Bishop Loverde's Lenten Series for EWTN (Part 4)

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the HERALD
(From the issue of 3/29/01)

The following is a summary of the Lenten reflection for the Fifth Week of Lent being given by Bishop Paul S. Loverde on EWTN, which will air April 1 at 6:30 p.m. and rebroadcast April 4 at 5 a.m. and April 6 at 1 p.m.

Today, I invite us to reflect upon another integral aspect of the Christian life: forgiveness. The Gospel reading for the Fifth Sunday of Lent is the account of the woman caught in adultery. This woman was caught in adultery, and brought to Jesus. The crowd gathered to stone her for her sin, which was the penalty under Mosaic Law. The scribes and Pharisees brought her to Jesus, not for justice, but to see if they could trap Him. Jesus responded by saying to the crowd: "Let the man among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her." The crowd was sobered by these remarks, and dispersed. As you remember Jesus then turned to the woman. How frightened she must have been! It is in Jesus’ words to her that we discover God’s teaching on sin and forgiveness. Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."

God’s desire is not to condemn us, but to save us. This fact is made clear by the fact that He sent His only Son to die on the cross to bring us forgiveness of our sins. Not only did God want to offer us forgiveness; He wanted to bring us into deep communion with Himself by making us His sons and daughters. This is the good news He calls us to believe! Saint John tells us: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (Jn 3:16-17). Saint Luke’s gospel relates the words of the angel to Joseph concerning the name he is to give to the child Mary had conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit. "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Lk 1: 21). Forgiveness is central in Jesus’ message to the world.

During this season of Lent we pause to reflect upon our lives, and try to discover what areas need changing. We reflect upon the sins we commit, and make reparation for them by doing penance, fasting and almsgiving. Underlying this time of reflection is the deep understanding that God has offered us forgiveness through His Son. Forgiveness is a transforming reality that has two dimensions: we need to receive forgiveness, and we need to forgive others.

Each of us needs to be forgiven for things we have done against God and/or against our neighbor. The interesting thing about forgiveness is that it is transforming, much like prayer. When we ask for and receive forgiveness for something we have done wrong, or something we have done to hurt another, we experience a new freedom. In the very act of recognizing we have done wrong, in exercising the courage to approach another and admit the wrong doing, and in asking for their forgiveness, we grow in the image and likeness of God and become better people. Is this not what happened to the woman caught in adultery? The Lord Jesus was the only one who could cast the first stone at her. He chose not to do so. Rather, He loved her as she was but loved her too much to leave her there. His love transformed her into a new person, a person freed from her sin.

One of the greatest moments and privileges for me as a priest is to hear confessions, and thereby to be the instrument of God’s forgiveness to those who seek His mercy. I have seen so many people set free in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They feel relieved and are at peace, because their lives are back on track. It is truly humbling to witness this and to be chosen by God to be an instrument of His awesome forgiveness.

Forgiveness has another side that is equally transforming. Each one of us is called to imitate God by forgiving those who sin against us and hurt us. Jesus Himself taught us how to pray: "forgive us our trespasses — our sins, as we forgive those who trespass or sin against us." In every situation we are called to forgive. Peter asked Jesus, "How many times must I forgive my brother? Seven times? No, Jesus replied. Seventy times seven!" (Mt 18: 21-22). So forgiving others is not optional. Nor is it usually very easy! I once heard someone say that not forgiving another person is like drinking a poison drink, and hoping the other person will die. Put like this, it does not make sense to withhold forgiveness. As I mentioned earlier, forgiveness is a transforming activity, but not forgiving is also transforming — or, maybe better, disfiguring. When we refuse to forgive someone who has sinned against us, anger and resentment begin to consume us, and we become bitter, angry people.

Throughout this series we have been reflecting upon the Christian moral life. I chose the theme of the Christian moral life, because this reality is so often misunderstood. Our beliefs as Christians should permeate our entire beings, and our entire lives. As Christians we hear the good news and should be joyful, but so often Christians are not joyful. Many times our focus is only on duty and obligation, instead of on a dynamic life of growth in virtue. The Christian moral life is a life open to and in communion with the Transcendent, with God.

As Christians, our vocation is to beatitude, to blessed happiness. It is the meaning of life, and it is the goal toward which we are all striving — even when we do not know it. Because we were made by God, our true happiness will be found only in and through Him. This is why the world’s offer of happiness will never make us truly happy, because it excludes God.

Throughout this series, we have repeatedly been reminded that God calls us to His own beatitude, to true and lasting happiness. Living the moral life, rooted in the virtues, is our fundamental response to God’s call to beatitude. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes this so beautifully. "This vocation [to beatitude] is addressed to each individual personally, but also to the Church as a whole, the new people made up of those who have accepted the promise and live from it in faith" (No. 1719).

I hope that this series has enabled each of us to reflect more clearly and more deeply on the goal to which God calls us — "life on high in Christ Jesus" as Saint Paul wrote to the Philippians (3:14). Again, the Catechism summarizes so well our reflections during these past four weeks. "The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement — however beneficial it may be — such as science, technology or art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love" (No. 1723).

As we grow, through God’s grace, in virtue — the theological virtues and the moral virtues, may we more and more be transformed into the image and likeness of God. May we support one another through prayer and with good example as we journey together toward the Father’s house where His unconditional love shall fully and forever embrace us. "The Decalogue [that is, the Ten Commandments], the Sermon on the Mount, and the apostolic catechesis describe for us the paths that lead to the Kingdom of heaven" (No. 1724) where true beatitude awaits us. My prayer is this. Sustained by the grace of the Holy Spirit, may we journey on those paths, step by step, by everyday acts. By the working of the Word of Christ, may we slowly but surely bear fruit in the Church to the glory of God (cf. No. 1724).

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