John 8:3-7

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 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. Now what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."

Jesus' enemies were not interested in this unfortunate woman; she just happened to serve their purposes. Her sin provided them with what seemed like the perfect trap in which to catch Jesus. Whichever way he answered their carefully prepared question, they were sure he would be in trouble. If he said, "Yes, stone her," he would be going against the compassionate teaching he had been giving. If he said, "Don't stone her," they could say that he was not upholding the Law of Moses. He could then be brought before the authorities and accused of denigrating the Law. They thought they had Jesus wrapped up.

So they dragged the woman in front of him as he was teaching in the Temple precincts and said, "This woman has been caught in the act of adultery. The Law of Moses has ordered such women to be stoned. What is your opinion?" Their hypocrisy was clear Not only were they representing themselves as righteous observers of the Law, but they were using the observance of the Law as an excuse to bring about Jesus' destruction.

The people hanging on Jesus' words were shocked and waited with bated breath to hear what he would answer But he said nothing. Instead he bent down and started writing with his finger in the sand. What did this gesture mean? We read that God wrote the Ten Commandments with his finger on stone tablets. Perhaps Jesus was subtly affirming his divine authority as he wrote with his finger in the sand.

When they persisted, Jesus straightened up and said, "Let the person who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her." Thus, he did not deny them the right to carry out this prescription of the Law, but he insisted on one condition, namely, that they have no sin on their consciences. Then he bent down and continued doodling.

The crowd began to thin out. The elders were the first to recognize that they could not throw any stones under the condition that Jesus had imposed. The younger zealots of the Law were the last to go. At last, Jesus and the woman were left alone.

Jesus looked up and said, "Woman, where are they?" Notice the irony of the question: "Has no one condemned you?" Evidently, the self-righteous observers of the Law, so eager to throw stones, could not measure up to the requirement that Jesus had laid down.

The woman answered, "No one." Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you."

~ Reawakenings

Prayer

O Holy Spirit,
may the holy anointing of Your Presence
teach us all truth and bring us to everlasting Life.

Contemplation

Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Lent

Psalm 102:1-2

Hear my prayer, O Lord; 
    let my cry come to you.
Do not hide your face from me
    in the day of my distress. 
Incline your ear to me;
    answer me speedily in the day when I call.

Contemplative prayer is the world in which God can do anything. To move into that realm is the greatest adventure. It is to be open to the Infinite and hence to infinite possibilities. Our private, self made worlds come to an end; a new world appears within and around us and the impossible becomes an everyday experience. Yet the world that prayer reveals is barely noticeable in the ordinary course of events.

Christian life and growth are founded on faith in our own basic goodness, in the being that God has given us with its transcendent potential. This gift of being is our true Self. Through our consent by faith, Christ is born in us and He and our true Self become one. Our awakening to the presence and action of the Spirit is the unfolding of Christ's resurrection in us.

All true prayer is based on the conviction of the presence of the Spirit in us and of his unfailing and continual inspiration. Every prayer in this sense is prayer in the Spirit. Still, it seems more accurate to reserve the term "prayer in the Spirit" for that prayer in which the inspiration of the Spirit is given directly to our spirit without the intermediary of our own reflections or acts of will. In other words, the Spirit prays in us and we consent. The traditional term for this kind of prayer is "contemplation."

~ Open Mind, Open Heart

Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit,
pour into our hearts from the depths
of the Trinity a ray of Your Light.

Transforming Union

Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Lent

John 8:31-32

If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

There is a difference between "being" and "doing." Once one's being is transformed into Christ, all one's doing becomes anointed with the interior transformation of one's being. . . . This is the kind of transformation contemplative prayer tends to produce. It is easy to bog down at lower levels of spiritual development. The challenge always comes to go farther, and if we accept, we are off to the races again.

No one ever grew as much in the spiritual life as the Blessed Virgin Mary because there was no interior obstacle to hinder her growth. Growing in grace for her meant growing in the midst of the human condition with its interminable trials. She had, in fact, the heaviest kinds of trials. The transforming union should enable one to handle greater trials than those of less evolved Christians. What's the use of building this magnificent spiritual building unless you do something with it? I am sure God doesn't intend merely to look at these people who are so holy. He wants them to do something. If He liberated them from their false selves, it was precisely for some great purpose.

Life, once one is in union with God, is what God wants it to be. It is full of surprises. You can be sure that whatever you expect to happen will not happen. That is the only thing of which you can be certain in the spiritual journey It is by giving up all your expectations that you will be led to Medicine Lake, the Native American's term for contemplative prayer. The medicine that everyone needs is contemplation, which alone leads to transformation.

~ Open Mind, Open Heart

Prayer

O Holy Spirit,
may those whom you have called and led
into the transforming union be guided into
unity of spirit with the Godhead.

Divine Love

Thursday of the Fifth Week in Lent

Genesis 17:7

I will establish my covenant between me and you; and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

Divine love is not a feeling of benevolence. It is not a feeling at all. It is total self giving. There is no self interest in the Trinity. Each person of the Trinity dwells in the others, and everything that they have is shared in common. The only distinction is the way in which each shares the infinite treasure of the Godhead. The Father shares it to give it, the Son to receive it, and the Holy Spirit to rejoice in it as the gift of the Father and the Son. When divine love invades the world of broken people, a world in which there is suffering and limitation, it is certain to be rejected. It is precisely by being rejected, and yet still remaining steadfast in boundless compassion, that its divine character is ultimately proved. Moreover, divine love triumphs over every obstacle, including suffering and death. This is why the passion of Jesus is the most magnificent and comprehensive revelation of divine love that exists. It reveals the ultimate meaning of reality, which is sacrifice. In a world of imperfection, divine love is proved by sacrifice.

~ The Heart of the World

Prayer

Holy Spirit of God,
through the intercession of St. Therese of Lisieux,
Doctor of the Church. grant us
Your own divine Love with which to love You.

~~~~~