by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
Today’s Gospel, John 8:1-11, reminds me of the title of Pope Francis’ first book: “The name of God is Mercy” (Jan. 12), in which he reveals his vision of God’s mercy in a series of interviews with Vatican reporter Andrea Tornielli (July 2015).
The Old Testament Law prescribed the death penalty for a long list of crimes, including adultery. John’s account demonstrates God’s mercy and reminds us that we are all sinners – saved by God’s loving mercy and by the sacrifice of His son on the cross. So, let us not judge others and appear to be self-righteous as the Scribes and Pharisees, who were hoping to trap Jesus. We are called to be merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful.
Notice how those who were ready to stone the adulterous woman to death “went away one by one, beginning with the eldest” once they acknowledged that they were not without sin.
Pope Francis said in a homily in 2014: “Jesus goes beyond the law. He does not say: ‘adultery is not a sin!’ But he does not condemn it according to law. ”
This “is the mystery of mercy. It is the mystery of the mercy of Jesus…How many of us should perhaps go to hell? And the condemnation would be just … but he forgives and goes beyond. How? With this mercy!…God forgives us, not with a decree, but with his love, healing the wounds of sin” …this is because the Lord “is involved in forgiveness, he is involved in our salvation… Divine mercy is stronger than the sins of men.” (www.catholicnewsagency.com).
The Holy Father says in his book that mercy is the very essence of God: “The Church condemns sin because it has to relay the truth: ‘this is a sin’. But at the same time, it embraces the sinner who recognises himself as such, it welcomes him, it speaks to him of the infinite mercy of God. Jesus forgave even those who crucified and scorned him… The Church does not exist to condemn people, but to bring about an encounter with the visceral love of God’s mercy.
“I often say that in order for this to happen, it is necessary to go out: to go out from the churches and the parishes, to go outside and look for people where they live, where they suffer, and where they hope. I like to use the image of a field hospital to describe this ‘Church that goes forth’… I hope that the Jubilee (The Holy Year of Mercy) will serve to reveal the Church’s deeply maternal and merciful side, a Church that goes forth toward those who are ‘wounded,’ who are in need of an attentive ear, understanding, forgiveness, and love…
“Jesus said he came not for those who were good but for the sinners. He did not come for the healthy, who do not need the doctor, but for the sick. For this reason, we can say that mercy is God’s identity card. God of Mercy, merciful God. For me, this really is the Lord’s identity.”
And after we repent and confess our sins, remember Jesus’ words to the adulterous woman: “Go away, and don’t sin anymore.” This scripture reading gives meaning to Pope Francis’ profound statement: “God’s justice is his mercy.”
Read Prof. Thomas Heinrich Stark’s article: “The Relationship of Mercy and Justice According to St Thomas Aquinas.”
Inter alia, St Thomas says: “Justice without mercy is cruel” but “Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution.”
And, Stark adds, “therefore cruel as well… ‘The work of divine justice always presupposes the work of mercy and is founded in it,’ says Thomas. So if God is merciful, then He is not in opposition to justice. That is because in God, unlike in man, justice and mercy are not separated from one another according to their being…”
However, says Stark: “…it does not follow from the unity of God’s justice and mercy that God’s justice is completely dissolved in his mercy. Therefore the restitution that is required by justice does not become superfluous as a result of mercy. That is to say, that sin is at the same time an insult to God and a violation of the divine order of things. Justice requires the restoration of the violated order in the sinner himself as well as outside of himself. This restoration is carried out by means of a penalty that does not contradict charity, but springs from charity. Penalty is the manner in which the sinner experiences the fire of divine love…true justice is not merciless and true mercy is not sentimental.”
