Fifth Sunday of Lent
Something New?
Are you having the BEST Lent ever? What is making it the best? What do you have to leave behind for it to be the BEST?
In the first reading from Isaiah, God says, “Remember not the things of the past, the things of long ago consider not, see, I am doing something new!”
Often we get so stuck on the habits and sins of the past that we just keep right on repeating them. Or we might let one great offense fester in us and grow instead of letting it go. Sometimes it is about how we see the sin in others, for example, the woman in the Gospel this weekend, that we forget about what is going on in us.
Jesus reminds us that our sinful habits are the result of losing our focus. When sin or bad habits might condemn us, turning to Jesus we can hear, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin
It is only in following Jesus that we can forget what lies in the past and yearn forward to the “new life”—leaving the darkness for the light of Christ! On this the fifth week of Lent, we come before Jesus, asking for healing and merciful love that changes our hearts. And we boldly ask God to create something new in us! Will we know it when it happens? Will we see it in each other? With God all things are possible! Easter joy and hope await us all!