Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings all have a clear purpose and intention which the Church intends to have us all know about it. It is about being judgmental and the judging attitude of others around us. It is within our human nature to be quick to judge and condemn others when they do something wrong to us. But it is not in our nature to judge ourselves and to look into ourselves for our mistakes.
In the first reading, we heard about the story of Susanna, the woman of Judah during the time of the exile in Babylon. She was a righteous and faithful woman, who had a loving family, and yet, the two elders appointed to be leaders of God’s people in exile turned to evil deeds and gave in to their desires and worldliness, and therefore, they persecuted her and almost had their way on her.
The elders gave in to their desire and their lust, and they were unable to resist the temptation of the flesh. And when they realised their sins in whatever they had committed or plotted with, instead of genuinely and sincerely repenting their ways and rejecting Satan, they instead allowed Satan to do even more harmful and evil works through them, by giving in to their pride and selfishness, seeking to preserve themselves by punishing the unfortunate Susanna to death.
The same also often happens to us, brothers and sisters in Christ. When we made a mistake and we are afraid of the consequences and the punishment, it is often and indeed it is our nature to seek to preserve ourselves first, by trying to find others to be blamed for our mistake instead, that is to find a scapegoat. It is what the two elders had done, when they could not get what they wanted, and even if they had succeeded, they wanted to clean their hands off whatever sins they had committed.
In the Gospel reading today, we heard also about how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law brought a woman caught in the act of adultery to Jesus in order to test Him and trap Him with their malicious intents. They masqueraded and pretended to be faithful to the Lord and His teachings by apparently showing concern about that woman who had committed adultery and wanted her punished. Yet, they failed to look into themselves.
Jesus rightly said to them and revealed to them the fact which they and indeed, many of us often conveniently forget. Let the one without sin cast the first stone. That is the truth revealed by Christ to us, brethren, that we are all without exception, a sinner. Each of us have sinned differently, but nevertheless, be it that we have small or large sins, all of us are still separated from God through those sins which we have committed.
We should not judge others for the fault and mistakes which they had done in their lives, for we too can be judged by our own fault and by our own misbehaviours. This is what the Lord wanted for us to know, so that we would not be antagonised and that we would not keep hatred and prejudice against our own brethren. Only God has the authority and capacity, as well as the right to judge all of us.
And like the two elders, they were judged for their own sins when they tried to condemn the innocent woman to death. God does not judge as He pleases, but He judges based on whether we are willing to throw far, far away our ways of sinfulness and embrace the ways of truth, or whether we are unrepentant or even trying to cause harm to others through lie, slander, prejudice, hatred and many others.
The Lord does not hate the sinner, and that is why He forgave the adulterous woman her sins, just as He wanted to forgive all mankind their sins, but His next words are equally clear as well, that she should sin no more. Hence, we too, we who have been forgiven from our sins by the Lord, must also sin no more in our lives. God hates the sin, as sin is wickedness, rebelliousness and disobedience against the will of God.
In this time of Lent, we should reflect on our own lives. Do we forgive each other our sins and faults to one another? Do we endeavour to live more and more according to the will of God? Today we celebrate the feast of St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, the Spanish Archbishop of Lima several hundred years ago, who is one of the first saints who hailed from the New World or the American continent.
He worked hard to evangelise the people of the New World, bringing the Light of Christ to those who still live in sin and darkness. He established many schools, institutions and other instruments to help future efforts of evangelisation and conversion of sinners to the true Faith. But most important of all, he did not judge against sinners but in fact sincerely tried his best to bring them to righteousness in God. He championed their rights against the colonial rulers, the Spanish Empire which sought to exploit them as much as possible and treat them as less than human beings.
By looking at the examples of St. Turibius de Mogrovejo and what we have heard in the Scriptures today, we know that we should do more to help those who are still stranded and trapped in sin. We must do more to help those who have none or few to help them. It is important for us to show mercy to one another, and to help each other to grow more and deeper in our faith. But we must also not forget to remind each other to sin no more.
God have mercy on sinners, but He still hates sin very much. Therefore, let us all make ourselves worthy by distancing ourselves from all things that can cause us to sin, and do good from now on. Let us all be found worthy at the end of time, and from then on to receive the fullness of God’s grace and blessings. God bless us all. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 