Lent 2016: John 8:1-11

Jesus never condemns sinners. In today’s Gospel he refuses to condemn the woman, caught in adultery, to the death penalty as was demanded by Old Testament law (the man would have been subject to the same law by the way!). Once again the Pharisees are trying to trick Jesus. We may wonder what Jesus was writing on the ground as they continued to question him, but he delivers the winning statement in this debate and the condemners are forced to leave one by one.

We live in a stone-throwing society which cares little for the circumstances that cause people to make wrong choices. We want someone to blame, and the sooner the better. Those who accuse others often do so from a lack of self-knowledge and laziness, because it is very easy to be negative. We have all had a part to play in creating climate injustice, but the blame game won’t solve the issue. We need to be proactive and challenge complacency on this issue wherever we see it. We make mistakes but we can always start again. When we relate compassionately to those who are in difficulty we can rediscover our common humanity.

"Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning … No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts. I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours. No one has the right to take it from us. Laudato Si’, 205