Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent: Daily Lenten Meditations

GO IN PEACE

Her case was a serious one; indeed, utterly desperate. She had been taken in a grievous fault, one for which death was the penalty. In the clutch of the hating Pharisees she knew that all hope was gone. She would be stoned—the terrible fate was inevitable.

Dragging her roughly along, they came to the temple court where the Master was teaching. They pushed their victim before Him and asked His opinion, tempting Him: Should she be stoned? The eyes of Jesus rested on the cringing creature before Him; they searched the black hearts of her captors. Then He bowed Himself down and silently wrote on the ground with His finger. One by one till all were gone the base accusers slunk away, and the Master was alone with the woman. Then He spoke, and His voice was full of tenderness. “Go,” He said, “and now sin no more.” That was all. No rebuke for the past, no threat, only a gentle admonition to be good for the future.

Such is my Divine Friend—everywhere and always the Friend of sinners. Others may be harsh and rigid in the name of justice; He, my Friend, is gentle and forgiving in the name of mercy. However black the record, however scarlet the guilt, His merciful Heart will be moved to compassion, His gentle lips will speak words of forgiveness, if only we will it.

What a hope-inspiring thought to souls conscious of their sinfulness! What an incentive to confidence! What a motive for trust! Always a chance to start over again, to rise from our meanness to great heights of holiness!

What a Friend, indeed, is our Divine Friend!

Jesus, Divine Friend, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL: Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE:  IV Kings 4:1-7

This Epistle shows us in the wondrous increase of a small quantity of oil at the word of Eliseus, by the sale of which a poor widow was enabled to pay an inhuman creditor, a figure of the mercy of our Lord, Whose infinite merits supply the ransom for our sins.

In those days a certain woman cried to the prophet Eliseus, saying: Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant was one that feared God: and behold the creditor is come to take away my two sons to serve him. And Eliseus said to her: What wilt thou have me to do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in thy house? And she answered: I thy handmaid have nothing in my house but a little oil, to anoint me. And he said to her: Go, borrow of all thy neighbors empty vessels not a few. And go in, and shut thy door, when thou art within and thy sons: and pour out thereof into all those vessels: and when they are full take them away. So the woman went, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons: they brought her the vessels, and she poured in. And when the vessels were full, she said to her son: Bring me yet a vessel. And he answered: I have no more. And the oil stood. And she came, and told the man of God. And he said: Go, sell the oil, and pay thy creditor: and thou and thy sons live of the rest.

GOSPEL:  Mt. 18: 15-22

The clemency or mercy of the Jews was content to forgive three times; Jesus says here in the Gospel that we are to forgive seventy times seven times, that is, always.

At that time Jesus said to His disciples: If thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church: let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by My Father Who is in heaven. For where there are two or three gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Then came Peter unto Him and said: Lord, how often shall my brother of-fend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee till seven times, but till seventy times seven times.