Reflection on Mass readings for April 6 (Fifth Sunday of Lent)
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Philippians 3:8-14
John 8:1-11
Time is a funny thing.
When we are in a season of waiting, it never passes quickly enough. When medical results are on the horizon, a child isn’t sleeping through the night, or we are waiting to hear back after a job interview, time moves like molasses.
When we are in a season of reminiscing, it sprints past. When it’s April of our last year of college, our parents are aging, or we look over at our “baby” and see an adult, we wonder how time passed by so quickly.
When we enter our parishes this weekend for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, we will see purple veils covering holy images, reminding us Lent is nearing its end. We may feel one of two seemingly contradictory sentiments. Where has the time gone? Or: Finally, Lent is almost over!
We are entering Passiontide, the last two weeks before Easter, when we are encouraged to turn our gaze inward, contemplating more deeply Christ’s Passion. Our longing for Easter intensifies, along with our awareness of our failings, mortality, and utter reliance on grace. Like the woman caught in adultery in Sunday’s Gospel, we are “left alone … before him” in our souls (Jn 8:9).
I’m struck by how the men who bring the woman before the Lord use shame as her shackles. They “made her stand in the middle” (Jn 8:3). This vivid description cuts to the heart of a feeling we have all had: Everyone knows. Everyone is looking at us. We are exposed and afraid and at the mercy of others. We stand in the middle accused.
We look to the past and wonder how we got here. We wish the present away as quickly as possible. We fear what the future holds.
Standing and chained by shame, the woman caught in adultery is before her ultimate judge – the only one who is fit to accuse, enact punishment, or demand retribution. And yet he stoops down, writes in the dirt, and hearkens our minds back to the beginning.
“The Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen 2:7).
The woman stands before Jesus and he reminds her of how she was created. She was made intentionally by God with love and dignity. When her accusers walk away, Jesus stands to look in her eyes and shows her what’s next: “Go, and from now on do not sin any more” (Jn 8:11).
The Mass readings ponder the conundrum of time in the Christian life. The Old Testament helps us remember the great acts of God in salvation history and our personal lives. As Lent nears its end, we enter into an increased contemplation of events of the past: the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.
At the same time, our readings encourage us to turn our focus from the past to the present and our hope of the future.
Isaiah tells us, “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!” (Is 43:18-19). St. Paul tells us he is “forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phil 3:13).
How do we reconcile this tension of the Christian life? On the altar.
In the sacrifice of the Mass, past, present, and future collide. The events of the Lord’s sacrifice at Calvary are made present, as we are transported to the throne room of heaven with the angels and saints. We are, in the moment of the consecration, before the King of eternity who sees our past, knows our souls, and has redeemed our futures by his very blood.
Whether we are waiting or reminiscing, let us look to the past to remember who we are. When the evil one pushes us to the middle, chains us in shame, and tries to keep our eyes on our sin, the Lord stands up and draws us back to the present where we sit alone before him.
Only here can we securely lay our futures – with the one who breaks the chains of sin and death to bring us home to him.
Cate Harmeyer worked 15 years in Catholic education and campus ministry. She and her husband, Dana, now oversee the education of their two daughters. Cate is a Notre Dame football fanatic, sourdough enthusiast, and loves spending time at the beach and in the mountains.