Opening the Word is a series of prompts from The Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies to help focus our minds and hearts on the Sunday Mass Readings. After Jesus revealed Himself to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32). Our Lord desires to enflame our hearts also by revealing Himself to us in His Word. Take this opportunity to pause, and allow the Lord to make Himself known to you through the opening of the Scriptures which will ready your eyes to see Him in the breaking of the bread.
Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year C): April 6, 2025
First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Second Reading: Philippians 3:8-14
Gospel: John 8:1-11
Step 1: Begin in prayer, asking the Lord to open your heart to receive how He wants to make Himself known to you. Then, attentively read the Scriptures.
Step 2: Consider these meditation prompts that follow from the readings:
- In this Sunday’s second reading, we read one of St. Paul’s most provocative lines: “For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:8). Put delicately, the word that Paul employs for “rubbish” literally means, “dung; waste; or refuse.” Jesus is constantly before us, inviting us to cast aside our attachments and sins so that we can find the pearl of great price in living in a relationship with him. St. Paul discovered the secret to true human happiness: it does not lie in this world, but it is only found by casting all things aside—as if they were waste—and casting himself on Jesus Christ. What is Jesus calling you to set aside this day so that you can find your happiness in him?
- Turning our attention to the Gospel, we read of our Lord’s encounter with the woman caught in adultery—very likely being Mary Magdalene. Today I invite us to meditate upon the tenderness with which Jesus meets this woman. The setting in which Jesus meets her is that she had just been caught in a shameful act—in an adulteress act—and now her sin was being broadcast before everyone in the open market. I think we can all sympathize with the feeling of when our sin or our shame becomes known to someone else, made public, even. It is perhaps the most vulnerable and wounding scenario to be in. Let us consider, then, how Jesus approaches her. I invite you to take advantage of this meeting the Lord in this Sunday’s reading, and letting him meet you where you are most fragile, vulnerable, or wounded—and receive the words which he gave to the woman : “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more” (John 8:11).
Step 3: Conclude with a prayer of gratitude and ask the Lord to keep these Words in your heart.
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