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Fifth Sunday of Lent (C)

April 06, 2025

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

Introit

Collect

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 our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Reading Is 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, 17 who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 18 Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. 19 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20 The wild animals will honour me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, 21 the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6.

R/. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Second Reading Phil 3:8-14

I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, 9 in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Verse Before the Gospel Jl 2:12-13

Gospel Jn 8:1-11

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before the people, 4 they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They said this to test Jesus, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When the scribes and Pharisees kept on questioning him, Jesus straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once again Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When the scribes and Pharisees heard what Jesus had said, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

Catena Nova

The Pharisees approached the Lord with the cunning and dishonest idea that if he ordered the accused woman to be stoned he would lose his reputation for gentleness; but if he forbade what the law laid down, they could catch him for sinning against the law.... In the case of the adulteress he questioned the questioners, and in this way judged the judges. “I do not forbid,” he says, “the stoning of someone who the law lays down must be stoned; what I want to know is—by whom?… Let whoever is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”…When they had gone, the sinner and the Savior were left alone. The doctor with the sick woman. Pity with the pitiable. And looking at the woman he said, “Has no one condemned you?” She answered, “No one, Lord.” She was still gnawed with anxiety, though. Sinners, it is true, had not dared to condemn her, had not dared to stone a sinner when they looked into their hearts and found themselves to be the same. But the woman was still in peril of her life because one who was without sin had stayed behind to judge her. Has no one, he asked, condemned you? She said, “No one, Lord; if you don’t either, I’m safe.” The Lord answered her anxiety by saying, “Neither will I condemn you. Neither will I, although I am without sin, neither will I condemn you. Those others were restrained by conscience from punishing you. I am moved by pity to help you.” (St. Augustine of Hippo)

It is not because I have been preserved from mortal sin that I lift up my heart to God in trust and love. I feel that even had I on my conscience every crime one could commit, I should lose nothing of my confidence: my heart broken with sorrow, I would throw myself into the Arms of my Saviour. I know that He loves the Prodigal Son, I have heard His words to St. Mary Magdalen, to the woman taken in adultery, and to the woman of Samaria. No one could frighten me, for I know what to believe concerning His Mercy and His Love. And I know that all that multitude of sins would disappear in an instant, even as a drop of water cast into a flaming furnace. (St. Therese of Lisieux)

The episode recorded in the Gospel of John is repeated in countless similar situations in every period of history. A woman is left alone, exposed to public opinion with “her sin”, while behind “her” sin there lurks a man – a sinner, guilty “of the other’s sin”, indeed equally responsible for it. And yet his sin escapes notice, it is passed over in silence: he does not appear to be responsible for “the others’s sin”! .... Christ did everything possible to ensure that – in the context of the customs and social relationships of that time – women would find in his teaching and actions their own subjectivity and dignity.... Consequently each man must look within himself to see whether she who was entrusted to him as a sister in humanity, as a spouse, has not become in his heart an object of adultery; to see whether she who, in different ways, is the cosubject of his existence in the world, has not become for him an “object”: an object of pleasure, of exploitation. Christ’s way of acting, the Gospel of his words and deeds, is a consistent protest against whatever offends the dignity of women. (Pope St. John Paul II)

Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man - there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us!" or "The ladies, God bless them!"; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything "funny" about woman's nature. (Dorothy L. Sayers)

If Jesus, the only man without sin, didn’t throw the first stone at the adulteress, then neither can we at anyone whoever it may be. And so, have mercy for all, react against those impulses that drive us to condemn without pity—we have to know how to forgive and forget. No harbouring in our hearts any lingering judgement or resentment, where anger and hatred can breed and alienate us from our brothers and sisters. See everyone as new. Having in our hearts, rather than judgement and condemnation, love and mercy for each person, we will help each person begin a new life, we will constantly give courage to start afresh. (Chiara Lubich)

