A sinful woman in the city

1Tm 4,12-16; Ps 11 0; Lk 7,36-50
19 SEPTEMBER

In order for the Holy Spirit to be able to save a soul, he always needs another soul who in his name, with his light and truth, with his grace and benevolence and with his wisdom and intelligence, accepts it and manifests it the beauty of the Kingdom of God, which is conversion, forgiveness of sins, reconciliation, justification and sanctification. Never might the Holy Spirit send a soul from a soul that works for perdition and not for salvation, for darkness and not for the light, for injustice and not for justice, for immorality and not for morality, for the word of men and not for the Word of God. The spiritual and pastoral failures do not arise from the bad will of the men of the world, but from the impossibility of the Holy Spirit to find souls who work for him, according to his motion, his inspiration and his true salvation. If the sinful woman had been sent by the Holy Spirit to Simon or to the other guests, she would have been welcomed as a prostitute and left as a prostitute. By Pharisees and scribes there was no reception for these women. One day the Holy Spirit sends a publican to the temple to at least ask God for forgiveness. There is a Pharisee there, not only he does not approach him, he judges, despises and condemns him.

He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk 18,9-14).

Let us not speak of the eldest son in the parable of the father and his two sons. The younger returns, repented and humiliated. The older, true image and figure of the Pharisee, does not even want to enter the house to greet his brother, despite his father’s heartfelt invitation. The true pastoral is made by the Holy Spirit and by a soul that lets itself be moved by Him and led by Him. Jesus is lets himself be moved by the Spirit even in the smallest details of salvation. This is the truth of Christ: a soul always guided by the Spirit of the Lord.

A Pharisee invited him to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty. Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?” Simon said in reply, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.” He said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The others at table said to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Let everyone ask the question to his heart and give the right answer: can the Holy Spirit send me a soul so that I can open it the kingdom of God? Or am I they like the hypocritical Pharisees who closed the kingdom for themselves and also for every other man? If the Holy Spirit cannot move me, He will send me no soul and my nets will always be empty.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints arrange that every Christian is a soul at the service of the Spirit.