Christ Jesus, where I am guilty, call me to account, and heal me...

 
Daniel 13: 1-64 & John 8:1-11
                                              
As I work my way through these slow days of Lent, disconnected in seemingly endless ways from familiar faces and places, there is time to check out my connection to my own heart, and there, my connection to God.  “What have I been doing?!” I ask myself when I discover habits of avarice, pride, and a casual acceptance of social norms that have grown into my life, choking out the good ‘plants’ of truth, holiness and love I have so often realized I should be and do. ‘What have I been doing?’ is the same question the Israelites elders who preyed on women, and the righteous Susanna in particular, must have asked themselves. And it is the same question that Jesus encouraged the woman to ask herself, when she caught in adultery, and brought to him for ‘punishment’ by the scribes. Such an examination of conscience often turns up large strongholds of foolish attitudes that need to uprooted so I/ we can turn back to God and fully receive his mercy. Without the redeeming death of Christ at work, the Old Testament prophet Daniel condemned the two abusive elders to death.  But Jesus, as Redeemer, demonstrated a different way of handling guilt.  To the woman caught in adultery he said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on, do not sin again.” As I confront my own dissipation and despair, my distancing and misaligned affections with others, and my desperate sadness for time, talents and treasures wasted, Jesus says to me, as well, Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on, do not sin again. Will I, in my troubled spirit, accept Jesus’ healing – and wisdom? Christ Jesus, where I am guilty, call me to account and heal me.
 
He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff- they comfort me.  (Psalm 23:3,4)
 
“Jesus, I trust in you...”
St. Faustina  of Poland 
 
 
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Soli ad gloriam Dei