April 7: Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.
The Lord is kind and merciful and all it takes for us to experience that mercy is to ask him for it.
The Gospel today, the woman caught in adultery, is yet another example of the mercy of Jesus. Jesus raises the standard of morality to a matter of the heart rather than the law. The Jewish authorities tried to set a trap for Jesus by asking him for a judgment of the woman. “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus, who was without sin, refused to condemn the woman, but tells her not to sin any more. Jesus offers us mercy no matter what our sins are.
St. Paul, an accessory to the murder of Stephen the first martyr, states that he considers everything rubbish compared to the supreme blessing of knowing Jesus Christ. After a dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul began to live out his life so as to obtain the promise of eternal life. How are we living? Do we have our eyes on the prize, like St. Paul. When our days are over it is only Christ whom will wish we had held on to. Let us bear witness to the only thing that matters in this world: love of God and of neighbor.
