A Change In Life

Homily Notes

Fr. Terry Ryan, CSP

John 8: 1-11

April 7, 2019

I am coming to believe that the reason many people leave the Church is because their connection to church is mostly from doctrine, rules, rituals and customs.  Occasionally, in religion training they did a service project.  The impetus for worship might be mediocre, that is, fear of hell.  As they grow up and all this seems to make little sense or be of little use in their life, they drift away.

The ones who stay, assuming some spiritual maturity, have more of a focus on a passion for Jesus.  Love draws them to wanting the Eucharist.  For whom would you inconvenience yourself, surrender yourself, suffer some?  It would be for someone you love with a passion, such as a child.  Someone you like, a relative, occasional acquaintance, someone you might admire, you would not call this a deep love, a passionate love.  Some people get this relationship with Jesus on a regular basis, some on a less regular basis, and some not much at all.  A person might believe the dogma but it moves them not at all.                                          

In the gospel Jesus faces the adulterous woman, one on one, a direct encounter.  She is guilty no matter the circumstances.  That is how it is in that law.  In this encounter, the woman experiences unconditional acceptance and love, for Jesus does not judge her.  She has nothing to offer, no bargaining chip, and gets Jesus’ love expressed in his attitude toward her.  It is only then that he tells her to sin no more.  She must have this passionate connection, feel this love that replaces her shame and guilt and maybe her anger, before she can change her life.  This is why Jesus faces her alone.  He hopes she will connect with him personally, from the heart. 

In the Eucharist as well as Confession, the sacrament is trying to give us and sustain in us this type of encounter such that we will in fact become “followers” and not just catechism believers of Jesus.  But the sacrament is not magic.  We have to bring some of our passion to it.  We have to need it as much as the adulterous woman needed a reprieve from execution.  People whose life fell apart and then found the unconditional love of God through Jesus in the sacraments, generally stay church connected.  The self-sufficient don’t need Jesus all that much.  Their passion lies elsewhere.  Daily, I struggle to climb out of mediocrity.