Go, and from now on do not sin anymore

Listening to the Spirit

By your help, we beseech you, Lord our God,
may we walk eagerly in that same charity
with which, out of love for the world,
your Son handed himself over to death.
Through Christ our Lord.

Amen

Listening to the Word

Jn 8:1-11

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”

Reflection

Funerals in the house are very privileged moments of encountering people in a deeper level of meaning and interaction.

It has been so for the funeral of Crisanta as well, a widow who passed away at the age of sixty-seven. Their mother in the coffin was dressed in white while myself facing her six grown-up children for the rite of the funeral. A wall frame of a newly married young couple, and on the left corner of the room another frame, that of a man in his late fifty caught my attention. My guess was confirmed: it was indeed their mother’s wedding remembrance and the photo of her late husband Jeff. So touching for me to see. Crisanta went to heaven to meet Jeff; their love project has been fulfilled in the lives of their children who were standing right in front of me. "I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly". (John 10:10)

In today's Gospel Jesus reaffirms God's deep love for us his children. God is the Giver of Life; he does not punish us for our sins but rather he teaches us the way that we may have life and have it abundantly. “‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’” (John 8:10-11)