QUINTO DOMINGO DE CUARESMA C (2025)

Queridos hermanos y hermanas, estamos en el quinto domingo del tiempo de Cuaresma, y hemos dicho que éste es tiempo de oración, de abstinencia, de caridad y de ayuno. Estamos casi al final de este tiempo, por lo que sería bueno revisar nuestros compromisos con Dios, con nuestros hermanos y con nosotros mismos. Aquellos compromisos hicimos al comenzar la cuaresma para darnos cuenta si hemos avanzado o no. Este domingo las lecturas nos invitan a comportarnos como Dios, que está siempre dispuesto a tener misericordia de todos y especialmente de quienes no la merecen. Definamos la misericordia como un acto de bondad que es gratuito, inmerecido e incondicional. Este acto se realiza especialmente con los que están fuera de nuestro círculo de amor, con o a los que nos han fallado o con aquellos a los que queremos apedrear.

¿Has hecho alguna vez un acto de misericordia con alguien? En caso afirmativo, ¿quién era esa persona?

¿Has recibido alguna vez un acto de misericordia? En caso afirmativo, ¿quién fue esa persona que lo hizo contigo?

En tu vida, ¿te comportas como Jesús o como los que quieren apedrear a los pecadores?

¿Cómo te comportas cuando ves que alguien comete un pecado o comete algún error?

¿Juzgas a las personas sin conocerlas?

¿Alguna vez has querido apedrear a alguien?

¿Qué es más fácil para tí, juzgar o perdonar?

La primera lectura, tomada del profeta Isaías, invita al pueblo de Israel a mirar hacia el presente, no hacia el pasado, y a ver las nuevas obras que está haciendo Dios ahora mismo por ellos. Lo importante no es lo que el Señor ha hecho en el pasado, sino lo que está realizando aquí, ahora y en el futuro. El apóstol san Pablo nos cuenta desde su propia experiencia lo que Jesús significa para

él. Jesús se ha convertido en su mayor tesoro por el que todo lo demás se ha revalorizado y considerado basura.

En el Evangelio vemos a Jesús actuando con misericordia y devolviendo la vida y la dignidad a una persona culpable de cometer un pecado. Jesús con sus acciones les dice a esas personas que le trajeron a esa mujer para condenarla y a nosotros que sólo el que no tiene pecado es digno de juzgar a los demás. La acción más importante aquí es que Jesús, que era el único que no tenia pecado, se negó a condenar a aquella mujer y le mostró misericordia y compasión. En esa lectura podemos notar la dureza de la gente y su prontitud para juzgar a los demás. Jesús se tomó su tiempo para responder a su pregunta, pero por otro lado, estaban dispuestos a apedrearla. Podemos notar que el hombre que cometió el pecado no está allí, sólo se preocupan por la mujer pero no por

el hombre.

Dios prometió algo nuevo en el pasado al pueblo de Israel y ahora cumple su promesa en Jesús. que es la misericordia de Dios en el mundo, el que perdona y reconstruye a los seres humanos. El que no ha venido a condenar al mundo, sino a mostrar compasión a los pecadores, a restaurarlos con amor y misericordia.

Las lecturas de hoy nos invitan a no estar atados al pasado, sino a vivir en el presente, aquí y ahora. Cuántas personas están atadas al pasado, cuántas personas no pueden vivir ni disfrutar el presente porque recuerdan cada día que alguien les hizo daño en el pasado o piensan que todo lo que ocurrió en el pasado fue mejor que el presente. Esas personas que viven en el pasado han perdido la

capacidad de apreciar y disfrutar el tiempo presente.

Por último, hermanos y hermanas, al recordar que para san Pablo su relación con Jesús era sumamente importante, preguntémonos cuán preciosa es nuestra relación con Jesús. Pidámosle que nos dé la capacidad de disfrutar de este tiempo presente, de tenerlo cerca de nosotros y de practicar la misericordia con los que son juzgados y condenados por esta sociedad y por nosotros.

