FAUSTI - This splendid narration takes us to the heart of the message of Jesus, the Son who doesn't judge anyone and who will be judged for this. It is one of the most fascinating pieces of the Gospel, which shows how Jesus gives the Spirit who is making the whole of creation new: He Himself, from His pierced side, will be the gushing spring that washes all sins and impurities. This cleansing and purifying water promised by the prophet Ezekiel (47:1) and Zechariah (13:1) is His Love, which is fully manifested in forgiveness. In it we know who the Lord is: He is the One who opens our graves, raises us up from our graves and gives us His Spirit. The men of the law ask Jesus to know if He is favorable to stoning... They ask His opinion to set a trap for Him, as the Evangelist immediately notes. Stoning is a collective form of murder for which no one feels responsible. The result of the elimination of the wicked, is that of feeling united, reconciled and cleansed of evil, allowing society to move ahead. It should be noted that Jesus does not write on the sand, but on the stone of the pavement; in fact, the scene takes place in the temple. If we do not keep in mind the "finger" of the One who writes and we do not enter into communion with Him, Scripture itself becomes a fetish that prevents us from entering into the thought of God. The Scripture is the self-communication of the life-loving God, who does not despise any of His creatures; He has compassion for all and does not look at sin in view of repentance. The prophets have promised that there will come days when God will take away our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh, and He will engrave His law not with His finger on the stone, but with the Spirit on our heart, which will finally be a new heart, able to live fully the gift of God (Jeremiah 31 - Ez. 36). The gesture of Jesus can allude to these texts, which will be fulfilled when He gives us His Spirit. Right on the cross, where the title of his condemnation will be 'written' - in Hebrew, Latin and Greek (Jn 19:19) we will understand what Jesus now writes.The LORD does not condemn, but justifies and saves by grace. The woman had been placed in the midst by the zealous ones of the law that condemns. Now she remains alone with Jesus alone, in the middle of God's infinite Mercy. Sin is the place where the superabundance of His grace is manifested. Augustine says: "Two remain: the miserable and the Mercy". In the end, what remains of every man is the encounter of his own misery with the Mercy of God. The greater is the abyss of sin, the greater is the Love that is received and the knowledge of God and of oneself that is obtained. And the greater the capacity to love. Jesus, the only One without sin, does not go away. He remains with the sinner: He is the merciful Son as the Father. He asks her if there is still a just man left who can condemn her. No one has remained who can condemn her. But One has remained: the only just One, who justifies her! When the enemies disappeared, there remained the One who loved her with eternal Love (Jer 31:3), in Whom she recognized her Lord, because He forgives her and brings her out of death. A new covenant was established between the two, now written no longer on stone, but in the heart.
So says the Lord, which opened a road into the sea and a path through mighty waters, that brought out chariots and horses, army and heroes at once; They lie dead, they will never rise again, they went out like a skylight, they're extinct:
"Do not remember any more the past things, don't think about old things anymore! Here, I do something new: Right now it is germinating, do you not notice it? I will also open a road in the desert, I'll put rivers in the steppe. The wild beasts will glorify me, jackals and ostriches, because I will have supplied water to the desert, rivers to the steppe, to quench the thirst of my people, my chosen one. The people that I have shaped for me will sing my praises."
Second Reading
From the letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Philippians Fil 3,8-14
Brothers, I believe that everything is a loss because of the sublimity of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord. For him I have given up all these things and consider them rubbish, to gain Christ and be found in him, having as my righteousness not that which comes from the Law, but that which comes from faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God, based on faith: so that I may know him, the power of his resurrection, the communion with his sufferings, making myself in conformity with his death, in the hope of coming to the resurrection from the dead.
I have certainly not reached the goal, I have not arrived at perfection; but I strive to run to conquer it, because I too have been conquered by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not yet believe that I have conquered it. All I know is this: forgetting what is behind me and leaning towards what is in front of me, I run towards the goal, the prize that God calls us to receive up there, in Christ Jesus.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to John Gv 8.1-11
At that time, Jesus set out for the Mount of Olives. But in the morning he went back to the temple and all the people went to him. And he sat down and began to teach them.
Then the scribes and Pharisees led him to a surprised woman in adultery, placed her in the middle and said to him, "Master, this woman has been caught in flagrant adultery. Now Moses, in the Law, has commanded us to stone women like this. What do you think?". They said this to test him and to have reason to accuse him. But Jesus bent down and began to write with his finger on the ground. However, because they insisted on questioning him, he stood up and said to them, "Those of you who are without sin, throw the first stone against her. And he bent down again, writing on the ground. When they heard this, they left one by one, beginning with the elders.
They left him alone, and the woman was there in the middle. Then Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where then are they ? Nobody condemned you?". And she said, "No one, Lord. And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you either; go and from now on do not sin anymore.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER Only the woman and Jesus remained there: misery and mercy, one in front of the other. And this, how many times does it happen to us when we stop before the confessional, with shame, to show our misery and ask for forgiveness! "Woman, where are they?" Jesus tells her. And this observation, and her gaze full of mercy, full of love, is enough to make that person feel - perhaps for the first time - that he has a dignity, that she is not his sin, that she has a dignity as a person; that she can come out of her slavery and walk down a new road. (Angelus 13 March 2016)
FAUSTI - This splendid narration takes us to the heart of the message of Jesus, the Son who doesn't judge anyone and who will be judged for this. It is one of the most fascinating pieces of the Gospel, which shows how Jesus gives the Spirit who is making the whole of creation new: He Himself, from His pierced side, will be the gushing spring that washes all sins and impurities.
