April 6, 2025
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Lectionary 36
Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11
Grace and Law
Meditation
In the Acts of the Apostles and his letters, St. Paul devoted much attention to the issue of righteousness. The question was, “Am I justified or saved in God’s sight by observing the commandments?” (Remember, there are more than 10 commandments in the Old Testament—over 600.) The answer is clear: No! We are saved by grace when we accept the gift of faith in Jesus.
So, why would Our Lady of La Salette insist so much on the commandments and Church practices? Twice, she complains that the Name of her Son is abused by people who are swearing in anger—violating the Second Commandment—and that they do not observe the Lord’s Day—thus breaking the Third Commandment. She adds, “In Lent, they go to the butcher shops like dogs.”
Mary does not imply that we are saved by keeping commandments and rules. On the other hand, St. Paul never implied that the Law is bad or should not be kept, although he insisted that it did not need to be imposed in its entirety on the Gentile converts. He remained an observant Jew.
We keep the commandments and observe Church customs not because they save us but because they remind us that grace has saved us. Faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of our salvation, but we need to build on that foundation. No one creates the foundation of a house and stops there, saying, “Good! That’s done!” The Beautiful Lady reminds us that there is such a thing as a Christian and Catholic way of life. As Christians and Catholics, we are called to live it gratefully.
In today’s Gospel, the adulterous woman is saved by Jesus, both in a literal, physical sense and also in a spiritual sense. When he tells her, “Do not sin anymore,” he is saying that, now that she has been saved, she has all the more reason to be faithful to the commandments.