P. Luis Segura M.S.C.

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FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT C (2025)

Dear brothers and sisters, we are on the fifth Sunday of Lent, and we have said that this is a time of prayer, abstinence, charity, and fasting. We are almost at the end of this season, so it would be good to review our commitments to God, to our brothers and sisters, and to ourselves. We made those commitments at the beginning of Lent to see whether we have made progress or not. This Sunday, the readings invite us to behave like God, who is always willing to have mercy on all, and especially on those who do not deserve it. Let us define mercy as an act of kindness that is free, undeserved, and unconditional. This act is performed especially with those outside our circle of love, with those who have failed us, or with those we wish to stone.

Have you ever performed an act of mercy on someone? If so, who was that person?

Have you ever received an act of mercy? If so, who was that person who performed it on you?

In your life, do you behave like Jesus or like those who want to stone sinners?

How do you behave when you see someone commit a sin or make a mistake?

Do you judge people without knowing them?

Have you ever wanted to stone someone?

What is easier for you: to judge or to forgive?

The first reading, taken from the prophet Isaiah, invites the people of Israel to look to the present, not to the past, and to see the new works God is doing for them right now. What matters is not what the Lord has done in the past, but what He is accomplishing here, now, and in the future. The apostle Saint Paul tells us from his own experience what Jesus means to him. Jesus has become his greatest treasure, for whom everything else has been revalued and considered rubbish.

In the Gospel, we see Jesus acting with mercy and restoring life and dignity to a person guilty of committing a sin. Through his actions, Jesus tells those people who brought that woman to him for condemnation, and tells us, that only those without sin are worthy of judging others. The most important action here is that Jesus, who was the only one without sin, refused to condemn that woman and showed her mercy and compassion. In that reading, we can see the harshness of the people and their readiness to judge others. Jesus took his time answering their question, but on the other hand, they were ready to stone her. We can see that the man who committed the sin is not there; they are only concerned about the woman, not the man.

God promised something new to the people of Israel in the past, and now he fulfills his promise in Jesus. He is God's mercy in the world, the one who forgives and rebuilds human beings. He has not come to condemn the world, but to show compassion to sinners, to restore them with love and mercy.

Today's readings invite us not to be tied to the past, but to live in the present, here and now. How many people are tied to the past, how many people cannot live or enjoy the present because they remember every day that someone hurt them in the past or think that everything that happened in the past was better than the present. Those people who live in the past have lost the ability to appreciate and enjoy the present.

Finally, brothers and sisters, remembering that for Saint Paul his relationship with Jesus was extremely important, let us ask ourselves how precious our relationship with Jesus is. Let us ask him to give us the ability to enjoy this present time, to have him close to us, and to practice mercy toward those who are judged and condemned by this society and by us.

                                                                                             Rev. Luis Segura M.S.C.

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New Life in Christ…

The Gospel of this Fifth Sunday of Lent (cf. Jn 8:1-11) is so beautiful, I really enjoy reading and rereading it. It presents the episode of the adulterous woman, highlighting the theme of the mercy of God, who never wants the sinner to die, but that the sinner convert and live. The scene unfolds on the Temple grounds. Imagine that there on the parvis [of St Peter’s Basilica], Jesus is teaching the people, when several scribes and Pharisees arrive, dragging before him a woman caught in adultery. That woman is thus placed between Jesus and the crowd (cf. v. 3), between the mercy of the Son of

God and the violence and anger of her accusers. In fact, they did not come to the Teacher to ask his opinion — they were bad people — but to ensnare him. Indeed, were Jesus to follow the stringent law, approving that the woman be stoned, he would lose his reputation of meekness and goodness which so fascinated the people; however, were he to be merciful, he would be flouting the law, which he himself said he did not wish to abolish but fulfil (cf. Mt 5:17). This is the situation Jesus is placed in.

This wicked intention was hidden behind the question that they asked Jesus: “What do you say about her?” (Jn 8:5). Jesus did not respond; he kept silent and made a mysterious gesture: he “bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground” (v. 7). Perhaps he was drawing, some said that he wrote down the sins of the Pharisees... however, he was writing, as if he were elsewhere. In this way he helped everyone to calm down, not to act on the wave of impulsiveness, and to seek the justice of God. But those wicked men persisted and waited for him to answer. They seemed to thirst for blood.

