Catholic TV Mass Online April 3, 2022: Fifth Sunday of Lent

Presider: Fr. Dan Volkert
Parish: St. Bruno & St. Paul
Choir: Heart of the Nation

TEXT FROM THE HOMILY
All three of the readings for this weekend speak to us about our future. God's plan of salvation. Now, how fitting we begin the celebration of Holy Week. And Holy Week essentially is the confirmation of our salvation and our future. Now the gospel story is about the woman who is caught in adultery. Notice how it begins. Early in the morning Jesus arrived again in the temple area. And all the people started coming to him. He sat down and taught them. Now what I find very interesting about this the first thing that people do when they get up in the morning, they go directly to Jesus. And they listen to him. Now, they don't go to the market, to go buy food. They don't go to the well to get water. They don't go to work right away. Immediately the first thing they do in the morning is they go to Jesus and they listen to him. So then begs the question, how do we begin our day? Do we begin our day like these people? You know, immediately going to Jesus and listening to him in prayer, in the morning. I think that's a great spiritual exercise. We should fit into our daily life. Now, the Pharisees bring this woman to Jesus. They're trying to trap Jesus. They're not interested in the fate of this woman. They're interested in finding fault with Jesus. You know, it's very similar to that story in Matthew's gospel. In that case it was paying tribute to Caesar. Now, they ask Jesus that poignant question. It's intentionally designed to trap Jesus so as to have some incriminating evidence to charge him and then arrest him. Now, if Jesus says yes, stone her and authorizes the stoning, well, he's committing a crime. See we have to understand under Roman law, Jews were not permitted to carry out capital punishment. Now on the other hand if Jesus says, no, don't stone her, well now he contradicts the law of Moses, the Torah. And now the Pharisees can say, “Look, he's a false prophet.” So what does Jesus do? It says he bent down and began to write on the ground. Now, scripture scholars for centuries on end debated exactly what Jesus was writing on the ground. And we don't know. We speculate. If you ask me, I think Jesus was so bored with these feeble tricks, he was just doodling on the ground. But notice what Jesus says when he gets up. Let one among you who without sin be the first to throw the stone. Now, Jesus he alludes the trap, but what's beautiful here, he turned the table on the Pharisees. Jesus reminds the Pharisees they too are sinners. Maybe even worse and by walking away, one by one they publically acknowledge their sin. Now, Jesus is alone with this woman, and this is important. He asked her, “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 no more.” So Jesus doesn't condemn her. Rather he forgives her past and then he challenges her to live a life of holiness for the future. Now, you say to yourself what does this mean for us? Jesus treats us in the same way. Just like this woman, we come to him as sinners. We acknowledge our sinfulness. Jesus doesn't condemn us. No. With a great deal of love, he forgives our past and then he challenges us to live a life of holiness for the future because it's in the future where our hope lies. And it's in the future where the hope of salvation and eternal life with Jesus Christ lies for each and every one of us.
Entrance: River of Glory
© 1991, OCP. All rights reserved.

Psalm 126: The Lord Has Done Great Things
Refrain text © 1969, 1981, 1997, ICEL. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Verses text © 1970, CCD. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Music © 1997, Ricky Manalo, CSP. Published by OCP Publications. All rights reserved.

Preparation: You Alone
Text: Sarah Hart, b. 1968, and Dwight Liles, b. 1957.
Music: Sarah Hart and Dwight Liles; keyboard acc. by Rick Modlin, b. 1966.
Text and music © 1999, 2002, BMG Songs, Inc. (ASCAP) (All rights reserved. Administered by Music Services, Inc., o/b/o BMG Music Publishing. Used with permission.)
and Sarah Hart. Published by spiritandsong.com®, a division of OCP. All rights reserved.

Communion: The Jesus Song
© 2014, Tom Booth. Published by Spirit & Song®, a division of OCP, 5536 NE Hassalo, Portland, OR 97213. All rights reserved.

Sending Forth: Change Our Hearts


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