Sections The Daily B.R.E.A.D. Mar 21, 2010 - Sunday Meditation (He Honors the Shamed!)
| Mar 21, 2010 - Sunday Meditation (He Honors the Shamed!) |
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| Sections - The Daily B.R.E.A.D. | |||
| Written by Bobot Apit | |||
| Saturday, 20 March 2010 06:36 | |||
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He shames the honored of the community and honors the shamed. He writes her sentence in the dirt of the earth with His finger. He is writing a sentence of release for all those who live on the earth upon which He writes here and will write with His Blood. Her accusers slink off one by one into their shameful isolation. She is told to pick up her present from the past and take it all into her future, unshamed and now honored.
Fifth Sunday of Lent Isaiah 43:16-21 Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 Phillippians 3:8-14
J ohn 8:1-11 . . . but 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 taught them. (3) The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst (4) they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. (5) Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?" (6) This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. (7) And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." (8) And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. (9) But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. (10) Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" (11) She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again."
Meditation by Larry Gillick, S.J. - Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality
PRE-PRAYERING
T oday is traditionally considered the first day of the season we in the northern half call spring. It is the beginning of the warmer, and so, the growing season. In the southern half is this season beginning the fall of leaves and life? I have such ponderings. I have also been wondering recently while eating an orange, if it tastes the same to me as it does to the person with whom I shared, generously, a section or two.
My Jesuit brother with whom I shared it is different in so many ways and tastes from me. Maybe to him it tastes like I think apples tastes. There is an old Latin phrase we use, “De gustibus non disputandum.” It literally means, “about tastes, there is no arguing.” Really it means that there should be no arguing if I like something and you do not. There are differences between and among us all. Differences in taste or anything are a celebration of God’s creativity and sharing.
My likes are not a reason for others not liking me or us. The more insecure I am about myself, my identity, the more importance I will place on differences. We are both living from and toward the celebration of God’s love for all of us in the Eucharist. Jesus blesses our separate distinctions and sends us out to be united rather than divided by what is unique and special about us, one and then all. We can pray with how an orange tastes to me, giving thanks for the orange and for those who might not like oranges at all.
REFLECTION
O ur First Reading from the Book of Isaiah opens with a poetic recalling of the greatest historical event in the records of the nation Israel up to that date. It does not mention the slavery in Egypt or Pharoe, or the Red Sea, because the people of Israel who are listening to this prophetic recital are in captivity and hold tightly to their national and religious history for comfort. The power of this poem is the announcement that while sitting in Babylon ’s exile, they are no longer to recall that event of their being saved. Something new, something even more salvific is soon to take place. They are invited to look ahead where the desert will bloom, rivers will flow and there will be new life for the people God has chosen anew. Too feel this reading one must know what it is to be released, unbound, and freed.
My father had a temper sponsored by the confusion about what he should do with us. He was caught between remembering all the things he did as a child, and which his mother, our grandmother, had told us, and what we had just done. He would send us to our rooms immediately, no ifs, no ands, and certainly no buts. We would be exiled, not knowing when or if ever release would be granted. We soon learned that it would be in about ten minutes. He worried, regretted, and eventually missed us. So sooner or even sooner he would come to see how we were and if we missed him, though he never admitted this until years later.
The people of Israel missed their fatherland and longed to be home as God’s family. This section from Isaiah is a reflection of our dad and then some. The people are to forget even the Exodus and all the events of their being created as a nation. Their new creation will be the new memory-point of their loved identity.
The Gospel is a perfect example of a central theme of John and his community. A woman who has violated the holy law of Moses by being caught in the very act of adultery is brought to Jesus so that He might be shamed as is she. The woman committing adultery actually shames her husband. To regain his honor, he has to do away with the adulterous partner. It could be assumed that this is why that fellow is not present nor her husband. The Law dictates that she is to be stoned. Will Jesus uphold the old?
Jesus does something new. He shames the honored of the community and honors the shamed. He writes her sentence in the dirt of the earth with His finger. He is writing a sentence of release for all those who live on the earth upon which He writes here and will write with His Blood. Her accusers slink off one by one into their shameful isolation. She is told to pick up her present from the past and take it all into her future, unshamed and now honored. This is definitely a new thing and it will ultimately redound to His being treated according to the old things.
The verses which follow this section contain Jesus’ proclaiming that He is the “Light of the world”. The theme of “light” is strong in John’s Gospel. You might want to refer to the third chapter immediately after His confusing Nicodemus. The elders brought this woman of darkness to be stoned. Jesus, as Light, illumines their darkness of heart and shines brightly as the honoring person Whose love casts out personal and collective darkness. I muse about how she lived with her past shame and her new honor. I wonder if she picked up stones to remember Him and she finds a place for herself in the community of John. I do not muse at the stones that were never thrown at me except by me when I forgot that His mercy is not meant just for others. His new thing never grows old.