Then Jesus looked up and said: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7). This response confounded the accusers, disarming all of them in the true sense of the word: they all lay down their “weapons”, that is, the stones ready to be thrown, both the visible ones against the woman and those concealed against Jesus. While the Lord continued to write on the ground, to draw, I don’t know.... The accusers went away, one after the other, heads down, beginning with the eldest, most aware of not being without sin. How much good it does us to be aware that we too are sinners! When we speak ill of others — something we know well — how much good it will do us to have the courage to drop down the stones we have to throw at others, and to think a little about our own sins!

Only the woman and Jesus remained: misery and mercy. How often does this happen to us when we stop before the confessional, with shame, to show our misery and ask for forgiveness! “Woman, where are they?” (v. 10), Jesus said to her. This question is enough, and his merciful gaze, full of love, in order to let that person feel — perhaps for the first time — that she has dignity, that she is not her sin, she has personal dignity; that she can change her life, she can emerge from her slavery and walk on a new path.

May the Virgin Mary help us to entrust ourselves completely to God’s mercy, in order to become new creatures. [Synthesized From Pope Francis, Angelus 13 III 2016]

Rev. Jos Rajesh Peter M.S.C.

5th Sunday of Lent – C – 2025

I wonder what happened to the man, who was also caught in the act of adultery with this woman ? 

According to Jewish Law, the man should also be put to death.  (Leviticus 20 and Deuteronomy 22). 

There are stories told that sometimes they made exceptions to the Law regarding the man caught in the act of adultery.  In cases regarding exceptions, the man would have to give 9 goats to the woman’s injured husband………  If that was the case, maybe this guy was out buying goats…

My friends, our gospel reading once again provides an opportunity for personal reflection.  In our gospel, Jesus was teaching in the temple area and all the people started coming to him.  The Pharisees were jealous and angry so they decided to set a trap for Jesus.

The Pharisees set a trap for Jesus by the question they posed:

• If he would have said that he disagreed with Moses, they would have accused him of being unfaithful to the Law and Moses.

• If he would have agreed with Moses, he would have been accused of breaking civil law.  …Under Roman Law, Jews were not allowed to put anyone to death.

So, in their minds, Jesus had only 2 ways of answering.  He could either be obedient to Moses – or to Rome.  They were sure they had Jesus trapped.  On the legal side, he could be obedient to the Law of Moses and disobedient to Rome – or visa-versa.  On the “religious” side, he could obey the law of Moses by  condoning the stoning of the woman – and  they could accuse him of being cruel, heartless and unforgiving.

Jesus certainly could have responded to them in the same way they approached him.  But he responded – not with anger – but with compassion and concern for  the woman – and for them as well.

As always, Jesus chose a better way.  In his wisdom, he didn’t even address their question.  Rather, he bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.  Finally, he stood up and said, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 

There are several ways Jesus could have responded to them:

• He could have lashed out at them.

• He could have called the religious leaders, “Hypocrites”  as he sometimes did.

• He could have started to name the sins of the Pharisees.

But instead, Jesus chose compassion:

• Compassion for the woman in that he not only saved her life – he did not condemn her morally.  But rather, he urged her not to sin any more so that she would have life in the Kingdom of God.

• Jesus had compassion for the Pharisees in that he did not condemn them either – but rather gave them the opportunity to reflect on what they just did.  …He gave them the opportunity to look inward at their own life so they could have a chance to make amends.

My friends, I believe the reason this gospel reading was chosen for Lent is because Lent is a special time for reflection and repentance.  It’s a time to reflect inward and look at my own relationship with God and my brothers and sisters.

It’s a time to thank our loving God for treating us with compassion – just as Jesus treated the woman with compassion.  A time to be thankful that God always waiting and eager to forgive.

Over the past several weeks, our gospels have been about not dwelling on the past; but rather getting a second chance and moving ahead with a loving relationship with God and each other.  Saint Paul states this beautifully in our Second Reading:

“Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind
but straining forward to what lies ahead,
I continue my pursuit toward the goal,
the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.”

Amen !