Greeting (See Second Reading)
With St. Paul we say today: ”I forget the past and I strain
ahead for what is still to come, for the prize to which God calls us.” May the
strength of the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
- Throw
No Stones
Have you ever had the experience of hurting someone very
much, but the offended person forgave you, perhaps with difficulty, and
accepted your apology, and that was the end? Do you remember how relieved you
felt, as if you were a new person? That is how God keeps forgiving us: he makes
us new every time again. Do we live as forgiven, new people? Do we make others
new by our pardon? Let us encounter our patient and forgiving Lord Jesus again
in this eucharist.
- Look
First into Your Own Heart
When they have sinned, especially when grievously, some
people are afraid that God is out to catch them, like a policeman who has to
implement the law. Today we learn from Jesus that God goes beyond the law, for
he forgives and keeps forgiving. This is the attitude we learn from God. Look
into your own heart and see that you need forgiveness. And repeatedly so. Then
you will also easily forgive others. Let us ask Jesus for this attitude, even
when we still feel the hurt inflicted.
Penitential Act
During this Lent we have looked into ourselves and,
hopefully, realized that we are sinners in constant need of forgiveness. Let us
seek the Lord’s pardon. (pause)
Lord Jesus, you throw no stones at us and you don’t want us
to throw them at anyone: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you do not condemn us for you have come to
save what was lost and you want us to be free and alive: Christ, have mercy. R/
Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you tell us to go and to sin no more: Lord, have
mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord, forgive us and make us new. Lead us
to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us ask our Father that we may imitate his mercy (pause)
God of life, this is the Good News you let us hear today through
your living image, Jesus Christ: Love is stronger than death, you want the
sinner to live and to become all new. Let us no longer live in the past of sin but
make us free for life and for love. Give us hearts as merciful to one another as
you have been lenient and loving to us. We ask you this through Christ our
Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading (Isaiah 43:16-21): Forget the Past; Go
Forward with Me
To his chosen people suffering in exile, God says: I have
done great deeds of salvation for you in the past. I will do greater things for
you in the future.
Second Reading (Philippians 3:8-14): Push On to What Is
Ahead
Once Paul had been “seized” by Christ, the past no longer
counted, and he strained toward his future in Christ, by the strength of the
risen Lord.
2 Reading: Philippians 3:8-14
Gospel (John 8:1-11): Go Away and Don’t Sin Any More
The mission of Jesus is not to judge and condemn but to
forgive and to give new chances in life. Isn’t that our mission too?
Gospel: John 8:1-11
Intercessions
In his love, God wants to make the world ever new. Let us
entrust to his mercy our intentions and those of our brothers and sisters. Let
us say: R/ Lord of life, in you we trust.
– For
the Church we love, that it may be in our world a place and a sign of
forgiveness and reconciliation, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, in you we trust.
– For
those who condemn and for those who are condemned, let us pray: R/ Lord of
life, in you we trust.
– For
broken homes and for families that are united, let us pray : R/ Lord of life,
in you we trust.
– For
those wounded by the hardships of life and for those who keep hoping, let us
pray: R/ Lord of life, in you we trust.
– For
those in authority, that they pay attention to the people’s needs and not crush
anyone with their power, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, in you we trust.
– For
our Christian communities, that we keep accepting everyone with understanding
and compassion, let us pray: R/ Lord of life, in you we trust.
Lord our God, we thank you for listening to us and for
showing us your patient mercy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord God, merciful Father in these signs of bread and wine we
share in the forgiveness and life of your Son Jesus Christ. By his body and
blood make us, limited and fallible people, your new creation, your people of
hope, capable of rising above ourselves and preparing your new heaven and new
earth. For we expect everything from you through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/
Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
Through Jesus our Lord we thank our Father for forgetting
our past and leading us to a future of love and justice and freedom.
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
In the words of Jesus our Lord we call on our Father in
heaven to forgive us as we forgive others: R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from a past of evil, from everything that
estranges us from you and one another. Gather us in the solidarity and peace of
one faith, one hope, one love, as people set free by your Son. May we spread
your reconciliation to build up a liberated world and to wait in hope for the
coming in glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
This is the Lamb of God who does not condemn us but makes
with us an ever-new beginning. Happy are we to be invited to hear his words of
forgiveness and to eat his bread of life. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Tender and compassionate Father, we thank you for letting us
share in the sacrifice of your Son that brought us your pardon and peace. Let
him give to us, pardoned sinners, the strength to remain faithful to you. Let
us be disciples demanding to ourselves and very merciful to others. We ask this
through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
We have heard today our Lord’s invitation not to shut
ourselves up in the mediocrity of our past but to set out boldly for the future
with fresh generosity. This future will not be without difficulties: The Lord
never promises an easy life.
But he promises to be with us with the blessing of almighty
God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go in the joy and the strength of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
***
Commentary
Remembering to Forget
Read:
Yahweh invites His people to let go of the past and look
forward in hope. Paul speaks of what makes him let go and press forward:
Christ. Jesus releases the woman caught in adultery into the freedom of a child
of God.
Reflect:
To let go of something, one must possess it first. To
forget, one must remember first. Jesus lets the woman go from her burdensome
past into the liberating freedom to live her life differently. He does so,
precisely because her entire life has been so darkened by her humiliating past,
a memory forced on her by society, giving her no freedom to break free. Jesus
gives her a future. However, the crowd who brought her had no consciousness of
their sinful past. Hence, Jesus gently nudges them to remember their own
stories. He doesn’t do so to chain them to their past, but to make them realize
their kinship with the woman, own up their past, and then let it go, embracing
the freedom he was offering them as well.
Pray:
Place your hurting memories at the feet of the Lord and pray
for healing.
Act:
Identify a person whom you have chained with unforgiveness.
Today, free that person (and yourself) from the burdening past.
============
6 April 2025
John 8:1-11
"Neither Do I Condemn You"
In today’s Gospel, we witness a powerful encounter between
mercy and judgment. The scribes and Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery
before Jesus. They come, stones in hand, ready to condemn. But Jesus does not
respond immediately. He bends down and writes on the ground—St. Augustine
suggests He may have been writing the sins of the accusers. One by one, they
leave, realising their own imperfections.
How often do we act like those accusers? We point fingers,
we judge, forgetting that we too are sinners in need of mercy. In our families,
communities, and even online, it’s easy to join in condemning others, hiding
behind the illusion of righteousness. Yet Jesus invites us to drop the stones
we hold—the stones of harsh judgment, gossip, and indifference.
In the silence of the Mount of Olives, Jesus found time to
pray and listen to the Father. We are also invited into that silence, where we
can hear God reminding us that we are loved and forgiven. And when we realise
how much we have been forgiven, we are called to forgive in turn.
“Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus tells the woman. These
words can change a life. Lent is our opportunity to hear them addressed to us
personally. Jesus lifts us up from our shame and past mistakes and tells us to
walk with dignity and hope.
