Monday of the 5th week of Lent 

THE WISDOM OF GOD FREES US FROM THE SHACKLES OF SIN

Daniel 13:1-9,​15-17,​19-30,​33-62
Psalm 22(23)
John 8:12-20

In yesterday gospel passage, taken from John 8:1-11 Jesus replied the Pharisees and scribes who have accused the woman caught in adultery that the person with no sin should throw the first stone? What do the accusers and the crowds do? (They all walk away.) What does Jesus say to the woman? (that he does not condemn her; that she should go and not sin anymore)

One of the things we learn from this Gospel is the importance of not judging the faults of others. But there’s an even more basic lesson here about how God sees us. Why is it important that Jesus does not condemn the woman? (because Jesus is the one without sin) Jesus is without sin and could have condemned the woman, but he chooses not to make her sin the focus of what he sees in her.

Today’s first reading, we encounter something similar though this time the woman was innocent and God used Daniel to deliver Susannah from the cruel intentions, actions and judgment of the two elders. As the story shows in the end, God delivers this obedient sons and daughters even though they walk through the valley of darkness, God is with them and only him has the final say.

Sometimes when we look at other people, and sometimes even when we look at ourselves, we notice faults and wrongdoing and make these the focus of our attention. It is almost as if we examine faults and sins with a magnifying glass. We might even be tempted to think that God looks at us in this way too.

Yet Jesus shows us that God doesn’t look at us as with a magnifying glass; he doesn’t highlight our faults and our sins. Instead, God sees each of us completely and really as we are, as we might see ourselves in a mirror. God doesn’t focus on our sins. God forgives our sins, fully and completely, so that we can become the people he wants us to be.

In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we try to see ourselves as we know we are, as God sees us: as sinners who need God’s mercy. When confessing our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we are not scrutinising our faults as with a magnifying glass. Instead, we are striving to see ourselves as we are, as in a mirror. Christ says in today’s gospel passage that I am the light.

He enlightens our minds at the sacrament off reconciliation on the ways not to sin again; ways of peace and reconciliation with the Father -ways of loving and caring for our neighbours. We seek to confess our sins honestly. We trust that God will forgive us because God sees us as we are and sees the people we can become as we grow in his love.

Stay safe and God bless.

Fr Joseph Osho