Taking Sides

Today's gospel reading:

"Go away, and from this moment sin no more."

One day they almost forced Jesus to take sides against someone, the woman caught in adultery. He refused to take sides against anyone.
What he did was express his belief in her inner goodness.
He told her not only to go home, but to change her life.

He did what the prophet Isaiah once foretold God would do: "No need to remember past events, no need to think about what was done before.
Look, I am doing something new, now it emerges; can't you see it?" (Is 43:18-19).

It isn't only the woman who goes home a better person when he tells her: "Neither do I condemn you; go away, and from this moment sin no more."
Her accusers and molesters, who didn't throw their stones, also go home better persons.
Jesus healed all of them by awakening something in them that was greater than they were.

Jesus refuses to discriminate between the "good' and the "bad" in the story.
He refuses to take sides in that way.
The side he chooses is that of unity and cohesion, and of the ultimate goodness hiding in each one's life.
It is a choice that is against anything that tears human life apart, makes it impossible, or kills it. Jesus did what he helped the woman and her accusers to do: "Don't condemn. Go home, and

don't sin."

It is an invitation, a piece of advice, or, better, a command we should apply in our own lives.
It is no good condemning ourselves or others.
It is better to get away from the past and change our lives.

The Donkey

The Donkey

When fishes flew and forests walked

And figs grew upon thorn,

Some moment when the moon was blood

Then surely I was born;

With monstrous head and sickening cry

And ears like errant wings,

The devil's walking parody

On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,

Of ancient crooked will;

Starve, scourge, deride me:

I am dumb,I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;

One far fierce hour and sweet:

There was a shout about my ears,

And palms before my feet.

Chesterton captures Palm Sunday from the perspective of the donkey that Jesus rode.

Passion Sunday

This coming Sunday we listen to the story of Christ's passion and death as told by St. Mark.

One unique detail in Mark's Gospel is found at chapter 14, verses 51-52.

At the time of Jesus' arrest, soldiers tried to seize one of his followers—a young man wearing nothing but a linen cloth.

Terrified, the man left the cloth behind and ran away naked.

There is an old tradition that claims the young man might have been Mark himself.

No matter who he was, the story conveys how frightened Jesus' followers were and how desperate and confusing the situation was.

Whether he was telling on himself or someone else, Mark clearly was saying,

"Try to imagine how awful all of this was!"

You'll notice, too, that in Mark's version, the high priest's servant loses his ear, and Jesus does not heal him as he does in the Gospel of Luke.

We are offered no relief from the pain and violence of this awful scene.

We must face what our sins have cost.

Leaving St. Therese

As you heard if you were at this weekend's liturgy, I will be leaving St. Therese this year.For those of you who weren't there, this is the text of my announcement:

Bishop DiLorenzo has asked me to leave our parish. Although I do not agree with his decision, I have agreed to go to another parish. I believe fighting this decision would not only be harmful to me; given the upheaval of the past year, it would also hurt our parish.

I know many of you may also be upset, but I have a proposal to offer:

Rather than give in to anger or bitterness, let us use these next few months to celebrate the 11 years I have been here and end it with a huge party!

For myself, I believe this is the best route to take; I also believe it is best for all of us.

Some thoughts on Forgiveness

FORGIVENESS breaks the chain of causality because the one who "forgives" you —out of love—assumes the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always entails a sacrifice. The price you must pay for your own liberation through another's sacrifice is that you in turn must be willing to liberate in the same way, irrespective of the consequences to yourself.

Dag Hammerskjöld

WE owe it to each other to recognize that the ability to forgive can't be rushed. We do a great disservice to our families and friends when we rush forgiveness because, in fact, simple time may be all that's needed to foster it.

Doris Donnelly