Read: (Isa43:16-21; Phil3: 8-14; Jn8: 1-11)

Reflect: Praise, pursue God and condone people for newness of life…

Dear friends, we are in the fifth Sunday of Lent. The liturgy of the word enriches our understanding as to how we could obtain newness of life from God. We all know that newness of life is a gift of God. It is not only every birth on earth is a new opening for new life rather every turning point from bad to Good, failure to success, sorrow to happiness is a sign of new life. But all these moments and movements from bad to good, failure to success, sorrows to happiness are they directed to the Lord or directed to oneself or is it a driving force towards God or towards oneself. The liturgy of the word presents before certain ways and means to become a new creation in God and obtain newness of life in God. So, I would like share with you three points of reflection.

1. Praise God and not blame

Someone has very beautifully said, “When we complain about our current situation, we remain in it; when we praise God in the midst of difficulty, He raises us out of it.” Yes, praising God is the purpose of our life of as God’s chosen people. When we praise God, he raises out of our problems and gives strength to face them or gives us solutions to solve it. We praise God for the wonders and wonderful things God has done and God does and God would do. And all the more, it is fitting to praise and thank God, for God is our creator, sustainer and protector of life. If not God, it would be no one else, who we should praise and thank, because all that we are and all that we have his God’s grace and God’s goodness.  

That’s what we see in the first reading from prophet Isaiah that what the creator God does for his people and what God wishes from the people whom he formed might announce His praise. Sure, when we do what is the primary focus of life then God assures the promise of life and newness of life. That’s what we see further in the first reading.The promise of life that God assures his people in and through prophet Isaiah is highly commendable. It is a reminder for us God is the God of newness and promise of new life. God has not only has split the water into two and put the Egyptian to death in the chase of Israelites rather God is the god of life brining water in the desert and river in the wastelands. it shows the power and presence of God that can do anything for his people, he makes the wet ground dry and dry ground wet. Our praises are responses for God’s goodness and glorious deeds.

Most often, we involve ourselves into blame-game. We blame God first and we later realize that it is our failure. We have no right to blame God, because God does right thing on right time to right people, provided we are patient and abide in his providence. Sometime we become impatient or judgmental because of God’s delay in answering our needs, wants and desires. But God always does what is right and best. Today we need to realize that the purpose of God creating us is to praise God for all the wondrous things in life and not blame.

Pope Francis has very powerfully stated that “Our praise of God is not only an act of thanksgiving but a way of recognizing that He is present, especially in the most difficult moments of our lives.” Yes, when we realize the presence of God in our lives, we won’t blame God; we won’t take the name of God in vain; we won’t dissuade ourselves from God’s way; we won’t do what is displeasing to God. So it ultimately depends on how we value God’s presence and obtain peace for ourselves. In the moment of blame-game, we forget what God has done to us; we forget God’s special love; we forget God’s unique manifestation of grace for us his people. Let us pray that we don’t blame God but praise God at all time and be at peace with one another.

2. Pursue God and not the world

There is a famous but an unknown quote, “If you are not pursuing God, the enemy is pursuing you.” Yes, we pursue various things in life. It is gently yet powerful reminder that life is full of choices and directions, and every moment we are either moving toward something good or away from it. It’s not enough to simply pursue happiness for its own sake; the pursuit of happiness must align with God's will for our lives, or else it becomes vulnerable to distractions or even harmful pursuits that would endanger life. The Pursuit of happiness is the prime aim of life today. Everyone seeks for happiness but are we pursuing the right way to happiness is a question we need to ask ourselves. Whatever gives me happiness I do is not a right thing to do but what are the right ways make me and others happy is an important note we need to remind ourselves again and again. All the more, what gives me or makes me happy by God’s ways is the right thing that we need to focus on in life.

That’s what we see in the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to Philippians. St. Paul very emphatically says, “Everything I count as a loss because of the precious worth of knowing Christ. I accept every loss for his sake I consider everything as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.” Moreover, towards the end of the second reading we hear, “I continue my pursuit towards the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling in Christ Jesus.” St. Paul by saying that “I count everything as loss by knowing Christ expresses a drastic transition in his life as he encountered Christ on the way to Damascus. Prior to his conversion, Paul was a Pharisee and highly regarded in Jewish society. But after encountering Christ, he considered all his previous accomplishments and status as nothing in comparison to the knowledge and close association with Christ. This approach of St Paul gives us the idea that true happiness and fulfillment are not found in earthly pursuits or achievements, but in a genuine relationship with Christ.

