Writing new endings, with hope
As we near the end of our Lenten journey together, I am reminded of the words of Pope John Paul II, who joyfully proclaimed “We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!” My faith tells me we will get to Alleluia … but not just yet. Until then, we wait, we pray, we hope. The familiar words of today’s psalm, the 23rd, assure us, “only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life.” What could be more hope-giving than that?
And yet, today’s first reading and the Gospel offer us a challenge. Both are stories in which a woman is accused of adultery and sentenced to death. In the reading from the Book of Daniel, Susanna, is saved by the wisdom of the young prophet himself, although her accusers meet a grim fate. In the Gospel of John, a woman is to be stoned until Jesus intervenes with a simple directive, that the one without sin should cast the first stone. Ashamed, her previously righteous accusers drift away, leaving only the woman and Christ, who refuses to condemn her but instead tells her to go and sin no more.
There is hope here for us, both that our sins will be forgiven and that the testament and actions of individuals who stand up for what is right and just can change the end of the narrative. I see this in the work of Catholic Charities staff and volunteers every day, and in the profound stories told by them in our People of Hope Museum, which will begin its two-and-a-half-year cross-country journey Thursday in New York City. The museum is a moving (literally and figuratively) testament to the power of service and its radiating ripples in communities large and small. I hope you can visit it when it stops in your community.
Knowing that our vulnerable sisters and brothers will find not judgment but compassion and hope when they come for services replenishes my faith both in our work and in the people doing it. Every day, the women and men of Catholic Charities help people write new endings to their stories with the hope that, as the psalmist says, “goodness and kindness” will follow them, and that it will multiply.
Kerry Alys Robinson is President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA.