NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU!

We need to hear these words of Jesus more often!
A few circumstantial details describing the scene are worth pondering.

1) It was daybreak.

• A new day had dawned.
• The dawn is always a sign of light, of a fresh beginning, of change.
• No matter how dark the night of our sin may have been, the dawn of God's merciful Love and amazing Grace has the power to dispel that darkness.
• We need never stay on in darkness.
• If we do, strange though it may seem, we get not only accustomed to it but also, and this is worse, we begin to feel comfortable in it.
• Darkness provides a safe cover for evil.
• The break of day challenges us to break away from the darkness of the night.
• It reminds us that good can overcome evil.

2) Jesus was in the Temple.

• The woman caught in adultery according to the Scribes and Pharisees, was the embodiment of sin.
• Sin is brought into the presence of the Sacred, The Holy One, God Himself.
• What an encounter!
• Human frailty meets Divine Fidelity.
• Human misery meets Divine Mercy.
• A victim of lust meets the God of Love.

3) He straightens up.

• Jesus was seated (posture of a rabbi)
• Now Jesus straightens up.
• What he says come straight from the shoulder.
• He does not mince words.
• He tells them the truth and with the authority that comes from God Himself.

4) Jesus offers her the challenge of...

• Conversion.
• The Grace to repent.
• and return to Goodness.

5) Fresh chapter of life.

• He opens for her door to understand that the evil into which she had fallen does not express the totality of her person.
• She need not be a slave to the shackles of sin.
• Night is over and day has broken.

6) Confession.

• Sacramental confession is the celebration of God's love for us.
• The focus is on His love and not on our sins.
• Indeed! A good penitent makes a good confessor!

"Neither do I condemn you"- I need to hear these words myself.

Taken from the book, "Eyes Opened Hearts Afire"

GOD BLESS YOU!