The voyeurism and perversion of these men! Then they come en masse, in the terrible enthusiasm of a mob and they present the case to Jesus. Now, what does Jesus do in the face of this violent mob? First, He writes on the ground. The mysterious writing might indicate the listing of the sins of each person in the group. As He said in another Gospel, “Remove the plank in your own eye, and then you can see more clearly the speck in your brother’s eye.” And then He says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her.” He forces them to turn their accusing glance inward, where it belongs. Instead of projecting their violence outward on a scapegoat, they should honestly name and confront the dysfunction within themselves. This story, like all the stories in the Gospels, is a foreshadowing of the great story toward which we are tending. Jesus will be put to death by a mob bent on scapegoating violence. (Bishop Robert Barron)

This episode also invites each of us to be aware that we are sinners, and to let fall from our hands the stones of denigration, of condemnation, of gossip, which at times we would like to cast at others. When we speak ill of others, we are throwing stones, we are like these people.... In this Lenten Season, we are called to recognize ourselves as sinners and to ask God for forgiveness. And, in its turn, while forgiveness reconciles us and gives us peace, it lets us start again, renewed. Every true conversion is oriented toward a new future, a new life, a beautiful life, a life free from sin, a generous life. Let us not be afraid to ask Jesus for forgiveness because he opens the door to this new life for us. (Pope Francis)

Homily

I confess to agreeing with G.K. Chesterton who said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” He said that in a book entitled What's Wrong with the World. Mind you, I don't agree with much of his answer to the question. I am more sympathetic with Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy's answer to a similar question who said, "We have organized a social order which we cherish and look upon as sacred. Jesus, whom we recognize as God, comes and tells us that our social organization is wrong. We recognize him as God, but we are not willing to renounce our social institutions. What, then, are we to do?" (My Religion).

To which I think the only answer is, "What Jesus did." But I'm not talking about the glib bumper sticker memes that ask, "What would Jesus do?" — glib because we know darn well what he would do — so much so that the question is more or less rhetorical. As a case in point, we have the woman caught in the very act of committing adultery. How and by whom we are not told. And in this case the wrong question — the glib one — is what the Pharisees wanted him to answer — "Who would Jesus stone?" Instead, he asks his own question: Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? To which the answer is: No one, sir. (G). Same answer — wrong question.

It's the wrong question because the social institution in question was opposed to Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God. The Law of Moses, which commanded them to stone such a woman, was meant for a theocracy. But in Jesus' time, it was a theocracy hemmed in by the Roman Empire — which did not permit the theocrats to execute anyone — as Jesus himself would soon learn as the same religious authorities handed him over to Pontius Pilate to be crucified. And neither social order — the theocratic one nor the imperial one — had much if anything to do with the Kingdom of God as Jesus proclaimed it — a kingdom, as he told Pilate, that was not of this world.

And so it is with the social order in which we live — that likes to surround itself with a "sacred" aura, whether in the form of Christian nationalism, American exceptionalism, or State-sponsored idolatry like the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag with its claim about "one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Which begs the not so glib question, "To whom would Jesus pledge allegiance?" To which the answer is clearly: "Neither Jerusalem. Nor Rome. Nor Washington. Nor any other earthly kingdom."

But that kind of allegiance is not very welcome in this country today. To wit, a little- reported gathering of clergy and laymen billed as "Catholic Prayer for America" held at Mar-a-Lago on March 19, the Solemnity of St. Joseph, sponsored by a group with the pretentious title Catholics for Catholics. (Not this Catholic, mind you). The star of the gala was bishop Joseph Strickland whom Pope Francis removed from his Texas diocese for mismanagement and disrespect — to put it mildly — toward the pope himself. And in this place, aligned with the person and policies of the president, the bishop with no portfolio held Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

As Michael Sean Winters commented,

For most Catholics, the kingdom of God is something to which we hope to gain admittance by God's mercy and the grace the church confers on us in the sacraments. These alt-right folks may shout "Viva Christo Rey!" but they act like they have found their king and Mar-a-Lago is his kingdom. What happened at Mar-a-Lago on March 19 was not patriotic and it wasn't Catholic. It was idolatrous and it was appalling (National Catholic Reporter; March 25, 2025).

