THE WORD IN LENT - Monday, Fifth week in Lent
April 7, 2025 - Daniel 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62; John 8: 12-20
The Word today raises to our attention some crucial theological issues - the suffering of the innocent, the unjust judgement of the powerful, the effect of the sin of some on the other, the final judgement to which everyone of us will be subjected to and so on! Now these issues may have very many ways of being treated - the Word today gives us two pivotal perspectives to consider: integrity of the inner self and the centrality of God's perspective.
Integrity of the inner self refers to our consciousness of ourselves. Reflecting on the Gospel yesterday, when Jesus said - let the one among you who has not sinned throw the first stone, the scribes and the pharisess left one by one, beginning with the eldest. There is ony point to be noted here, that they recognised that they were sinners, at least when they were reminded. The problem with the present times, there would have been persons to throw that stone today, because there are those who think they have no sin, that they are righteous and that all that they do is totally justifiable. This is why the late Pope Benedict XVI warned, that the worst of the problems of our times, is the loss of sense of sin! What matters most is becoming aware of the sin that resides within us and to accept it with humility and entrust ourselves to the mercy of God.
The second perspective is looking at ourselves from the point of view of God. The story of Susanna today comes as an unssailable assurance that God knows you, if you find yourself helpless and sinned against! The centrality of God's perspective, in our self understanding and in the understanding of our mission, is what we are called to observe in the words of Jesus: You judge by human standards, but God's perspectives are God's own.
This might fill us with an anxiety, but the Lord assures us: do not worry, I am the Light; and following me, you shall always walk in the light.
