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Fifth Sunday of Lent: Have You Felt the Merciful Gaze of Christ?

Our Gospel this week begins on the Mount said let her go, they of Olives and finishes in the Temple, both could accuse him of not important sites that visit in Jerusa- fulfilling the law. But, lem. The Mount of Olives faces the once again, Jesus saw of and is the location of several their true intentions and Christian churches maintained by the Fran- turned the tables on ciscan Custody of the Holy Land. Today, the their unscrupulous mo- is all that remains of the tives. St. Augustine de- Temple of Jesus’ time and is considered a scribed such a scenario very holy place by Jews, Christians, and when he said, “Notice Muslims. how deceitful toward God the tongue is.” As Jesus arrived in the Temple area, He was confronted by a crowd bringing him a We see the same deceit woman caught in the act of adultery. Her today in ourselves and in partner had probably faded into the others, everywhere in crowd. The woman was not really im- the world where there is portant, but she was the bait in a trap to strife and hatred. We catch Jesus. If he said stone her, they could want to accuse “the oth- taunt him about not being merciful; if he er guy” – “Look, there is the problem; there is the sinner” – and never con- front the sin in our own Help For Holy Land heart that is part of the Christians hatred that feeds fear and violence.

Franciscan Good Friday The Temple Mount is the Collection: site of some of the worst www.myfranciscan.org confrontations between the major religions in the The on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem Holy Land. The Christians Order of the Holy Sepulchre of in the Holy Land are Jerusalem: often caught in the middle of the political, Christian presence in the Holy Land by cultural, and religious conflicts in this re- making a generous contribution on Good www.holysepulchre.net gion. The conflicts arise from the sins that Friday to the Franciscan Custody of the

make us critical of the other and blind to Holy Land.

the faults in ourselves. Let us pray this Lent Latin Patriarchate that we all will begin to follow Jesus’ com- of Jerusalem: mand to “Go and sin no more” (Jn 8:11) www.lpj.org and to remember our Christian brothers and sisters who live with this strife and conflict on a daily, ongoing basis. We can all help preserve the Holy Sites and the