As it was for those Pharisees and Sadducees who shouted, "We have no king but Caesar." That statement — whose irony would be fully disclosed when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple forty years later after another attempted coup — could only be uttered by people who failed to learn the lesson Isaiah foresaw. In holding out the promise of forgetting the events of the past, the things of long ago — meaning the previous destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians — when those in exile crossed the way God was preparing in the desert for them to return to the Promised Land — those Pharisees and Sadducees forgot how the throne of David and his kingdom were never in restored. The hope for a reversal of political fortunes was not Isaiah's vision after all. The days of relying on a warrior god who routed the Egyptians during the Exodus were over. And in their place came Jesus' vision of a kingdom not of this world.

Which is one reason Tolstoy thought of himself as a "Christian anarchist" — not the anarchy brought about by violence or the anarchy of chaos and disorder — but the kind at work in today's gospel, one Tolstoy said will come about when "more and more people… do not require protection from governmental power, and [when] …. more and more people…will be ashamed of applying this power" (Social Evils and Their Remedy). In other words, the Kingdom of God and not of the State for Christianity is all about the the Beatitudes like the one instructing us to be compassionate as our heavenly Father is compassionate — the beatitude that saved the woman in today's gospel. But that's not something the Pharisees or Pontius Pilate could understand. Any more than today's State with its deportations, threats of annexation, saber rattling, economic warfare, and racism can understand — including by Catholics for Catholics.

So where does that leave you and me with the question, "What, then, are we to do?" I'm not entirely sure, but an early Christian who struggled with that question answered it this way:

[Christians] live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country….They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, they yet live on a level that transcends the law….As the soul is present in every part of the body, while remaining distinct from it, so Christians are found in all the cities of the world, but cannot be identified with the world….Christians also live for a time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven. (Letter to Diognetus)

Which was Paul's own vision as he [forgot] what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, [he continued his] pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus (cf. II). Who lives and reigns, world without end. Amen.

Intercessions (Joe Milner; The Sunday Website)

For the Church: that we may give witness to the dying and rising of Christ by our lives and be instruments of hope to all who are experiencing loss or limitation.

That we who seek the mercy of God for our own sins this Lent will show mercy to others with kindness and refrain from passing judgement on them.

For all who must face death each day, particularly emergency personnel and hospital chaplains: that God will strengthen their spirits and help them honor the life of each person they assist.

For all who confront the death-dealing forces of our society: that they may bring the light of Christ to those struggling with the darkness of abuse, addictions, crime, and disease.

For all who are experiencing divorce or the death of a relationship: that God will heal their pain, give them the courage to face the issues, and hope for tomorrow.

For the people of Ukraine, Palestine, Congo, Sudan and Somalia: that God will turn hearts from violence, protect the innocent, open a new understanding of each other's fears and hopes, and heal the wounds and mistrust that exists.

That those who are persecuted for their Christian faith in Syria, Afghanistan, China, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Nigeria and in other countries, may draw strength from the cross of Christ.

For those who are preparing for the Easter Sacraments will keep focused on Jesus Christ and the all-embracing love and mercy he has for them.

God of power, God of mercy,
you bring forth springs in the wasteland and turn despair into hope.
Look not upon the sins of our past, but lift from our hearts
the failures that weigh us down, that we may find refreshment and life
in Christ, our liberator from sin, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
holy and mighty God for ever and ever. Amen. (ICEL; 1998)

Offertory Antiphon

Offertory Hymn (Richard Farrant)

Lord, for thy tender mercy's sake,
lay not our sins to our charge,
but forgive that is past,
and give us grace to amend our sinful lives.
To decline from sin and incline to virtue,
that we may walk in a perfect heart before thee,
now and evermore. Amen.

Communion Antiphon

Closing Hymn (Bernadette Farrell)

O God, you search me and you know me.
All my thoughts lie open to your gaze.
When I walk or lie down you are before me:
Ever the maker and keeper of my days.

You know my resting and my rising.
You discern my purpose from afar,
And with love everlasting you besiege me:
In ev’ry moment of life or death, you are.

Before a word is on my tongue, Lord,
You have known its meaning through and through.
You are with me beyond my understanding:
God of my present, my past and future, too.

Although your Spirit is upon me,
Still I search for shelter from your light.
There is nowhere on earth I can escape you:
Even the darkness is radiant in your sight.

For you created me and shaped me,
Gave me life within my mother’s womb.
For the wonder of who I am, I praise you:
Safe in your hands, all creation is made new.

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