Sunday, March 15, 2009
St. Clement’s Catholic Church; Saratoga Springs, NY
Exodus 17: 3—7
Psalm 95: 1 – 2, 6 – 7, 8 – 9
Romans 5: 1—2, 5 – 8
John 4: 5 – 42
Oprah Winfrey in the September 1991 issue of Good Housekeeping said: “I discovered I didn’t feel worth a damn, and certainly not worthy of love, unless I was accomplishing something. I suddenly realized I have never felt I could be loved just for being.” I had a similar thought come to me during the summer of 1985 when I was involved in a Clinical Pastoral Experience program in Boston, MA. My supervisor was a Protestant Minister and one day he jokingly asked me why I was inflicted with the Protestant work ethic. He said that we Catholics had managed to take one thing from their religion – the idea that we must be doing something at all times or else that our life has no meaning.
How often have we all felt that way, that we must be doing something good, we must be busy doing in order to earn God’s love. Today as we meet the Samaritan woman at the well we realize that God’s gift of love is waiting there for us. Not only does she not initially feel worthy of God’s love but she is constantly running trying to fill up her life with things – such as her run through a series of husbands. She keeps busy trying even to avoid human contact by coming to the well in the heat of the day since all the other women came to draw water earlier in the morning. Not only does she feel she cannot be loved by God but she extends that to every other person in her town. Her life seems to be one of turmoil and misery until she meets this remarkable man by Jacob’s well.
She doesn’t have to prove herself to him. She doesn’t have to do anything to earn his love. The only thing she has to do is accept in. At Jacob’s well her life is forever changed as she drinks in the goodness and love of Jesus Christ. She realizes for the first time in her life that she is loved just for being. Her encounter with the Lord should hopefully remind us that at the Font of our own Baptism the love of God washed over us simply because we are. We are a beloved Son or Daughter of God. We don’t need to earn his love; we just need to accept it.
Then once we accept God’s unconditional love into our lives we too must go and share that love with others. After her encounter with the Lord, the woman runs back to people she had avoided for years to share this Good News with them. (John 4: 28 – 30) She thought not about herself but about sharing the love that she had freely received. Once we accept God’s love completely it spurs us into action – even going to places where we might never have ventured before.
Today as we read about the Samaritan Woman at the Well, we Redemptorists also pause to remember one of our brothers. Today we recall St. Clement Mary Hofbauer on his feast day. Canonized 100 years ago his life is full of stories on how we strived to share the Good News of God’s love in our lives, even to places where he might never have ventured before. St. Clement took the message of Jesus Christ and the mission of the Redemptorists to “preach to the Good News to the poor” into Poland and Austria.
My most favorite story about St. Clement is the following one. On one occasion, he went begging for the orphanage he was running to a local pub. When Clement asked for a donation, one of the patrons scornfully spat beer into Clement's face. Wiping off the beer, he responded, "That was for me. Now what do you have for my boys?" The men in the bar were so astounded by the Christlike response that they gave Clement more than 100 silver coins.
May the example of the Woman at the Well of knowing she was loved just for being help us to accept God’s love in our own lives this Lenten Season. May the courageous example of St. Clement who gave his entire life in sharing that love help us to be men and women who always “preach the Good News of the Lord.”
St. Clement’s Catholic Church; Saratoga Springs, NY
Exodus 17: 3—7
Psalm 95: 1 – 2, 6 – 7, 8 – 9
Romans 5: 1—2, 5 – 8
John 4: 5 – 42
Oprah Winfrey in the September 1991 issue of Good Housekeeping said: “I discovered I didn’t feel worth a damn, and certainly not worthy of love, unless I was accomplishing something. I suddenly realized I have never felt I could be loved just for being.” I had a similar thought come to me during the summer of 1985 when I was involved in a Clinical Pastoral Experience program in Boston, MA. My supervisor was a Protestant Minister and one day he jokingly asked me why I was inflicted with the Protestant work ethic. He said that we Catholics had managed to take one thing from their religion – the idea that we must be doing something at all times or else that our life has no meaning.
How often have we all felt that way, that we must be doing something good, we must be busy doing in order to earn God’s love. Today as we meet the Samaritan woman at the well we realize that God’s gift of love is waiting there for us. Not only does she not initially feel worthy of God’s love but she is constantly running trying to fill up her life with things – such as her run through a series of husbands. She keeps busy trying even to avoid human contact by coming to the well in the heat of the day since all the other women came to draw water earlier in the morning. Not only does she feel she cannot be loved by God but she extends that to every other person in her town. Her life seems to be one of turmoil and misery until she meets this remarkable man by Jacob’s well.
She doesn’t have to prove herself to him. She doesn’t have to do anything to earn his love. The only thing she has to do is accept in. At Jacob’s well her life is forever changed as she drinks in the goodness and love of Jesus Christ. She realizes for the first time in her life that she is loved just for being. Her encounter with the Lord should hopefully remind us that at the Font of our own Baptism the love of God washed over us simply because we are. We are a beloved Son or Daughter of God. We don’t need to earn his love; we just need to accept it.
Then once we accept God’s unconditional love into our lives we too must go and share that love with others. After her encounter with the Lord, the woman runs back to people she had avoided for years to share this Good News with them. (John 4: 28 – 30) She thought not about herself but about sharing the love that she had freely received. Once we accept God’s love completely it spurs us into action – even going to places where we might never have ventured before.
Today as we read about the Samaritan Woman at the Well, we Redemptorists also pause to remember one of our brothers. Today we recall St. Clement Mary Hofbauer on his feast day. Canonized 100 years ago his life is full of stories on how we strived to share the Good News of God’s love in our lives, even to places where he might never have ventured before. St. Clement took the message of Jesus Christ and the mission of the Redemptorists to “preach to the Good News to the poor” into Poland and Austria.
My most favorite story about St. Clement is the following one. On one occasion, he went begging for the orphanage he was running to a local pub. When Clement asked for a donation, one of the patrons scornfully spat beer into Clement's face. Wiping off the beer, he responded, "That was for me. Now what do you have for my boys?" The men in the bar were so astounded by the Christlike response that they gave Clement more than 100 silver coins.
May the example of the Woman at the Well of knowing she was loved just for being help us to accept God’s love in our own lives this Lenten Season. May the courageous example of St. Clement who gave his entire life in sharing that love help us to be men and women who always “preach the Good News of the Lord.”