“Neither do I condemn you- go and do not sin again.” Jn. 8, 11
Supplementary Reading Be Generous
A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed --Proverbs 11:25
Do you need refreshing today? So many people go around overwhelmed, tired, worn down, barely getting by. But that's not God's best. He wants us to prosper. He wants us to be refreshed. Here's the key: be generous and refresh others. Is there someone at the office you can be a blessing to? Can you lighten someone's load? Maybe a family member is going through a hard time. Can you help them out? Can you cook them a meal? Refreshing someone can be as simple as a smile or an encouraging word. Don't wait until you feel like doing it, that day may never come! Do it because the Scripture tells us to. Do it because it blesses the Lord.
Today, look for someone to be a blessing to. As you step out and refresh others, as you live a life of generosity, you will be refreshed and experience His blessing in your own life in return.
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your grace and mercy in my life. Thank You for blessing me so that I can be a blessing to others. Teach me to be generous. Show me how I can refresh others and bring glory to You. In Jesus' Name. Amen. ---Joel Osteen
For meditation of the previous days/months , please click any of the following links:
EL SHADDAI Radio Program : http://www.eradioportal.com/index.php?p=2&aid=1&sid=50&tid=1
GOD BLESS US ALL!
O Theos Na Mas Evlogisi! PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU.
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Quote of the Day
"Ever wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?"--John Mendoza
Eagerness for justice and greater peace in the world. Living up to the demands of justice in our personal lives and within our sphere of relationships.
Give judgement for me, 0 God, and defend my cause against a godless people ... for you are my God and my strength (Ps 42:1), we pray in the Entry Antiphon of to-day’s Mass.
A loud clamour for justice can be heard throughout a large section of humanity, for a better-assured peace within an atmosphere of mutual respect between men, and between the peoples of the world (Paul VI, Apostolic Letter, Octogesima adveniens, 14 May 1971). This desire to construct a more just world in which greater respect is given to man, who has been created by God in his image and likeness, is a fundamental part of the hunger and thirst for justice(cf Matt 5:6) which must exist in the heart of a Christian.
All of Jesus’ preaching is a call to justice (in its fullness and without diminution) and to mercy. Our Lord himself condemns the Pharisees, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretence make long prayers (Mark 12:40). And it is the Apostle St James who addresses this harsh reproach to those who grow rich through fraud and injustice: Your riches have rotted ... Behold the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts (Jas 5:2-4).
The Church, in faithfulness to the teaching of Holy Scripture, urges us to unite ourselves to this clamour of the world and to turn it into a prayer that reaches our Father God. At the same time she impels and urges us to live the demands that justice makes on our personal lives at a professional and social level, and to defend those who — because they are weaker — cannot avail themselves of their rights. The Christian is not expected to make sterile lamentations. Instead of complaining, Our Lord wants us to atone for the acts of injustice which are daily committed throughout the world: He wants us to try to remedy as many injustices as we can, starting with those that occur closest to us, in the sphere in which we move, just there where we live: the mother in her home with all those around her; the businessman in his firm; the professor in his University.
The ultimate solution for restoring and promoting justice at all levels lies in the heart of each man. It is in the heart that every type of injustice imaginable comes into existence, and it is there also that the possibility of straightening out all human relationships is conceived. By denying or trying to deny God, who is his Beginning and End, man profoundly disturbs his own order and interior balance and also those of society and even of visible creation.
It is in their relationship to sin that Scripture regards all the different calamities which oppress man in his personal and social existence (S.C.D.F., Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation, 22 March 1986, 38). That is why, as Christians, we cannot forget that, when through our personal apostolate we bring men closer to God, we are building a world which is more human and more just. Moreover, our faith urges us never to avoid our personal commitment to the defence of justice, particularly in those aspects more closely related to the fundamental rights of the person: the right to life, to work, to education, to good reputation ... We have to uphold the right of all men to live, to own what is necessary to lead a dignified existence, to work and to rest, to choose a particular state in life, to form a home, to bring children into the world within marriage and to be allowed to educate them, to pass peacefully through times of sickness and old age, to have access to culture, to join with other citizens to achieve legitimate ends, and, above all, to enjoy the right to know and love God in perfect liberty (J. Escrivá, Friends of God, 171).
Within our personal sphere of action we must ask our selves the following questions: Do we do perfectly the work for which we are remunerated? Do we fully pay what we owe people for services rendered? Are we responsible in the way we exercise those rights and duties that can influence the activities of the institutions to which we belong? Do we make good use of our time at work? Do we defend other people’s good name? Do we stand up for those who are weakest? Do we quash defamatory criticisms which may sometimes spring up in our midst? … This is how we show our love for justice.
With permission from Scepter UK. Short excerpt from IN CONVERSATION WITH GOD by Francis Fernandez. Available at SinagTala or Totus Bookstore 723-4326 or at www.totusbookstore. com (info@totusbookstore .com)
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