Thursday, July 22, 2010

Homily for a Penitential celebration

​Jesus is the Divine Physician who seeks to cast a net of healing grace upon all sinners. Do we find ourselves disillusioned by the weight of sin in our lives, is it that we feel there is none who will understand our situation. Are we holding onto any sin that we fear God’s judgment will pass sentence on?
       The goodness of today’s Gospel is that Jesus is not waiting on the edge of His seat in order to say: “Aha, I caught you, now you’re in big trouble, just wait until I tell Dad.” No, rather he is pondering in His merciful mind every little circumstance that allows sin to have such an attractive face so as to lead us away from Him. Without taking the time to consider a similar circumstance in a compassionate way St. Joseph for example could have dismissed the Blessed Virgin Mary’s pregnancy as unfaithfulness which would have ended in the same penalty for Mary as the law had prescribed for this woman who had committed the sin of adultery. I wonder then if this is what Jesus was thinking about when the he wrote on the ground with His finger as the Pharisees bombarded him with questions about this woman who was found to be worthy of stoning. The difference between Jesus and the Pharisees is compassion; whereas the Pharisees saw only the sin of adultery, Jesus saw a woman, a human being who had committed a sin. In the beauty of holiness Jesus sees the potential of this sinner. He also sees the potential in each and every one of us for we too are sinners. As scripture says: “He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” I think that this particular Gospel shows forth the compassionate face of Jesus in a way that is intimate and tangible, for every sinner can feel it in the depths of their hearts if they choose to embrace it. This Gospel should arouse within us confidence in God’s mercy. Sin wounds us and these wounds can at times be very tender, delicate even, and we only choose to expose them to those whom we know to be gentle and meek of heart. Sin also has the power to embarrass us, especially when our sin is displayed before others in a public manner as is the case of the woman in the Gospel. Jesus is so present to us in our failings that at times we cannot help being overcome with tears because of the love that we receive from him in place of the judgement that we deserve. Forgiveness of sins is never without the added gift of healing. It is never enough for Jesus to forgive our sins; he also wants to heal the wounds that remain as a result of our sins. These wounds could look like shame, self-hatred, self-pity, selfishness, a tendency toward over indulgence. The list goes on and on because sin gives way to an inclination to sin. Jesus seeks our wholeness and wellbeing. He desires that we be spotless vessels of purity and holiness. It is possible, however, to receive God’s forgiveness but yet reject the healing that goes with it. This happens when we approach God’s mercy in a very mechanical way as if confessing one’s sins is just an obligation as opposed to an encounter with the Most Merciful Redeemer. We must remember that when we confess our sins Jesus is standing right in front of us with His arm around His Cross, the very instrument of our salvation and with eyes fixed on us his heart is penetrating the window of our souls seeking our release from bondage to sin so that all who see us may marvel at the great things that God has done for us.
       Sin is not a dream; it is a clear reality of our human existence which tries to steal our joy. But at the same time sin does not have the final say unless we let it because Jesus Christ is always extending His hands to us sinners with the hope of travelling with us along the straight and narrow path which at times is very hard to travel. His mercy can melt our hearts in such a way that they become clay in the hands of the potter who fashions them into cups from which others can taste and see that the Lord is good.
       By means of a thorough, contrite confession of our sins we will find that our sins have been written in the sand so as not to be remembered when the mighty rushing wind, which is the Holy Spirit, blows over them by the finger of Jesus who in his compassion writes them in the sand and not in stone, as did the Scribes and Pharisees who symbolically wrote their own sins upon stones which were left in a pile before Jesus as a constant reminder. For after all the patient who holds back any ache or pain from the doctor cannot benefit from the full health benefits that comes from the honest disclosure of their illness.
       The only one entitled to cast a stone in this Gospel is obviously Jesus. Most people would think, however, that he does not cast one but he does, he just chooses to wait until Easter morning when he will cast away the stone covering His tomb as the ultimate sign of His victory over the power of sin in our lives and His invitation for us to receive that merciful, healing power.                                                                                                      

I wish to end by recalling the 3 habits of highly effective penitents, habits which have produced more saints then I can call to mind. 1: Monthly confession as a minimum. 2: Choosing a regular Priest/confessor, who will help to reveal the state of our souls and the tendencies that we may be prone toward in our spiritual journey. 3: Weekly examination of Conscience by using the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes.      Why? Because sin is not simply about breaking a divine law, which it is, but rather because it is about breaking a heart, that of Jesus Christ. The more we grow in love for Jesus Christ the more we will come to see even venial sins as an extreme offense against perfect love. To each of us Jesus Christ says: who will share the burden of a love so intense? What is our response?  

 

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