Homily for Lent 5 - April 3, 2022

 

Homily for Fifth Sunday of Lent

April 3, 2022

Go and Sin No More

 

            Back in 2013, Pope Francis said five words that could potentially be the most quoted papal statement ever: “Who am I to judge?” I have had people quote that sentence to me over and over again, usually along the lines of, “Don’t tell me that my lifestyle is sinful! Who are you to judge?”

            But that’s not the context of Pope Francis’ statement. He was actually responding to a question from a reporter who asked him what he would do about a particular priest who had left the priesthood to pursue a life of sin, but who then repented and wanted to be admitted back to the priesthood. The Pope’s full quotation was: “If someone searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”

            God is perfect justice and perfect mercy. Which one we will receive is dependent upon one thing and one thing only: repentance. For those who fall, make mistakes, but are sorry and seek Him, He runs to them, picks them up, and forgives and heals. But for those who deny their sin or refuse to change (like the Pharisees), they have closed themselves off from mercy and will face justice instead.

            Let’s look closer at this Gospel. The woman was caught “in the very act” of committing adultery. So how did the Pharisees catch her? Was it, perhaps, a trap? Was it one of the Pharisees who committed adultery with this woman? Regardless, she was certainly sorry!

            Now, in our Catholic understanding, there are two types of sorrow for sin (also called “contrition”). There is imperfect contrition, and perfect contrition. Imperfect contrition is when we’re sorry for sins because of the sin’s consequences – so we regret drinking too much because we’re suffering the effects of a hangover, or we’re sorry for driving recklessly because we got a speeding ticket. This woman may have only been sorry because she was facing a most severe consequence – death by stoning.

            But perfect contrition is sorrow for sin out of love for God. We’re sorry that we hurt the One we love; we’re sorry that we have broken the most important relationship in our lives: our friendship with the Lord. We should always aim to have perfect contrition – to be sorry because of how much we love Him. Yet imperfect contrition is enough to make a valid Confession, so if that’s all we can muster up, it’s still better than not being sorry at all!

            So the woman is thrown down before Jesus, and Jesus does a surprising thing. He bends down to write on the ground. What is He writing? St. Jerome says that He might be writing the sins of the Pharisees in the dirt. St. Augustine sees it as a fulfillment of a powerful prophesy in Jeremiah chapter 17:  O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake thee shall be put to shame; those who turn away from thee shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord. But consider this: if you write something in dust or sand, it can be wiped away easily. When we want something to be permanent, we say, “Inscribe that in stone!” So, Jesus writing the names or the sins of the Pharisees in the sand is a sign that He has the power to wipe away sins that easily…if only they would turn to Him in repentance. Just a quick brush of the hand, and the sins written in sand are cast away. Just a word from our Merciful Savior, and all of our sins are completely forgiven.

            The Pharisees, then, holding rocks that are a symbol of the hardness of their hearts, begin to walk away, leaving their rocks…but keeping their hard hearts. They are unwilling to acknowledge their need for a Savior, because they think they’re “good people”. Only one person in this scene recognizes that they need forgiveness – and for that reason, she is the only one who receives it.

            But this mercy that she receives does not mean she can go back to life-as-usual. The key to Jesus’ mercy is: “Go and sin no more.” Mercy does not mean that sin doesn’t matter. To see how much sin matters, look at the Cross. Jesus died because of sin. People suffer because of sin. Souls end up in Hell because of unrepentant sin. Sin matters – and it can be wiped away by Christ’s Precious Blood. Through His mercy, we become new creations – now we must live like new creations.

             A saint who learned and lived this deeply was St. Mary of Egypt. Born on a small farm along the Nile in the mid-300s, as a young girl she heard rumors of the bright lights and exciting life in the big city of Alexandria. Becoming bored with farm life, she ran away from home at the age of 12 to Alexandria. But after a couple of days in this bustling metropolis, she realized that it was very hard to make a living as a 12-year-old girl in a huge city, so she turned to the only thing she could do to keep from starving: she became a prostitute. For seventeen years she lived this sinful lifestyle, but she didn’t desire anything different. Rather, she enjoyed her work and indulged in every sinful desire that she could conceive of.

            One day she heard about a group organizing a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She decided to go, not because of any religious fervor, but out of curiosity and the hopes that she could drum up some good business in a new city. She arrived in Jerusalem and began to visit the churches and holy sites, but when she tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (the church which houses Jesus’ tomb and the site of the Crucifixion), she found that some invisible force prevented her from passing through the door. Again and again she tried, but it was as if an invisible hand stopped her from entering the holy site. She realized that this was because of her sinful life, and was immediately struck to the heart. Seeing a statue of Our Lady outside the church, she knelt down and begged the Lord for mercy, promising to change her life. With that, she tried one last time to enter the church…and this time she could pass through the doors. She stayed all day and night in the church, went to Confession, and departed a new woman entirely. She knew that she would be tempted to return to her former life if she went back to Alexandria, so she felt inspired by the Holy Spirit to flee to the desert and become a hermit, where she lived the rest of her days in prayer, penance, and poverty.

            This woman desperately needed mercy, and when she found it, she “went and sinned no more.” Christ’s mercy is available to all who call upon Him in Confession – He can wipe away our sins as easily as brushing away writing in the sand – and once our sins are forgiven, He instructs us to “go and sin no more.”