About Today
Monday 23 March 2026
Monday of the 5th week of Lent
(optional commemoration of Saint Turibius of Mongrovejo, Bishop)
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us. Come, let us adore him.
Or: O that today you would listen to his voice: harden not your hearts.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: Violet.
St Turibius of Mongrovejo (1538 - 1606)
He was born in Spain in about 1538 and studied law at the university of Salamanca. He was named bishop of Lima in 1580 and sailed to America. Full of apostolic zeal, he traversed his gigantic diocese three times, generally on foot, baptizing, teaching and confirming the natives. He assembled many synods and councils to make the Church strong, organised, and above all holy; and he strongly defended the rights of the natives, who were Spanish citizens according to the law but who were nevertheless being oppressed by the colonists and the provincial governors. He died in Lima on 23 March 1606. See the articles in WIkipedia and the Catholic Encyclopaedia.
Today's gospel reading
John 8:1-11 Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone
At that time: Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said tothem, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away oneby one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go,and from now on sin no more.’
Reflection on the painting
In today's Gospel reading we encounter three groups of characters: Jesus, a woman, and agroup of men who are experts in the Jewish Law. These men bring the woman before Jesus,claiming that she has been caught in adultery. Yet their real intention is not so much concern for the woman as it is a desire to trap Jesus. They place Him in a difficult position: if Hecondemns her, He risks contradicting His own message of mercy; if He refuses to condemnher, they can accuse Him of disregarding the Law of God. He looks trapped indeed. For the experts of the Law, Jesus is their true target; they are merely using the woman as a tool in their attempt to discredit Him.
Jesus does not fall into their trap though. What makes the situation even more striking ishow differently Jesus looks at the woman compared to those who accuse her. The men seeher only through the lens of a single moment in her past. They are focussed entirely on thepast of the woman. Jesus, however, always looks at past, present and future. While heraccusers would define her forever by one failure, Jesus recognises that her story is notfinished. And that is how the Lord looks at each of us as well. He does not reduce us to onemistake or one dark moment of our past. Instead, He sees the whole story of our lives, andwants to help us in the present, so we can build a better future. God knows that our story isstill unfolding as long as we live; that there are new chapters yet to be written.
Rembrandt’s The Woman Taken in Adultery (1644), shows the moment when the scribes andPharisees bring the accused woman before Christ. Rembrandt van Rijn carefully structuresthe scene to highlight the spiritual meaning of the story: Christ stands tall on the top stepand is bathed in light, while the accusers remain in shadow and on the lower steps in thecomposition. Thus Rembrandt visually suggests the moral authority of Jesus. The womankneels humbly before Christ, her vulnerability contrasting with the tense, accusatory crowdaround her. Rembrandt painted this work in 1644, when he was about 38 years old. Thepainting shows all the mature qualities that make Rembrandt so distinctive: dramaticlighting, deep psychological insight, and a focus on the inner spiritual drama rather thanmerely the outward narrative.
Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery
Painting by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn(1606–1669),
Painted 1644,
Oil on oak wood panel
Monday of the 5th week of Lent
(optional commemoration of Saint Turibius of Mongrovejo, Bishop)
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us. Come, let us adore him.
Or: O that today you would listen to his voice: harden not your hearts.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: Violet.
St Turibius of Mongrovejo (1538 - 1606)
He was born in Spain in about 1538 and studied law at the university of Salamanca. He was named bishop of Lima in 1580 and sailed to America. Full of apostolic zeal, he traversed his gigantic diocese three times, generally on foot, baptizing, teaching and confirming the natives. He assembled many synods and councils to make the Church strong, organised, and above all holy; and he strongly defended the rights of the natives, who were Spanish citizens according to the law but who were nevertheless being oppressed by the colonists and the provincial governors. He died in Lima on 23 March 1606. See the articles in WIkipedia and the Catholic Encyclopaedia.
Today's gospel reading
John 8:1-11 Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone
At that time: Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said tothem, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away oneby one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go,and from now on sin no more.’
Reflection on the painting
In today's Gospel reading we encounter three groups of characters: Jesus, a woman, and agroup of men who are experts in the Jewish Law. These men bring the woman before Jesus,claiming that she has been caught in adultery. Yet their real intention is not so much concern for the woman as it is a desire to trap Jesus. They place Him in a difficult position: if Hecondemns her, He risks contradicting His own message of mercy; if He refuses to condemnher, they can accuse Him of disregarding the Law of God. He looks trapped indeed. For the experts of the Law, Jesus is their true target; they are merely using the woman as a tool in their attempt to discredit Him.
Jesus does not fall into their trap though. What makes the situation even more striking ishow differently Jesus looks at the woman compared to those who accuse her. The men seeher only through the lens of a single moment in her past. They are focussed entirely on thepast of the woman. Jesus, however, always looks at past, present and future. While heraccusers would define her forever by one failure, Jesus recognises that her story is notfinished. And that is how the Lord looks at each of us as well. He does not reduce us to onemistake or one dark moment of our past. Instead, He sees the whole story of our lives, andwants to help us in the present, so we can build a better future. God knows that our story isstill unfolding as long as we live; that there are new chapters yet to be written.
Rembrandt’s The Woman Taken in Adultery (1644), shows the moment when the scribes andPharisees bring the accused woman before Christ. Rembrandt van Rijn carefully structuresthe scene to highlight the spiritual meaning of the story: Christ stands tall on the top stepand is bathed in light, while the accusers remain in shadow and on the lower steps in thecomposition. Thus Rembrandt visually suggests the moral authority of Jesus. The womankneels humbly before Christ, her vulnerability contrasting with the tense, accusatory crowdaround her. Rembrandt painted this work in 1644, when he was about 38 years old. Thepainting shows all the mature qualities that make Rembrandt so distinctive: dramaticlighting, deep psychological insight, and a focus on the inner spiritual drama rather thanmerely the outward narrative.
Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery
Painting by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn(1606–1669),
Painted 1644,
Oil on oak wood panel
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