RispondiEliminaThis cleansing and purifying water promised by the prophet Ezekiel (47:1) and Zechariah (13:1) is His Love, which is fully manifested in forgiveness.
In it we know who the Lord is: He is the One who opens our graves, raises us up from our graves and gives us His Spirit.
The men of the law ask Jesus to know if He is favorable to stoning... They ask His opinion to set a trap for Him, as the Evangelist immediately notes. Stoning is a collective form of murder for which no one feels responsible. The result of the elimination of the wicked, is that of feeling united, reconciled and cleansed of evil, allowing society to move ahead. It should be noted that Jesus does not write on the sand, but on the stone of the pavement; in fact, the scene takes place in the temple.
If we do not keep in mind the "finger" of the One who writes and we do not enter into communion with Him, Scripture itself becomes a fetish that prevents us from entering into the thought of God. The Scripture is the self-communication of the life-loving God, who does not despise any of His creatures; He has compassion for all and does not look at sin in view of repentance.
The prophets have promised that there will come days when God will take away our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh, and He will engrave His law not with His finger on the stone, but with the Spirit on our heart, which will finally be a new heart, able to live fully the gift of God (Jeremiah 31 - Ez. 36). The gesture of Jesus can allude to these texts, which will be fulfilled when He gives us His Spirit.
Right on the cross, where the title of his condemnation will be 'written' - in Hebrew, Latin and Greek (Jn 19:19) we will understand what Jesus now writes.The LORD does not condemn, but justifies and saves by grace.
The woman had been placed in the midst by the zealous ones of the law that condemns.
Now she remains alone with Jesus alone, in the middle of God's infinite Mercy.
Sin is the place where the superabundance of His grace is manifested.
Augustine says: "Two remain: the miserable and the Mercy". In the end, what remains of every man is the encounter of his own misery with the Mercy of God. The greater is the abyss of sin, the greater is the Love that is received and the knowledge of God and of oneself that is obtained. And the greater the capacity to love.
Jesus, the only One without sin, does not go away.
He remains with the sinner: He is the merciful Son as the Father.
He asks her if there is still a just man left who can condemn her.
No one has remained who can condemn her.
But One has remained: the only just One, who justifies her! When the enemies disappeared, there remained the One who loved her with eternal Love (Jer 31:3), in Whom she recognized her Lord, because He forgives her and brings her out of death. A new covenant was established between the two, now written no longer on stone, but in the heart.
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst Reading
From the book of the prophet Isaiah
Is 43,16-21
So says the Lord,
which opened a road into the sea
and a path through mighty waters,
that brought out chariots and horses,
army and heroes at once;
They lie dead, they will never rise again,
they went out like a skylight, they're extinct:
"Do not remember any more the past things,
don't think about old things anymore!
Here, I do something new:
Right now it is germinating, do you not notice it?
I will also open a road in the desert,
I'll put rivers in the steppe.
The wild beasts will glorify me,
jackals and ostriches,
because I will have supplied water to the desert,
rivers to the steppe,
to quench the thirst of my people, my chosen one.
The people that I have shaped for me
will sing my praises."
Second Reading
From the letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Philippians
Fil 3,8-14
Brothers, I believe that everything is a loss because of the sublimity of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord. For him I have given up all these things and consider them rubbish, to gain Christ and be found in him, having as my righteousness not that which comes from the Law, but that which comes from faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God, based on faith: so that I may know him, the power of his resurrection, the communion with his sufferings, making myself in conformity with his death, in the hope of coming to the resurrection from the dead.
I have certainly not reached the goal, I have not arrived at perfection; but I strive to run to conquer it, because I too have been conquered by Christ Jesus. Brothers, I do not yet believe that I have conquered it. All I know is this: forgetting what is behind me and leaning towards what is in front of me, I run towards the goal, the prize that God calls us to receive up there, in Christ Jesus.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to John
Gv 8.1-11
At that time, Jesus set out for the Mount of Olives. But in the morning he went back to the temple and all the people went to him. And he sat down and began to teach them.
Then the scribes and Pharisees led him to a surprised woman in adultery, placed her in the middle and said to him, "Master, this woman has been caught in flagrant adultery. Now Moses, in the Law, has commanded us to stone women like this. What do you think?". They said this to test him and to have reason to accuse him.
But Jesus bent down and began to write with his finger on the ground. However, because they insisted on questioning him, he stood up and said to them, "Those of you who are without sin, throw the first stone against her. And he bent down again, writing on the ground. When they heard this, they left one by one, beginning with the elders.
They left him alone, and the woman was there in the middle. Then Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where then are they ? Nobody condemned you?". And she said, "No one, Lord. And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you either; go and from now on do not sin anymore.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
Only the woman and Jesus remained there: misery and mercy, one in front of the other. And this, how many times does it happen to us when we stop before the confessional, with shame, to show our misery and ask for forgiveness! "Woman, where are they?" Jesus tells her. And this observation, and her gaze full of mercy, full of love, is enough to make that person feel - perhaps for the first time - that he has a dignity, that she is not his sin, that she has a dignity as a person; that she can come out of her slavery and walk down a new road. (Angelus 13 March 2016)