[stephenkhoo]

OUR DULLED AND SELF-RIGHTEOUS CONSCIENCE IS ENLIGHTENED AND HEALED BY CHRIST THE LIGHT AND MERCY OF GOD IN PERSON
SCRIPTURE READINGS: DN 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62; JN 8:1-11
http://www.universalis.com/20140407/mass.htm

The fifth week of Lent was traditionally called Passion Week, a week when the liturgy invites us to reflect on the growing hostility of the Jewish leaders against Jesus culminating at Palm Sunday with the Passion.


Yet, the hostility against Jesus is not something of the past but a present reality. We perpetuate this hostility against Jesus when we sin. As a result, we are unable to face God. Both scriptural readings today illustrate the gravity of our sins in the sin of adultery. We know that adultery is more than simply a moral failure against our fellowmen in the bible; it is a powerful symbol of our infidelity against God since adultery is a betrayal of love and promises. Adultery therefore is the fundamental sin of infidelity because sin is infidelity to ourself, our neighbours and most of all, in our relationship with God.


Yet, the real danger and perhaps the existential reality today is that many of us are unremorseful and therefore unrepentant of our sins. It is a fact that we have lost a sense of sin. Many people do not believe in sin anymore and are not aware of their sinfulness. Sin has been reduced to human weakness, which implies that no guilt or consent is involved, but part of human nature and therefore we are inculpable. It was Martin Luther who said, “all of us can be placed under two categories of sinners, those of us who sin and are aware that we are sinners and those who sin but are not aware that they sinners.”


Hence, the liturgy focuses on the theme of conscience. Have our consciences dulled? Are our consciences justifying? Or are our consciences self-righteous? Today, we are called to cultivate a sensitive, informed and enlightened conscience.

Firstly, there are those who have a tendency to suppress their conscience. The tragedy of this orientation will result in a dulled conscience so that we no longer have a sense of sin. This was certainly the case of the judges in today’s first reading. The leaders were suppressing their lustful desire for Susanna. They used their position for their self-interests instead of acting honourably for the good of their people. Blinded by lust and pride because of a wounded ego from Susanna’s refusal to cooperate with their immorality, they had no qualms in making Susanna pay for a sin she did not commit.


Indeed, as the first reading tells us, “They threw reason aside, making no effort to turn their eyes to heaven, and forgetting its demands of virtue.” In other words, they suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven, and did not keep in mind just judgments. The truth is that when we sin we do not have the courage to turn our eyes to God for as it is said, our eyes reveal who we are. One sin is followed by another sin. It began with lust, then lies and then causing death to the innocent deliberately.


Besides a dulled conscience, there is a possibility of having a self-righteous conscience. In the gospel, “The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in full view of everybody, they said to Jesus, ‘Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and Moses has ordered us in the Law to condemn women like this to death by stoning. What have you to say?’” They were not only acting in a self-righteous manner, but they also had a hidden agenda. They made use of this poor woman’s failure to incriminate Jesus.


Consequently, Jesus invites us all to examine ourselves just as Daniel did when “standing in the middle of the crowd he replied, ‘Are you so stupid, sons of Israel, as to condemn a daughter of Israel unheard and without troubling to find out the truth? Go back to the scene of the trial: these men have given false evidence against her.’”


In a similar vein, Jesus challenged the persistent self-righteous accusers to examine themselves before condemning others. He confronts the superficial, immediate and self-righteous reaction of the Pharisees with a challenge to go deeper and draw out from their consciences the answer to the question they put hypocritically to Him: “Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” When He said, “If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”, the Lord is asking them to inform their own consciences before they pass judgment on others.


If Christ was silent, it was because He wanted to give us time to consider our own souls. So too, the Church invites us to examine our consciences. Indeed, one of the objectives for the season of Lent is to help us become more sensitive to our consciences. We are called to examine our consciences honestly so that we are sensitive to those times we tried to suppress or ignore the inner voice that reminds us to be faithful. How can this be done?


