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April 8, 2025First of all, I give thanks to the Lord for being among you these days for my third pastoral visit. I am happy to be with you, praying for you and with you. The pastoral visit is first of all a time of grace for the Bishop. Being among the people of God, among you, is a big gift from God.
And it is a time of grace for the parish because it allows us to rediscover the sense of belonging to the Church, forming the mystical body of Christ, composed of different ministries and charisms. This pastoral visit takes place during the holy time of Lent and in the Holy Year of the Lord 2025, in which we are called to be pilgrims of hope.
The word of God that we heard gives us a profound reason for hope, inviting us to conversion. At the center we find the Gospel with the story of a woman who is a sinner. She is brought before Jesus and accused of adultery. We can imagine the scene, the anxious waiting among the people, waiting for a response from Jesus. If he condemns the woman, Jesus seems to betray his message on mercy. If he does not condemn the woman, he seems to go against the law of Moses. Jesus, instead, invites those without sin to be the first to throw a stone at the woman.
Jesus reminds us that we are all sinners, all of us, no one excluded. When we forget that we too are sinners, we become accusers and violent towards others. When we are aware of our sin, we become humble. When Jesus says the one without sin to throw the first stone, everyone goes away without stoning the woman, Jesus and the woman are left alone. This conversation is infinitely tender, full of mercy. ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she replied. ‘Neither do I condemn you,’ said Jesus, ‘go away, and do not sin anymore.’ A new life opens up before this woman, a new beginning. This woman experiences a new birth, she has become a new creature. Dear brothers and sisters, only a free love, without blackmail, makes us reborn. God loves us freely. Christianity is not the religion of fear and blackmail, but of love and freedom.
What does it mean for us to experience a new beginning? It means, first of all, starting from God's forgiveness, from the certainty of being forgiven. God's love is stronger than our evil. The prophet Isaiah gives us a strong image: "No need to recall the past, no need to think about what was done before. See, I am making a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see it?" God begins anew with us when he forgives us.
But are we truly convinced of this? Sometimes we remain attached to our past, to our sins and we do not believe that God can truly forgive us. In the same way we deal with others, our relationship with them is always mindful of their limits and their sins. Therefore, we struggle to experience a new beginning. The danger is to remain full of resentment and bitterness towards us and others for the past mistakes. For example, you may have heard people say, I cannot forgive that person… or I cannot forgive myself… This is getting stuck in the past. But there is no hope in this way of life, the future remains closed in front of us.
Dear faithful, I invite you to truly let yourselves be reconciled with God and make peace among ourselves. The Lord makes all things new. Let us allow the old things to pass away. Let us open ourselves to the perennial newness of God. Let us place our hope in Christ, in this way our hearts will become young again.
Finally, Saint Paul gives us a clear image of how Christian life should be: for him everything seems pale in comparison to the joy of being in Christ and belonging to him through the Christian community. He wants to follow Christ to the cross and become a participant in the resurrection. He knows that he is not perfect. In fact, we all remain in need of God's forgiveness until the end of life. But after the encounter with Christ, no sin and no limit can stop him. "I can assure you my brothers, I am far from thinking that I have already won. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is yet to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus". Here Saint Paul experiences that his past is forgiven. He is striving for the perfection of the Christian life, but he knows that he is still on the journey; he knows he is a pilgrim of hope, striving toward the final goal, certain of the love of Christ.
Dear faithful, let us learn to look at ourselves and others in a new way. Let us overcome resentment and sadness. Let us welcome one another as children of God. The Church is the place of celebration by the forgiven people of God. We in the Gulf have the mission to show the world that it is possible to welcome one another even if we are sinners and limited, even if we are different in nation, language and rite. God wants to do something new with us: new heavens and a new earth. In this way we can become a prophecy of a new world, reconciled with God.
May Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Mother of the New Life in Christ, help us to be the beginning of a new humanity, a new creation.