Further, St. Paul considers everything else as rubbish compared to the love and knowledge of Christ. It recalls to us that we need to be prepared and ready to give up all attachments and attractions of the world. When we examine our lives today, most of us have attachments and thus attracted towards earthly or worldly pursuits, which takes us away from God, the focus of life and real means of happiness. We are used to holding on to things, desires, or ambitions that distract us from pursuing Christ fully and freely. Just as Paul renounced everything for the sake of knowing Christ, we too are called to examine and detach all that is deadly or worldly in order to pursue God more fully.

Pope Francis very aptly writes in Gaudete et Exsultate, “We are all called to be saints, but not as we want, and not on our terms. We are called to be saints by loving God and our neighbor, by seeking His kingdom, and this requires a commitment that brings us to renounce all false promises of happiness.” Yes, we need to pursue and persuade towards the goal of life, that is, knowing Christ, gaining Christ and being found in Christ is our life’spursuit. Once we have this right pursuit of happiness, we will able to obtain all that we need in life by god’s grace. So let us pursue and persuade what makes us Christ’s followers.

3.  Condone and not condemn people

St. Mother Teresa of Kolkatha says, “We cannot condemn, judge or pass words that will hurt people. Because we do not know in what way God is appearing to that soul and what God is drawing that soul to. So, who are we to condemn anybody.” Yes, the words remind us of the profound humility and compassion we are called to embody as followers of Christ. It underscores the importance of having a compassionate heart to understand others rather than rejecting and rebuking people for their faults and failures. We all of us on earth are here for a journey. As we journey on we find someone’s actions and make judgments based on their external appearances and behaviors, although we cannot know the internal intentions or deliberations of people. It is only God, who understands our struggles and suffering; it is God who voluntarily comes forward in helping and making us come out of the obstacles and hurdles of life; it is God who gives safety and security from all our problems and perplexities. So we have a God, who does not condemn by condones and forgives people.

Something that sort of focus we find in the Gospel reading of the day. We have the episode from the gospel of John, the woman caught in adultery. The scribes and Pharisees wanted a verdict from Jesus for the act in which the woman was caught; they wanted to trap Jesus by what he would do with the Law of Moses. But Jesus teaches them a different lesson altogether. Jesus did not condemn or judge the woman caught in adultery rather looks at her compassionately and says, “Woman go now and from now on do not sin anymore.” Jesus was aware of the character of this woman and was as well cautious of the character of men who wanted to condemn or stone her to death. That’s why when Jesus wrote on the ground both of them, the crowd and the woman whom Jesus asked ‘have not anyone condemned you’ went silently on their way.

The words of Jesus to the woman, “go now and from now on do not sin anymore,” brings us to knowledge that whatever you were before forget or abandon but what comes hereafter take a fresh start in life. I am sure this is what Jesus tells us all today. Whatever we might have been in the past, whatever we must have done in the past, we need to just keep aside. So that it does not crumble or cripple or become a stumbling block for our growth. We need to consider such God-given opportunities or times to learn the art of living by past experiences and make the present and the future bring and better with the life anew offered to us by God. We learn from Jesus in this episode that Jesus had every right and authority to condemn her but did not. Jesus had every right and authority to condemn those who brought the woman for a verdict but did not. It is a time of reflection and action for us today.

Jesus teaches us new ways and makes us understand that it is not by condemning we gain people but by condoning people. Most of us have the easy tendence to condemn people but how many of us can condone or forgive people of their sins and give them a chance to grow and to bloom. We make mountains out of molehills at times meaning to say that we have the capacity to turn the minor mistakes into major problems, cook up stories to degrade or spoil the reputation when it comes to others. But what about us and our actions? We need to pray that we do not condemn people for their mistakes rather condone people and give them a chance to grow in life for better.

As Pope Francis would beautifully say, “The Church’s mission is to make present the love of God in the world, in order to show the goodness of His mercy to every person, without exception. It is mercy that must be our first response, especially to those in need or in sin.” Yes, Christ is the merciful face of God and we the Church are also called to reflect the merciful face of God the Father in life to one another. Let us realize that life really becomes new when we show God’s mercy and compassion to the weak and vulnerable in our families, neighborhood and society. Let us realize that life becomes new when we praise God and not blame, life becomes new when we pursue God and not the world, life becomes new when we condone people and not condemn them for their deeds.

Respond:

Do we praise God or blame God for our failures and faults?

Do we pursue God or the world, which distracts and dissuades?

Do we condone people for their faults and failures or condemn people for their mistakes?

So let realize and pray that we praise God, pursue God and Godly ways and obtain strength to condone people and accept them as God’s Children. Amen.

God bless us all! Live Jesus!