Monday March 22

FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

 

Do not condemn. God forgives

 

Introduction

The first reading is an addition from a later period to the Book of Daniel. Probably, Shushanna (Lily) stands for faithful Israel. And so, in the form of an allegorical tale the story comments on the faithfulness of the pious Jews to Yahweh, notwithstanding corruption among (some of) the leaders. This popular tale was a warning against adultery, false witnessing and abuse of power, and an appeal for faithfulness in faith and marriage. In any case, the false accusers of the innocents are condemned by themselves.

Jesus’ words are not unsubstantiated assertions by Jesus alone, for the Father bears witness to him by letting him do wonderful deeds. Just look at the words and actions of Jesus and you know that God stands behind all what he says and does.

 

Opening Prayer

Just and merciful God,
you take pity even on sinners
and you continue with them
a dialogue of grace and hope.
Help us never to condemn,
never to give up on people,
but to be patient, understanding and forgiving,
together with you and Jesus, your Son,
who lives with you and the Holy Spirit,
for ever and ever.

 

Reading 1: Dn 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62

In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim,
who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susanna,
the daughter of Hilkiah;
her pious parents had trained their daughter
according to the law of Moses.
Joakim was very rich;
he had a garden near his house,
and the Jews had recourse to him often
because he was the most respected of them all.

That year, two elders of the people were appointed judges,
of whom the Lord said, “Wickedness has come out of Babylon:
from the elders who were to govern the people as judges.”
These men, to whom all brought their cases,
frequented the house of Joakim.
When the people left at noon,
Susanna used to enter her husband’s garden for a walk.
When the old men saw her enter every day for her walk,
they began to lust for her.
They suppressed their consciences;
they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven,
and did not keep in mind just judgments.

One day, while they were waiting for the right moment,
she entered the garden as usual, with two maids only.
She decided to bathe, for the weather was warm.
Nobody else was there except the two elders,
who had hidden themselves and were watching her.
“Bring me oil and soap,” she said to the maids,
“and shut the garden doors while I bathe.”

As soon as the maids had left,
the two old men got up and hurried to her.
“Look,” they said, “the garden doors are shut, and no one can see us;
give in to our desire, and lie with us.
If you refuse, we will testify against you
that you dismissed your maids because a young man was here with you.”

“I am completely trapped,” Susanna groaned.
“If I yield, it will be my death;
if I refuse, I cannot escape your power.
Yet it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt
than to sin before the Lord.”
Then Susanna shrieked, and the old men also shouted at her,
as one of them ran to open the garden doors.
When the people in the house heard the cries from the garden,
they rushed in by the side gate to see what had happened to her.
At the accusations by the old men,
the servants felt very much ashamed,
for never had any such thing been said about Susanna.

When the people came to her husband Joakim the next day,
the two wicked elders also came,
fully determined to put Susanna to death.
Before all the people they ordered:
“Send for Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah,
the wife of Joakim.”
When she was sent for,
she came with her parents, children and all her relatives.
All her relatives and the onlookers were weeping.

In the midst of the people the two elders rose up
and laid their hands on her head.
Through tears she looked up to heaven,
for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.
The elders made this accusation:
“As we were walking in the garden alone,
this woman entered with two girls
and shut the doors of the garden, dismissing the girls.
A young man, who was hidden there, came and lay with her.
When we, in a corner of the garden, saw this crime,
we ran toward them.
We saw them lying together,
but the man we could not hold, because he was stronger than we;
he opened the doors and ran off.
Then we seized her and asked who the young man was,
but she refused to tell us.
We testify to this.”
The assembly believed them,
since they were elders and judges of the people,
and they condemned her to death.

But Susanna cried aloud:
“O eternal God, you know what is hidden
and are aware of all things before they come to be:
you know that they have testified falsely against me.
Here I am about to die,
though I have done none of the things
with which these wicked men have charged me.”

The Lord heard her prayer.
As she was being led to execution,
God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,
and he cried aloud:
“I will have no part in the death of this woman.”
All the people turned and asked him, “What is this you are saying?”
He stood in their midst and continued,
“Are you such fools, O children of Israel!
To condemn a woman of Israel without examination
and without clear evidence?
Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her.”

Then all the people returned in haste.
To Daniel the elders said,
“Come, sit with us and inform us,
since God has given you the prestige of old age.”
But he replied,
“Separate these two far from each other that I may examine them.”

After they were separated one from the other,
he called one of them and said:
“How you have grown evil with age!
Now have your past sins come to term:
passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent,
and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says,
‘The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.’
Now, then, if you were a witness,
tell me under what tree you saw them together.”
“Under a mastic tree,” he answered.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you your head,
for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him
and split you in two.”
Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought.
Daniel said to him,
“Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you,
lust has subverted your conscience.
This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel,
and in their fear they yielded to you;
but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.
Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together.”
“Under an oak,” he said.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you also your head,
for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two
so as to make an end of you both.”

The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
They rose up against the two elders,
for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury.
According to the law of Moses,
they inflicted on them
the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:
they put them to death.
Thus was innocent blood spared that day.

 

Or: Dn 13:41c-62

The assembly condemned Susanna to death.

But Susanna cried aloud:
“O eternal God, you know what is hidden
and are aware of all things before they come to be:
you know that they have testified falsely against me.
Here I am about to die,
though I have done none of the things
with which these wicked men have charged me.”

