Texts taken from the missal “On Your Word” March-April 2025
Fifth Sunday of Lent (C)
1st week, psalter
FIRST READING
From the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Is 43:16-21)
Thus says the Lord, who opened a way through the sea and a path amid mighty waters, who brought out chariots and horses, an army and warriors all at once; they lie dead, never to rise again, extinguished like a wick, they are quenched: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old! See, I am doing something new: now it springs forth; do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will glorify me, jackals and ostriches, because I will provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen one. The people whom I formed for myself will declare my praise.” - The word of God.
Commentary on the First Reading
The Fifth Sunday of Lent opens with the prophet Isaiah’s words of consolation. This passage recalls the exodus - the Lord “opened a way through the sea... and brought out chariots and horses” - and now invites us no longer to remember the past or consider the things of old, because even today God continues to do great things: “See, I am doing something new: now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?” Just as God once opened the sea, so today he opens “a way in the wilderness,” because he is faithful to his people and his chosen one, and his people will praise him. As in the past, even today God opens new paths in our hearts so that we may experience the joy of his salvation: no doubt or weakness, no sense of guilt or sin can ever again isolate us from the Lord God, because he is our liberator and savior! With these feelings, we wish to set out toward Holy Week, now close at hand, praising the Lord with the words of the psalm: “The Lord has done great things for us.”
SECOND READING
From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Philippians (Phil 3:8-14)
Brothers and sisters, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have let all these things go and consider them rubbish, in order to gain Christ and be found in him, having as my righteousness not that which comes from the Law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is based on faith: so that I may know him, the power of his resurrection, fellowship in his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in the hope of attaining the resurrection from the dead. I have certainly not reached the goal, nor have I arrived at perfection; but I strive to run in order to attain it, because I too have been won over by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not yet consider myself to have attained it. I know only this: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I run toward the goal, toward the prize to which God calls us above, in Christ Jesus. - The word of God.
Commentary on the second reading
The experience outlined in the first reading becomes a source of pride in the words of the apostle Paul: “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” The Apostle encountered the Lord Jesus, experienced his mercy, and “because of him I have let all these things go and consider them rubbish, in order to gain Christ.” Through the image of the athlete, Paul explains that he has not yet “reached the goal... arrived at perfection; but I strive to run in order to attain it, because I too have been won over by Christ Jesus.” The text expresses a growing intimacy with his Lord Jesus: not a knowledge based on the Law learned by heart - of which he was nevertheless an expert - but an intertwining of bonds of love that leads the Apostle to be “straining forward to what lies ahead, I run toward the goal, toward the prize to which God calls us above.” May we too be able to boast of such pride, supported by our love for the Lord and having the future as our sole horizon!
GOSPEL
From the Gospel according to John (Jn 8:1-11)
At that time, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he went again to the temple, and all the people came to him. And he sat down and began to teach them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought him a woman caught in adultery, placed her in the middle, and said to him: "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. Now Moses, in the Law, commanded us to stone women like this. What do you say?" They said this to test him and to have grounds for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and began to write with his finger on the ground. However, since they persisted in questioning him, he stood up and said to them: "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And bending down again, he continued writing on the ground. When they heard this, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. They left him alone, and the woman was there in the middle. Then Jesus stood up and said to her: "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" And she replied: "No one, Lord." And Jesus said: "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on do not sin anymore." - The word of the Lord.
Gospel Commentary
We have reached the Fifth Sunday of Lent and from here, through the great portal of Passion Sunday, also known as Palm Sunday, we will enter Holy Week. Along this journey, we have been helped to understand how our fragile life (Ash Wednesday) is and will always be committed to allowing itself to be safeguarded by the word of God in the face of temptations (First Sunday), a perseverance that needs to be nourished by keeping our gaze fixed on the goal, Heaven, where we will be transfigured (Second Sunday). We must therefore allow ourselves to be challenged by the events of life with a gaze of faith, because God speaks to us through every event (Third Sunday), reminding us that in God's eyes no one will ever be rejected (Fourth Sunday), even when we have become entangled in seemingly destructive sins (Fifth Sunday). God's action is never a stone thrown - not even in words - but is a merciful heart that always offers the possibility of rising again from our mistakes and encouragement to avoid future occasions of sin. It is not so much a matter of promising never to sin again, which is humanly impossible, as of making a present resolution with right intention and always counting on God's help.
