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There are many who are hypocrites although they think they are not, and there are many who are afraid of being hypocrites although they certainly are not. Which
is the one and which is the other God knows, and none but He. - Walter Hilton (Only God knows the heart.) |
Dn 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
Jn 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.”
Praying the Daily Gospels: A Guide to Meditation, by Philip St. Romain, 2018 (3rd ed.) John 8: 1-11 (Jesus and the adulterous woman)
Today’s reading reveals depths of human malice which sicken Jesus. Having caught a woman (where was the man?) in the act of adultery, the authorities bring her to Jesus, attempting to pit his mercy against his justice and catch him in a trap. A pious tradition suggests that when Jesus traced in the dirt, he spelled out the sins of the self-righteous accusers, causing
them to leave shame-faced. • Imagine yourself as a bystander observing this scene between the authorities, Jesus, and the woman. Note the self-righteousness on the face of the authorities; watch Jesus writing on the ground and glancing up at each official in turn see the gratitude in the woman’s eyes; hear Jesus speaking words of forgiveness to her.
• Write your impressions from the imagination exercise. Note especially your impressions of Jesus.
Treatise on the Love of God, by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) ____________ BOOK III: OF THE PROGRESS AND PERFECTION OF LOVE Chapter 9: A preparation for the discourse on the union of the blessed with God. But when our spirit, raised above natural light, begins to see the sacred truths of faith, O God! Theotimus, what joy! The soul melts with pleasure, hearing the voice of her heavenly spouse, whom she finds more sweet and delicious then the honey of all human sciences.
God has imprinted upon all created things his traces, trail, or footsteps, so
that the knowledge we have of his divine Majesty by creatures seems no other thing than the sight of the feet of God, while in comparison of this, faith is a view of the very face of the divine Majesty. This we do not yet see in the clear day of glory, but as it were in the breaking of day; as it happened to Jacob near to the ford of Jaboc; for though he saw not the angel with whom he wrestled, save in the weak light of daybreak, yet this was enough to make him cry out, ravished with delight: I
have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved. [167] O! how delightful is the holy light of faith, by which we know, with an unequalled certitude, not only the history of the beginning of creatures, and their true use, but even that of the eternal birth of the great and sovereign divine Word, for whom and by whom all has been made, and who with the Father and the Holy Ghost is one only God, most singular, most adorable, and blessed for ever and ever! Amen. Ah! says S. Jerome to his
Paulinus: "The learned Plato never knew this, the eloquent Demosthenes was ignorant of it." How sweet are thy words, O Lord, to my palate, said that great king, more than honey to my mouth! [168] Was not our burning within us, whilst he spoke in the way? [169] said those happy pilgrims of Emmaus, speaking of the flames of love with which they were touched by the word of faith. But if divine truths be so sweet, when proposed in the obscure light of faith, O God, what shall they be when we shall
contemplate them in the light of the noonday of glory!
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