• Bulletin Board, Announcements, Calendar
• Editorial - Op Ed
• Welcome and Website Protocol
• Article Archive

Print this page

Article Categories

• Book Reviews
• Open Letter
• Editorials
• Notes, Quotes & Comments
• Pastor's Study
• Project Millstones
• Sidebar Comments
• Weekly Message

Links

Liturgy
This link will keep 'parishioners-at-large' in touch with current creative liturgy sources and resources that respect a variety of 'traditions' within the Church.

COMMONWEAL Magazine
A 'lay' Catholic weekly publication with an accent on an intelligent analysis and commentary on curent issues, trends and concerns of interest to Catholics.

National Catholic Reporter
A national Catholic lay newspaper covering events not usually covered or presented with a clerical bias in the local diocesan press or but of concern and interest to Catholics.

Survivos' Network for those Abused by Priests or Religious
A National Network of self-help support groups for people abused by clergy or religious.

Bishop Accountability
Vital information about the disclosure of sexual abuse and related issues affecting Catholics in the pew and the manner in which Bishops continue to exempt themselves from accountability

Voice of the Faithful
A 'movement' of lay Catholics 'inspired' by the abuse scandal calling for greater accountability of bishops to 'Catholics in the Pew.'

Search

Daily Scripture

In You, O Lord, Justice and Mercy Meet

Today’s gospel reading triggered off in my memory the number of times I have jumped the gun by passing judgment on someone before knowing all the facts — the soft data as well as the hard data. It’s clear to me now that prejudice and bias covered up by pride have a great deal to do with this jump; our comrades can do no wrong; our foes can do no right! Of course, it’s easy to meet out mercy to those we like and easier to meet out justice to those we don’t like.

The words of Isaiah introduce the theme of mercy and pave the way for the encounter of Jesus with the adulterous woman recorded in the gospel of John. The people of Israel had prostituted themselves if not in truth, at least metaphorically. God had espoused himself to them, for better or worse for richer or poorer forever. It was an irrevocable covenant that remains to this day. The people of Israel to whom Isaiah addressed these words abandoned their God and aligned themselves with foreign powers for political and economic gain. In effect, they entered an adulterous alliance and were literally carried away to a foreign land by their greed and lust for power.

In the name of their God, a disciple of Isaiah writing in his name and style reminds them of the great exodus when God led the people out of Egypt through the Red Sea into the Land of Canaan, the land they called home for centuries. In words similar to these, the prophet declares, “You think that was great? Forget about it; you ain’t seen noth’in yet! I’m about to do something even more spectacular. I’ll pave a way through the wilderness and bring you home again. I will forgive your unfaithfulness and forget your affair. Your misery will meet mercy and you will be saved.”

It has been said that pride is the worst of all sins because it distorts the truth of who we are. In fact, pride is a lie. But more than this it is a distortion of who God is. Recall that the sin of Adam and Eve was not that they wanted to be like God but that they did not recognize that they were already like God — made in God’s image and likeness.

There was another encounter taking place in John’s story beyond that of the meeting between Jesus and the woman. It was between Jesus and the woman’s accusers. In was in this encounter that justice was enjoined to the ‘trial’. “Let the one who is without sin be the first to cast the stone!” Their pride blinded them to their own sins. Jesus exposed their hypocrisy as his mercy engulfed the sinful woman.

Was he being soft on sin? Hardly. “Go now”, he said to the woman “and avoid this sin.” Might we not rightly assume that this initiative of mercy effected a dramatic change in her life? God’s saving grace was fully manifested in Jesus. Oddly enough, the same mercy resulted in the hardening of her accusers. They drifted away one by one from the eldest to the youngest but they sought another opportunity to trick him into mercy mending.

John’s story about the woman caught in the act of adultery revealed the depth to which Jesus extended himself to the sinner. “In you, O Lord, justice and mercy meet! [Psalm 85] or in the words of St. Augustine, “Misery meets mercy” in the person of Jesus.

Lent is about opening ourselves up to the saving grace of God but repentance is not something we do. It is allowing the forgiving power of God to touch our life, indeed, to engulf us and point us in a new direction. It’s about God empowering us to goodness and about our initiating a new pattern of life.

Lent is also about dropping stones and the acceptance of the humanity of others, despite their sins and failures. It is about entrusting others and ourselves to the tender mercy of God. More than that, it is about allowing ourselves to become conduits of God’s mercy and saving grace—helping others to find their way out of the wilderness of failure, sin and rejection.

