"But from now on, avoid this sin."

5th Sunday of Lent (C)

Liturgical readings
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:8-14
John 8:1-11

"But from now on, avoid this sin."




Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives.
At daybreak he reappeared in the temple area;
and when the people started coming to him,
he sat down and began to teach them.


The scribes and the Pharisees led a woman forward
who had been caught in adultery.
They made her stand there in front of everyone.


"Teacher,"


they said to him,


"this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
In the law,
Moses ordered such woman to be stoned.


What do you have to say about the case?"


(They were posing this question to trap him,
so that they could have something to accuse him of.)


Jesus simply bend down
and started tracing on the ground
with his finger.


When they persisted in their questioning,
he straightened up
and said to them,


"Let the man among you
who has no sin
be the first to cast a stone at her."


A second time
he bent down
and wrote on the ground.


Then the audience drifted away
one by one,
beginning with the elders.


This left him alone
with the woman,
who continued to stand before him.


Jesus finally straightened up again
and said to her,


"Woman,
where did they all disappear to?
Has no one condemned you?"


No one, sir,"
she answered.


Jesus said,


Nor do I condemn you.


You may go.


But from now on,
avoid this sin."


This way of presenting the text of the gospel is based on the paraphrasing method taught by Fr. Vermundo Miranda, CICM, professor of Maryhill School of Theology. The paraphrasing method is meant to help readers get a clearer understanding of the text in relation to the other verses and the contexts in which it is meant to be understood. I added my own style and restructuring of the text, plus fonts that are italicized (to highlight the statements that come from Christ) and fonts in bold typeface (to highlight the Person of Christ).

4th Sunday of Lent (C)

Inspire in Us the Practice of Good (2011-2013):

Sunday Reflections for Liturgical Years 2011 (A), 2012 (B), and 2013 (C)

4th Sunday of Lent (C), March 10, 2013

Liturgical readings
Joshua 5:9, 10-12
Psalm 34
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

"His father caught sight of him and was deeply moved."





The tax collectors and the sinners
were all gathering around Jesus to
hear him,
at which the Pharisees and the scribes murmured,


This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Then he addressed this parable to them:


"A man had two sons.
The younger of them said to his father,


'Father, give me the share of the estate that is coming to me.'


So the father divided up the property.


Some days later this younger son collected all his belongings
and went off to a distant land,
where he squandered his money on dissolute living.


After he had spent everything,
a great famine broke out in that country
and he was in dire need.


So he attached himself
to one of the propertied class of the place,
who sent him to his farm to take care of the pigs.


He longed to fill his belly
with the husks that were fodder for the pigs,
but no one made a move to give him anything.


Coming to his senses at last, he said:


'How many hired hands at my father's place 
have more than enough to eat,
while here I am starving!



I will break away 
and return to my father,
and say to him,



'Father,
I have sinned against God
and against you;



I no longer deserve 
to be called your son.
Treat me like one of your hired hands"



With that he set off for his father's house.


While he was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him
and was deeply moved.


He ran out to meet him,
threw his arms around his neck,
and kissed him.


The son said to him,


'Father,
I have sinned against God
and against you;
I no longer deserve to be called your son.'



The father said to his servants:


'Quick!


bring out the finest robe
and put it on him;



put a ring on his finger
and shoes on his feet.



Take the fatted calf
and kill it.



Let us eat and celebrate
because this son of mine was dead
and has come back to life.



He was lost
and is found.'



Then the celebration began.


"Meanwhile the elder son was out on the land.
As he neared the house on his way home,
he heard the sound of music and dancing.


He called one of the servants
and asked him the reason for the dancing and the music.


The servant answered,


'Your brother is home,
and your father has killed the fatted calf
because he has him back in good health.'



The son grew angry at this
and would not go in;
but his father came out
and began to plead with him.


He said
in reply to his father:


'For years now I have slaved for you.
I never disobeyed one of your orders,
yet you never gave me so much as a kid goat
to celebrate with my friends.



Then,
when this son of yours returns
after having gone through your property
with loose women,
you kill the fatted calf for him.'



"'My son,'


replied the father,


'you are with me always,


and everything I have is yours.


But we had to celebrate
and rejoice!



This brother of yours was dead,
and has come back to life.



He was lost, and is found.'"



Points for reflection and prayer:
"Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you." (Joshua 5)
"When the afflicted man called out, the Lord heard, and from all his
distress he saved him." (Psalm 34)
"God has reconciled us to himself through Christ." (2 Corinthians 5)

3rd Sunday of Lent (C): Paraphrasing the Gospel

Sunday Reflections for Liturgical Years 2011 (A), 2012 (B), and 2013 (C)

3rd Sunday of Lent (C), March 3, 2013: Paraphrasing the Form of the Gospel

Author's note: Paraphrasing the gospel is really just reconstructing the format of the gospel into "digestible" phrases, and presenting them in a poetic or prose form to make them more intelligible to the reader.

It is a technique used by a New Testament professor in Maryhill School of Theology in the early 1990s A.D. Although he has a more professional and specific technique and form in presenting, I have adapted it in a manner that would be easier for encoding on a computer - using bold and italics for some words or phrases. Writing it with chalk on a blackboard would be more effective, as it was with our professor in his time.

The original form of his presentation is to place the verb right under the noun, and to list down parallel meanings of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, as words or phrases in a column, and applying the proper indentations.

In the "paraphrase" below I have used bold font styles for the name of Jesus and the pronouns related to Him. I have used italic font styles to signify dialogues and conversations in the gospel itself and in the parable which Jesus is using to make His point clear. The parable is in a different font color: green.

Liturgical readings
Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15
Psalm 103
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Luke 13:1-9

"Leave it another year while I hoe around it."

Some were present
who told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.


He said in reply:


"Do you think that these Galileans
were the greatest sinners in Galilee
just because they suffered this?

By no means!
But I tell you,
you will come to the same end unless you reform.

Or take those eighteen who were killed by a falling tower in Siloam.
Do you think they were more guilty than anyone else
who lived in Jerusalem?

Certainly not!

But I tell you,
you will all come to the same end
unless you begin to reform."


Jesus spoke this parable:

"A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard,
and he came out looking for fruit on it but did not find any.

He said to the vinedresser,

'Look here!
For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree
and found none.

Cut it down. Why should it clutter up the ground?

In answer, the man said,

'Sir
leave it another year while I hoe around it and manure it;
then perhaps it will bear fruit.

If not, it shall be cut down.'"