We are getting closer to the end our Lenten journey. Next week we commemorate Palm Sunday and then the start of Holy Week. Today’s Gospel highlights an important teaching. Indeed, we are all sinners. None of us can throw the stone at the woman accused of adultery.
A few years ago, Pope Francis called a Year of Mercy in our Church. Our attention was focused on the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. As I thought of the sinful woman accused of adultery in our Gospel today, I thought about the spiritual work of mercy of admonishing the sinner. That does not sound like it is an easy thing to do, does it - admonishing the sinner? The word admonish comes from a Latin word – monere – meaning to warn or advise or alert someone of a threat or danger. We admonish the sinner out of love and concern, not in order to degrade or belittle him - that is important to remember. We alert the sinner of the danger of his sinful course of action. We admonish the sinner not out of arrogance or pride, but out of love, humility, and charity. In our modern Western society that is becoming more secular, many falsely see admonishing the sinner as an attempt by the admonisher to impose his values on others. But, in our faith journey, we are to admonish the sinner out of the brotherly love we have for him, to reach out in a spirit of mercy and charity. But we also do so in order to bring our brothers and sisters to repentance. But admonishing the sinner with compassion and love means that we sometimes have to say some words that someone does not want to hear. It means that we have to have to leave our comfort zone to be bold and direct with someone. And that is not easy, is it? Our journey of faith is not about taking the easy way out. It is not about cheap grace. It is not about a faith that lacks sacrifice or courage or commitment. During these days of Lent, we are called to journey with Jesus on his way to the cross. We are called to carry our own crosses and to look at those ways we need to repent and change. And we are called to help our brothers and sisters to do the same. That is why we are called to admonish the sinner.
And this brings us to the holy person we are going to reflect upon today. Dorothy Day was born in New York at the end of the 19th century. If you looked at her life as a young adult, it certainly did not look like the life of a holy woman of God, but rather it was similar to the life of the sinful woman in the Gospel today. Yet, after her conversion to Catholicism, Dorothy Day because an influential voice in the American Catholic Church and a courageous woman of faith. Parishioner Cathy Hayden will reflect upon Dorothy Day for us today.
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