Jump to:

• Word to Life • This week's readings

• Pope's Prayer Intentions • Prayer for St. Raphael Cathedral

Lenten reflection: Remembering our own faults

	Word to Life  Dan Luby

Righteous indignation is the fuel that makes scandals burn so hot. Ironically, the person most often burned is the one who lights the fire.

Despite that, high dudgeon seems hard to resist, especially for people who have been successful at religion. After all, who hasn't, on discovering people caught in a major public offense, felt the pleasurable desire to savor the sinner's fall from grace?

Who among us hasn't, from time to time at least, been tempted by the corrosive allure of watching someone receive a richly deserved comeuppance?

Fifth Sunday of Lent (Sunday, March 25, 2007) Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm 126:1-6 Philippians 3:8-14 John 8:1-11

When we have given ourselves over to rigorously following all the rules and regulations, when we've suffered patiently the loss of freedom required by strict adherence to the law, when we've triumphed over our own weakness at great personal cost, then it's all the more infuriating to see someone get away with flouting the very laws we have followed so diligently. It's hard not to want to see such scoffers punished, shamed.

In the story in Sunday's Gospel, the revelation of adultery provides the religious elite of Jesus' time a double helping of righteous indignation. Capturing the adulterous woman gives them the chance to denounce publicly someone of demonstrably lower moral standards than themselves - always its own pleasure - and at the same time to put Jesus, their most irritatingly peaceful and clever opponent, in the hot seat.

	Reflection questions • What stones of condemnation might my hands be holding, and how can I let go of them? • Who in my life has given me second chances after failures? • How might I express gratitude for that gift?

Jesus slips out of their trap with an elegance that belies the strength of his confrontation. "Let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone," he says, and slowly, starting with the eldest, they drop their weapons and slink away.

To the extent that we recognize ourselves in the self-righteous accusers, it is a story that invites sober reflection in these remaining Lenten days. To the extent that we see ourselves in the forgiven sinner, it's cause for great rejoicing.

This column is presented in cooperation with the North Texas Catholic of Fort Worth, Texas.