Blessed Schuster’s Daily Thoughts on the Rule: Saturday after the Third Sunday of Lent

Saturday after the 3rd Sunday of Lent
Station at St Susanna

The Adulteress of Jerusalem

1. Today the Station is on the Viminal hill, at St Susanna, and the Gospel pericope, corresponding to the story of Susanna of Babylon, describes for us the scene of the adulterous woman dragged by the scribes before the Lord.

We have here one of the most moving passages of the Gospel: a ‘flying chapter’, attributed sometimes to John, sometimes to Luke. It is missing in many ancient codices, but it certainly is authentic, and it shows us in a startling manner the meekness of Christ.

Saint Benedict, so meek and discreet in the Rule, how full he was too of the spirit of the Lord!

How different, on the other hand, is the heart [It. animo]¹ of all those scribes and Pharisees, true whitened sepulchres, who without any pity drag to the feet of Jesus that disgraced adulteress, much less guilty than they.

The Cassinese Patriarch [Saint Benedict] puts us on guard against this: Zelus amaritudinis malus, qui separat a Deo et ducit ad infernum. (Rule, Ch. 72: ‘A bitter and perverse zeal which, separating from God, leads to hell.’)

Why would zeal ever lead to hell? Because it is a fire not fed by charity. It burns, but does not shine.

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2. Inclinans se deorsum, digito scribebat in terra. (John 8:8: ‘Bending over towards the earth, He wrote with His finger on the pavement.’)

Note how the Lord speaks in Sacred Scripture, and especially in the Holy Gospel: briefly, tranquilly, wisely, in few and reasonable words: Pauca verba et rationabilia loquatur, et non sit clamosus in voce. (Rule, Ch. 7) [‘Let him speak few words and reasonable, and not be clamorous in his voice.’]

In the scene of the judgment of the adulteress, the Divine Judge is silent, because the Father has not sent Him so much ut iudicet mundum, sed ut salvetur mundus per ipsum. (John 3:17: ‘Not to judge the world, but so as to save the world by means of Christ.’)

The Pharisees are still there to insist on a decision. The good Master replies: ‘He who among you is without sin, be the first to cast the stone.’ With a brief phrase he brings the process to its true conclusion. One cannot maintain the part of accuser, who is involved in the same offense.

Do not be cruel, therefore, against your erring brother. You too have erred.

For this reason Saint Benedict, in the seventh degree of humility, teaches the monk to consider himself lower and more vile than all, and not only to declare it in words, but to believe it likewise in the heart [animo].

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3. The old men have prudently withdrawn, one after the other, and the woman has remained alone before the Divine Judge. The accusers have disappeared; what will the Judge do? Will He condemn her? No. Cor contritum et humiliatum Deus non despiciet [sic]. (Ps. 50: ‘God does not despise a heart contrite and humbled.’)

The sin is already confessed. The sorrow and the good resolve of the sinful woman are likewise known to Jesus. Nothing remains, therefore, but to utter the sentence of absolution: ‘Go, and sin no more.’

The Cassinese Patriarch wants us to ‘consider God always present, according to what is said: God searches the hearts and the reins. Likewise: the Lord knows the thoughts of men. And thus also: Thou knowest my thoughts from afar. And similarly: The thought of man shall reveal itself to Thee.’ (Rule, Ch. 7)

Quite profoundly does the Sacred Scripture observe that the two old men who tempted the chaste Susanna, in order to dare such a thing, lowered their eyes to the earth, in order not to look at heaven.

¹Here and in section 2 below, ‘heart’ is used to translate the Italian animo, derived from the Latin animus. While the usual Italian word for ‘heart’ is cuore, there is no exact English equivalent for animo, which connotes a state of mind or a disposition.↩