You will be familiar with the term "rushing to judgement", something we are all tempted to do at times; something we have all done at different times of our lives.

Time and again in the Gospels Jesus warns us against making judgements concerning other people. He does this in parables but also directly. Making a hasty judgement about another and their circumstances is a temptation from the devil. Those times when we are tempted to take what seems to be the moral high ground from which we can look down on another person. The truth of it is that, given our weakness and sinfulness, we are never in a position to judge another. More than that, Jesus clearly warns us that we will be judged by God by the yardstick of the standards we have visited on others; quite a frightening prospect.

In Sunday's gospel Jesus is invited to be judge and jury on a woman caught in the act of adultery (I always find myself what happened to the man in the case, why is just the woman there?). Jesus tells us in John's gospel that he truly is the just judge. Because of this, unlike us, he is well positioned to judge and pass sentence. Adultery was a capital crime and the penalty for it was death by stoning. But Jesus does not rush to judgement, we see how he pauses and thinks; I like to imagine that Jesus was not thinking but praying. In the event he does not condemn but invites conversion, "from now on sin no more". It is an invitation extended by Jesus to all of us today. How will you respond?

Please be assured of my prayers for you and your intentions. 

With my sincere best wishes for the week ahead.

Fr Chris