“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle”

And even if the sins of soul are as dark as night, when the sinner turns to My mercy he gives Me the greatest praise and is the glory of My Passion. --St Faustina

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.”

Today, we are given to see in the Gospel the merciful face of Jesus. God is love, and Love that forgives, Love that takes pity on our failings, Love that saves. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees «brought in a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery» (Jn 8:4) and they asked the Lord: «But you, what do you say?» (Jn 8:5). They were not as much interested in following Jesus' teachings as they ware in accusing him of going against the Mosaic Law. But the Master takes advantage of this occasion to manifest that He has come to seek the sinners, to straighten out the fallen, to call them to conversion and to penance. And this is for us the message for Lent, inasmuch as we are all sinners and we all need God's saving grace.

Today, it is said that the sense of sin has been forgotten. Many do not know anymore what is good or bad, nor even care. We are all forced to live in a culture dominated by rampant impurity. Every day, this culture bombards us with its messages and tries to pressure us and our children, saying ever so subtly, "There is no such thing as a sin.” It is very easy to fall into this way of thinking.

This is why, the sense of conversion and penance during Lent is to confront us face-to-face with God, to look straight into the eyes of God on the Cross, to personally go and confess our sins to Him by way of the sacrament of Penance. And, Jesus will tell us, as He did with the woman in the Gospel: «Neither do I condemn you… go away and don't sin again» (Jn 8:11). God forgives, and, is on our side, this entails a demand, a commitment: Do not sin again!

Mary, haven of sinners, pray for us!