“To err is human; to forgive is divine.”

At the same time, to forgive is not so much an act of the will as a disposition of the heart and in many situations, the conclusion of a very long process. We dare not be presumptuous or simplistic about it.

Forgiveness does not absolve the sinner from taking responsibility for the sin or from its consequences. Thus the mantra, “There is no forgiveness without justice, no justice without truth, no truth without full accountability.”

Here is the story that a rabbi colleague shared with me many years ago. A man went into the temple for the observance of Yom Kippur, which is the Jewish observance of atonement. As he entered the Temple, he noticed all his sins were listed on the board at the entrance. He tried to erase them but he was unable to do so. Then he went inside to participate in the penitential service. As he left the temple, he attempted once more to erase his sins but again was unable to do so. He departed and set about making amends for his sins and then returned to the temple. Lo and behold, his sins had disappeared.

This story is akin to the teaching of Jesus, “When you are bringing your gift to the altar and recall that your brother or sister has something against you, go first to be reconciled and then return with your gift.”

The Scriptures set the tone not only for our Lenten journey but also for our life long journey. Our destiny is not Jerusalem the earthly city but Jerusalem the heavenly city. Mercy is our mission but we must first pass through the gateway of justice and truth. In you O Lord, justice and mercy meet and when they do, reconciliation is complete.

The Frances Nobody Knows...

Wednesday April 1, 2009

This lovely reflection by Deacon Ray Chimukesky of St Luke Parish in Long Valley, was published as a cover article in the Parish Bulletin last Sunday, March 29th. I thought it was worthy of our attention. I hope you find it as inspiring as I did. Fr. Lasch

This year we draw near to St. Francis as our Lenten role model of simplicity and gentleness. Francis di Bernadone is much loved as the poor, traveling monk who talked with the birds and tamed the wild beasts – the contemplative mystic pilgrim wildly in love with God and neighbor. Knowing how Francis lived this wild love is key to making sense of what this humble man was all about. Francis’ time was not unlike our own – full of political turmoil. Member states of the 13th Century Holy Roman Empire were locked in continuous war against themselves and launched a series of bloody incursion against Muslims, Jews and other “heretics.”

During the Fifth Crusade, Francis began an amazing journey directly opposed to the church and the prevailing culture wars of fear, hatred and exclusion it waged. He began his prophetic resistance to violence by meeting first with his own religious leaders – begging Cardinal Pelagius, the Christian commander, to put an end to the fighting. Pelagius refused, but undaunted by his rejection, Francis set out unarmed with his friend Illuminatus to visit his “enemy-brother” the Sultan of Egypt to
bring him the good news of the gospel of peace.

Quickly captured, they were beaten and brought to the Sultan who was deeply moved by the courage of the two unarmed foolish messengers. In his Life of St. Francis, St. Bonaventure describes: “the Sultan asked them by whom and why and in what capacity they had been sent, and how they got there; Francis replied that they had been sent by God, not by man, to show him and his subjects the way of salvation and proclaim the truth of the Gospel message.” In the encounter, both Francis and the Sultan were changed. Sultan gave him many gifts and treasures, but because he had renounced all worldly wealth, Francis refused them all except for a small ivory horn used by the muezzin to call the Muslim faithful to prayer. At home, Francis used it to call his own followers to prayer – preaching his new and deep respect for his Muslim brothers and sisters, breaking down the cycle of fear and misunderstanding that fueled the Crusades.

Francis lived out the call of Christ “to love our enemies” by reaching out with respect to alien religions and cultures. He did this with the eyes of faith, never certain of the way to proceed, nor confident in the outcome.

Can we answer Christ’s invitation to continue Francis’ work in our own day?
You are invited to walk the path of friendship at an inter-religious dialogue right here at St Luke’s. Our Thomas Merton Spirituality Ministry will host an interfaith panel Sunday, May 31st, 3 to 5 pm, in the Religious Education Conference Center. Come hear representatives of many faith traditions (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Baha’i, and Jain) discuss their teachings on prayer, forgiveness, compassion, peace, respecting the earth and other topics. Come, like Francis – in faith, unknowing – with an open mind and heart, reaching out in peace to our brother and sisters who live together with us this short span of days on this earthly journey, in learning “to see Him in all whom we meet along the way”.

Pax +
Deacon Ray