The Lord heard her prayer.
As she was being led to execution,
God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,
and he cried aloud:
“I will have no part in the death of this woman.”
All the people turned and asked him,
“What is this you are saying?”
He stood in their midst and continued,
“Are you such fools, O children of Israel!
To condemn a woman of Israel without examination
and without clear evidence?
Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her.”

Then all the people returned in haste.
To Daniel the elders said,
“Come, sit with us and inform us,
since God has given you the prestige of old age.”
But he replied,
“Separate these two far from each other that I may examine them.”

After they were separated one from the other,
he called one of them and said:
“How you have grown evil with age!
Now have your past sins come to term:
passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent,
and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says,
‘The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.’
Now, then, if you were a witness,
tell me under what tree you saw them together.”
“Under a mastic tree,” he answered.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you your head,
for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him
and split you in two.”
Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought.
Daniel said to him, “Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah,
beauty has seduced you, lust has subverted your conscience.
This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel,
and in their fear they yielded to you;
but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.
Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together.”
“Under an oak,” he said.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you also your head,”
for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two
so as to make an end of you both.”

The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
They rose up against the two elders,
for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury.
According to the law of Moses,
they inflicted on them
the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:
they put them to death.
Thus was innocent blood spared that day.

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

(4ab) Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.

 

Verse Before the Gospel: Ez 33:11

I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord,
but rather in his conversion, that he may live.

 

Gospel: Jn 8:1-11

Then each went to his own house,

while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them.

Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.

They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.

Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”

They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.

But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.

And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him.

Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.”

 

Intercessions

Martha said: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”. Lord, make us aware that you are with us here and calling us to life. We pray: Son of the living God, give us life.

• Lord, give new life to your Church and give it courage, that a better Church may be born through the testing pains of renewal, we pray:
• Lord, pour out your life richly and deeply in adults and children preparing for baptism, that they may live close to you, we pray:
• Lord, sustain old people and the dying in the hope that they will rise in you, that they may entrust themselves to you in all serenity and with deep faith, we pray:
• Lord, keep inspiring with the value and the dignity of life those who suffer, the victims of injustice and misfortune, that they may not give up on life, we pray:
• Lord, look on our Christians community. Make us appreciate life as a gift and a task, so that we can use all our potentials to make it rich and full for others and for ourselves, we pray:

Lord Jesus, raise us up above our petty self-sufficiency to a hope stronger than death. Stay with us, now and for ever.

 

Prayer over the Gifts

God, our Father,

your Son, Jesus, has given meaning
to death as well as to life.
In his own body,
he experienced our sufferings, with our joys
and died our death
as an offering to you and to us.
As we join him in his sacrifice,
help us to bear with him
the burdens of our brothers and sisters,
that with him and with you,
we may live for ever.

 

Prayer after Communion

God of all that lives,
in this Eucharist, your Son Jesus, has reassured us
that he is the resurrection and the life
and that we have eternal life already now
if we believe in him.
Through the bread of life he has given us,
let him give us the energy
to live our life to the full
and with him, to make our life as a gift
by which we brighten the life of others.
Let him lead us to you,
that we may live in your unending joy for ever.

 

Blessing

Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing.

God our Father wants us to live.
May we gratefully accept life from him
as a gift and an assignment. Amen.

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ died for us that we might live.
May we live with him a life
worthy of the sons and daughters of God. Amen.

 

The life-giving Spirit inspires us
to go the way of Christ as people living for others.
May he make us always available and open
to anyone in need. Amen.

 

And may the God of life,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
bless you and keep you in his love.

 

Commentary

Institutions of family and marriage are under threat in the present day society. Youngsters do not believe in marriage and many people in the Church today regard making a life-long commitment to be another person’s husband or wife is next to impossibility. Matters related to sexual orientations and planned parenthood are contentious issues that confront the Church today. The Church always demands treating individuals who face such struggles with empathy, mercy and love – indeed beautiful words and well said!

How would you relate with a person in the Church who has a different sexual orientation than what is commonly accepted? Would our church communities and people who take pride in the traditions of the Church welcome the so-called sinful people into the life of the Church?

Traditional Jewish Christians of the early Church who insisted on the continuation of Jewish practices and traditions could never totally appreciate the words of Jesus to the adulterous woman: “I do not condemn you”. They simply could not accept that such a sinner could obtain mercy!

But Jesus would not abandon this woman into the hands of “defenders of public morality”. Instead he exposes their hypocrisy. They lower their eyes, move away, starting with the elders, the “priests”—says the Greek translation. They’ve all gone—says the text—thus, together with prosecutors, the crowd and even the disciples left. Only Jesus remained to pronounce his surprising judgment: no condemnation.

The Gospel emphasizes that the first to leave were the elders. Maybe they are the more mature people in the community who are invited to make an examination of conscience. Often they are the ones who delight in “throwing stones” with gossips and slanders.

If Jesus does not judge or condemn, then does it mean that sin is a small thing? To behave well or badly does not matter? No! Sin is a very serious evil because it destroys the lives. However he does not condemn those who make mistakes (and he allows nobody to throw stones) in order not to add more evil to that which the sinner has already done.

Jesus does not say to the sinful woman: “For this time I do not condemn you.” Instead, He says: “I do not condemn you”, neither today, nor tomorrow, not ever.

This page of the Gospel today disturbs those who continue to claim the righteousness, who are hurling stones at people no longer with the hands, but defaming, isolating, uttering harsh judgments, fueling distrust, spreading gossips. Jesus does not tolerate anyone who throws these painful and cruel stones against those who are already bent under the weight of their own mistakes.