"Adultery?! And You saved her? You shouldn't!" exclaims Judas Iscariot. Jesus stares at him then He asks: "Why not?"
"Because... It may be detrimental to You. You know how they hate You and try to find charges against You! Certainly... To save an adulteress is to go against the Law."
"I did not say that I wanted to save her. I only said that those who were without sin should throw the stones. And no one struck her, because no one was without sin. So I confirmed the Law that inflicts lapidation on adulterers, but I also saved the woman because not one lapidator could be found."
"But You..."
"Did you want Me to stone her to death? It would have been justice, because I could have stoned her. But it would not have been mercy."
"Ah! she had repented! She implored You and You..."
"No... She was not even repentant. She was only dejected and frightened."
"Then!... Why?... I no longer understand You! Previously I was still able to understand why You forgave Mary of Magdala, John of Endor, also... in short many sin..."
"You may as well say Matthew. I don't take it amiss. On the contrary I will be grateful to you for reminding me of my debt of gratitude to my Master" says Matthew calm and dignified.
"Yes, also Matthew... But they repented their sins, their dissolute lives. But this woman!... I do not understand You any more! And I am not the only one who doesn't..."
"I know. You do not understand Me... You have never understood Me well. And you are not the only one. But that does not change My behaviour."
"Forgiveness is to be granted to those who ask for it."
"Oh! If God should forgive only those who ask to be forgiven! And strike at once those who do not repent after sinning! Have you never felt that you had been forgiven before repenting? Can you really say that you repented and that is why you have been forgiven?"
"Master, I..."
"Listen to Me, all of you, because many among you think that I made a mistake and that Judas is right. Peter and John are here. They heard what I said to the woman and they can repeat it to you. I was not foolish in forgiving. I did not say what I said to other souls whom I had forgiven because they were fully repentant. But I gave that soul time and possibility to arrive at repentance and holiness, if she wishes to reach them. Bear that in mind when you are the masters of souls.
It is essential to possess two things to be true masters and worthy of being masters. The first thing: an austere life for oneself, so that one may judge without the hypocrisy of condemning in other people what one forgives oneself. The second thing: patient mercy to give souls the time to recover and fortify themselves.
Not every soul recovers instantaneously from its wounds. Some do so by successive stages, which are often slow and subject to relapses. It does not befit a spiritual doctor to reject, condemn, frighten them. If you drive them away, they will bound back and throw themselves again into the arms of false friends and masters. Always open your arms and hearts to poor souls, so that they may find in you true and holy confidants, on whose knees they do not feel ashamed to weep. If you condemn them depriving them of spiritual assistance, you will make them more and more unhealthy and weak. If you cause them to be frightened of you and of God, how will they be able to raise their eyes to you and to God?
Man meets man as his first judge. Only he who lives a spiritual life knows how to meet God first. But the creature who has arrived at living spiritually, does not fall into grave sins. His human side may be still weak, but his strong spirit is vigilant and his weaknesses do not become grave faults. Whereas the man who is still subject to flesh and blood commits sin and meets man. Now, if the man who should point out God to him and instruct his spirit, frightens him, how can the guilty person yield completely to him? And how can he say: "I humble myself because I believe that God is good and forgives", if he sees that one of his fellow-creatures is not good?
You are to be the term of comparison, the measure of what God is, just as a farthing is the part that makes one understand the value of a talent. But if you are cruel to souls, you tiny parts who are part of the Infinite and you represent Him, what will they think that God is? What intolerant harshness will they ascribe to Him?" (
The Poem of the Man-God: Vol. IV)
