Reflection by Rev. Leonard N. Peterson
Fifteen years ago, cursive writing teaching stopped in the United States when the Common Core State Standards were adopted. This led many schools to phase cursive writing out of their curricula. With the rise of digital technology, it made sense for many schools to prioritize keyboarding skills over cursive writing. According to former Harvard president Drew Faust, this matters because among many sad effects is that our youngsters won’t be able to read the birthday card from their grandmothers. They’ll need their mothers to translate it for them. The good news is that some schools have returned to such instruction.
This whole matter came to mind as I pondered a significant detail in the well-known story of “The Authorities and the Woman caught in Adultery” as found in John chapter 8. It is this: “Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground.” We might ask: “What did He write?” Or “What language did He use? Was it cursive Aramaic or a printed version?” That would be a fool’s errand because printing had not yet been invented.
The point here is not to bring a contemporary educational question into play over the words of the gospel story. What Jesus wrote is unknown and scholars tell us is that it was probably symbolic. St. Bede puts in his “two cents” this way: “Christ, who twice bends down to write on the ground, teaches us to bend low in humility, so that we can examine ourselves both before and after addressing the faults of our neighbor. If His example becomes our practice, we will avoid the extremes of being unjust and unmerciful toward others.”
I find St. Bede’s analysis personally helpful, especially during Lent. He asks us all to preclude any smugness on our part. To think that we are morally superior to the scribes and Pharisees in this famous story. We are not allowed to be judgmental of the poor shivering creature those men had dragged from the crowd to place her in front of Jesus. Honestly, how many times have we set ourselves up as judge and jury of somebody else? Sneered at their weakness from our chosen perch above it all?
It’s a good thing we have humble saints in our Catholic tradition, beginning of course with Mary our Mother. Not only are they all heroes and models for imitation, but they are also practical teachers. We shouldn’t think of saints as some stylized figure captured in stained glass. Except for Our Lady, saints are usually sinners, “revised and edited.”
God be with you in these dwindling days of Lent.
Rev. Peterson’s Reading & Gospel Summary
Reading I: Isaiah 43: 16-21
The prophet foretells of a deliverance from the Babylonian exile which he poetically describes as a new exodus.
Reading II: Philippians 3: 8-14
Paul renounces his former life and tells his readers that he is now dedicated to living a new one in Christ. He “presses on,” comparing the life of faith to a race.
The Gospel: John 8: 1-11
Jesus avoids the trap set by His usual opposition. By bending down to write on the ground, He teaches the woman’s accusers and us also to “bend low” in humility to examine ourselves before we ever address the faults of someone else.