Firstly, we must realize that if we are self-righteous like the Jewish leaders, it is because consciously or unconsciously, we recognize our own sinfulness. The adulterous woman exemplifies in the most dramatic way how each of us feels about ourselves. We have no place to hide or run because we are so vulnerable to sin, just like the adulterous woman. We must admit that we are all sinners. All of us suffer the vulnerability of sin.


As a result, like all sinners, we are innately insecure and instinctively seek to hide behind false securities. We manifest such self-condemnation by condemning others. If we appear to be more sympathetic to our own sins than the sins that others commit, it is because their sins remind us painfully of our own struggles. When we become conscious of sin, our own pharisaical tendency leads us to condemn ourselves while seeking to exculpate the guilt by finding faults in others.


At other times, in order to protect ourselves from a crushing sense of guilt, we defend ourselves rather than admit our guilt. However, feeling remorseful for our sins does not make it easier to accept the reactions of others. Consequently, we try to manipulate people into liking and approving us. Ironically, the more we sin, the more desperate we are in seeking other people’s approval. And the more desperate we become, the less remorse we feel for what we have done wrong, because remorse is a feeling that says we deserve to be reprimanded.


Of course, there are times when we have been falsely accused, like Susanna in the first reading. Because we feel that we have been misjudged and wronged, we react with anger and retaliation. But at the end of it all, we know it is because we are afraid of being rejected. We hunger for affirmation and approval, and when that is not forthcoming, we become defensive and even offensive. Unfortunately, instead of maintaining our innocence, it leads us to other sins such as revenge, hatred and resentment. So when we are judged wrongly, we too can sin excessively in our attempts to protect our pride.


In the light of our helplessness in our sinfulness, what can we do? We must turn to Jesus, who is the Light of our lives. When the Israelites were wandering in the desert for forty years, confused and disoriented, and regretted leaving Egypt in spite of their slavery, God made His presence known to them through a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day. This light not only brought them assurance of safety and care, but it literally guided them through a trackless wasteland.


It is God’s steadfast love and mercy given to us through the gift and grace of the Holy Spirit that we can be changed and made new in Christ. Only His love and healing mercy can set us free from our unruly desires and passions, our oppressions from sin and guilt. Our deepest insecurities disappear when we realize we are haunted by the ghosts of our own pride that vanity creates. To overcome our negative reactions to those times when we have been accused unmercifully, rightly or wrongly, we need the mercy of God to heal us and give us a sense of self-worth. Only when we realize God’s unconditional mercy and love can we heal our wounds. At the end of the day, only what God thinks of us truly matters, not what others think of us because they do not read our hearts but only our actions, and even then, wrongly too. In His merciful love, we are free from the need to be accepted and approved by others. So even if others refuse to render us mercy, if we know that we have God’s mercy, we will have peace and authentic self-acceptance, and that redeems our dignity.


But having been healed and forgiven, we need to take action so that we will not sin again. That was what Jesus told the woman, “Go away and don’t sin any more.” Since Christ has enabled us to walk freely and confidently without stumbling in the darkness of sin and since His light has warmed our hearts to the truth of God’s love and opened our vision to the reality of God’s kingdom, we must now walk in the truth. We do this by forming our consciences through the study of scripture and all the moral teaching of the Church, so that when we are faced with temptation, whether subtle or overt, our consciences can clearly provide guidance for our will to make the right choices.


Truly, we are called to imitate Susanna in her fidelity to herself and to the truth. She remained faithful to herself even at the risk of losing her life, refusing to commit sin even while under duress. And even when she was unjustly put to death, Susanna maintained her unshakeable trust in God for she knew that the Lord is her refuge and strength. She could have prayed as the psalmist did, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” We are also called to imitate Daniel who was faithful to the voice of God within him, speaking up for the truth and the innocent in spite of his young age. He did not follow the crowd who were silent before injustice.


Most of all, we are called to imitate Jesus in His mercy and compassion for all especially sinners, who need our love and mercy more than anyone else. We forgive others not because they repent but because God has been merciful to us. Just as we have received mercy from Him, we too share His mercy with others.

Written by The Most Rev Msgr William Goh