We often rush to judgement (Kaya Oakes)

    What strikes me about this often quoted story of a woman caught in adultery are three things. One, we’re often told that Jesus “forgives” her for her sins. But the truth is, he does no such thing. He’s asked to condemn her to a gruesome death and instead turns the question to her accusers, asking them to examine their own hypocrisy. In their rush to judge this woman, they put the law above empathy, above seeing people as individuals, above even letting her speak for herself. One might compare this to the kind of outrage we see exhibited on the internet, were we often rush to judgement of one another. Instead, Jesus instead chooses not to condemn her. And that’s not the same thing as forgiveness, because, perhaps, in her case, there’s nothing for him to forgive. 

    Which brings me to my second thought: what if she didn’t do it? It’s the mob of men that accuses her, the scribes and Pharisees Jesus is constantly warning us about, who claim they caught her in the act. However, what we know from stories of abuse in our own church and in the media is that these acts don’t often happen publicly; they happen behind closed doors, and in secret, and they happen that way deliberately, so the perpetrator is less likely to be caught, so the victim can be shamed into silence and self-blame. We also know that women had little to no agency in Jesus’ time. Condemned, they would usually be killed, whether they were guilty or not. 

    And here is the third thing: the woman never asks for forgiveness. Unlike those who’ve been accused, who’ve been found guilty and who have publicly begged for forgiveness, she is silent, until Jesus asks who has really condemned her, and her answer is no one. It’s no coincidence that our other readings today are about new ways of doing things, new ways of seeing ourselves and the world around us. 

--Kaya Oakes 

Image source: The Stoning, https://theschoolofthetransferofenergy.com/2008/07/15/the-final-version-of-the-stoning/
Quotation source

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 6, 2025: The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad indeed!

The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad indeed!
Do we perceive what God is doing right here, right now? 

    When you’re living in exile under foreign domination, it’s hard to imagine things can get better. But God sends the Prophet Isaiah to the people of Israel in Babylon to encourage them to pay attention to God’s activity right here and now. See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive it? The people mistakenly believed that the God of Israel had no power outside of their land, but Isaiah sets them straight: God has not abandoned them and will not abandon them in the future. If they pay attention, if they are aware right here, right now, if they are sensitive to God’s activity in the present moment, they will see that things are changing, the world is transforming. God is at work in their lives right now -- do they not perceive it? It’s hard to imagine that they will soon be home in their own land, praying Psalm 126: The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy! They will be grateful for all God has done and hopeful that God will continue to work in their midst, filling the empty wadis with water and helping the seeds to be sown to prosper. God will be at work then, too. Will they perceive it? 

    Certainly the woman who had been caught in adultery in Luke’s Gospel will quickly become aware of what God is doing in the present moment. The scribes and Pharisees who bring the woman before Jesus feel challenged by him, because Jesus challenges Judaic law in ways that none of them can argue with. What they don’t perceive, however, is that God is at work even in their bringing the woman to him; it is an opportunity for Jesus to reveal God’s love and compassion for God’s people – even the scribes and Pharisees themselves. But do they perceive it? If they continue to pass judgment, reserving judgment for themselves, they are not going to see God at work. And so Jesus commands, Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Jesus hopes to change their perception, not only of God but of themselves, for they too are sinners! And once all the scribes and Pharisees have left, the woman herself has an opportunity to see things differently: Has no one condemned you? Jesus asks. Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more. It is hard to imagine that her perception could possibly remain unchanged after such a stunning intervention by Jesus in her life! 

    St Paul himself had a similarly stunning conversion moment. Having been sold on the tenets of Judaic law, Paul was ready to defend its finest details and force others to obey it. In his Letter to the Philippians, however, Paul looks back upon that part of his life as so much rubbish, because it kept him from recognizing Jesus and finding salvation. Like Paul – and the woman whose life is saved by Jesus – we need to pay attention to what God is doing in our midst, right here, right now, and strain forward to what lies ahead. We have gained Christ; let us now be found in him, that he might take possession of us and continue to transform us, as we dwell in his grace and in his presence. For he is at work at us, if only we make the effort to perceive it! 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Re-awakening to spiritual brotherliness (Anne Celestine Ondigo FSJ)

   The father keeps watching and waiting for the return of his wayward son. The father sees him from afar and is filled with compassion. He runs to embrace him with open hands. He makes a banquet in his honor. 

   The elder son unaware of his father's depth of compassionate mercy sees this and is indignant, saying “I have been faithful all these years, you have not thrown a party in my honor.” He seemed to have a calm spirit before the brother arrived, however, as the African proverb puts it, ‘calm water does not mean there are no crocodiles.’ At the same time, wise men avow that faults are like a hill, you stand on top of your own and talk about those of other people. The elder brother wants retributive justice applied on his brother-he wants to see some kind of punishment. 

   However, the father’s justice is different because it is based on mercy, love and forgiveness that leads to restoration. The father intervenes by re-awakening his conscience from a selfish spirit and rebuke to the marvels of a sincere re-entry of his lost brother who has returned, a dead brother who is alive and a repentant brother who needs love, mercy and restoration to the family. 

   Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli Tutti, exhorts us to this kind of re-awakening to spiritual brotherliness, sisterliness, to the sense of one family of God, a reconciled human race. In this sense, God the father draws the elder sons’ attention to true repentance and reconciliation where the old passes away and we are recreated anew. 

--Anne Celestine Ondigo, FSJ 

Image source: James Tissot, Prodigal Son, The Return (1882), https://www.wikiart.org/en/james-tissot/prodigal-son-the-return. For an in-depth analysis of this painting by Fr. Patrick van der Vorst, go to:  https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/luke-15-1-3-11-32-2025/
Quotation source

He was dead and has come to life again (St. Francis de Sales)

   Such was the prodigal son, when, quitting the infamous company of the swine, amongst which he had lived, he returned into his father's arms, half-naked, unclean and bemired, and smelling most offensively of the filth which he had contracted in the company of those vile beasts. 

   For what is it to forsake the swine, but to withdraw from sins? And what is it to return all ragged, tattered and unclean, but to have our affections engaged in the habits and inclinations which tend to sin? Yet still was he possessed of the life of the soul which is love; and as a phœnix rising out of its ashes, he found himself newly raised to life. He was dead, said his father, and is come to life again, he has revived. 

--St. Francis de Sales,
Treatise on the Love of God,
Book X, chapter iv 

Image source: John August Swanson, Story of the Prodigal Son (1984), https://johnaugustswanson.com/catalog/story-of-the-prodigal-son/
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