FIRST READING            Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord, who opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, who leads out chariots and horsemen, a powerful army, till they lie prostrate together, never to rise, snuffed out and quenched like a wick.  Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!  Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers.  Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, for I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.

SECOND READING                  Philippians 3:8-14

Brothers and sisters:  I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.  It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.  Brothers and sisters, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession.  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.

GOSPEL                John 8:1-11

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them.  Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.  They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.  Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.  So what do you say?”  They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him.  Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.  But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.  And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders.  So he was left alone with the woman before him.  Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they?  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 any more.”

My sisters and brothers in the Lord,

The Prophet Isaiah tells us in the first reading today:  Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!  In the second reading today, from the Letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul tells us:  I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus.  And in the Gospel of John today, Jesus says:  Neither do I condemn you.  Go, and from now on do not sin any more.

Our Christian life is about meeting Jesus every day and knowing that His love for us is ever new, that we are possessed by Him and that He does not condemn us but invites us to live a new life without sin and always in His love.

We have received our Catholic faith from our ancestors in the faith, our Jewish ancestors who first received the Word of God through the Patriarchs and the Prophets and then from the witnesses who lived with Christ and then those who have gone before us, living in faith.  It is Jesus Himself who is calling us to understand the whole of the Old Testament as a Word from the Father meant to save us.  It is Jesus in the Gospel today who shows His love and mercy for a sinner, someone caught in the very act of sinning.  It is Saint Paul who tells us of his own being possessed by Christ and thus invites us to allow Christ to possess us also.

Life in Christ is not difficult but it will demand our whole life eventually.  Life is Christ gives us strength to overcome any difficulties that come into our lives.  We are invited to live by faith in a very deep and compelling manner in our daily lives.  The Prophets did not just speak about faith, they lived it and suffered for their faith.  You and I are called to know our faith, to live our faith and to accept suffering for what we believe.

Saint Paul received a very special revelation from God and yet we share the same baptism and the same call of the Lord:  God and live the faith for all peoples.  Live in a way which draws others to Christ Jesus our Lord.

We can believe this because when we read the life of Jesus in the Gospels, Jesus always shows us mercy and forgiveness.  Jesus does not condone sin but He forgives sin and asks us to go on living without sin.  Jesus shows His loving kindness to the woman caught in adultery today.  Why should we think that He would not show us the same loving kindness?  We need not fear Him!  Instead, we can accept His invitation to believe and then begin to walk the path as His followers.  No matter how much we may stumble and fall, He is always there, inviting us to be with Him.

Lent is not about being perfect.  Rather, Lent is about learning to follow the Lord Jesus as best we can, always relying on His love and forgiveness.  Lord, Jesus, be our light!

Your brother in the Lord,

Abbot Philip