My friends, as we continue our Lenten journey, this week’s Scriptures go a long way it seems to address our everyday lives – the struggles that we face in being true to our baptisms and our confirmational commitments to follow our brother Jesus.  From the Old Testament book of Exodus, on through Paul’s words to the Romans, and Jesus’ exchange with the Samaritan woman in John’s gospel, we too are being taught and counseled like the people of old in very good ways to carry on with Jesus’ message in our world today – a message, by the way, which is the fulfillment of all that came before it. 

   As we spoke of last week, there is much in our daily lives, in the world in which we live today, that is down-right discouraging, and I think it is easy, in that light, to understand Moses’ lament to God in the 1^st reading: “What am I to do?” and further, “God, where are you?” We see in that 1^st reading, Moses’ loving God responding with the “stuff” of life – water first, and later food, if we continue on with the reading. 

   Moses and the Israelite people no doubt learned a bit about the challenge of faith in  this encounter with God, hopefully realizing that “faith” is a gift with responsibilities for both parties involved – the giver and the receiver. 

   Paul, in his letter to the Romans, spells out further the true, fuller gift of faith.  He says, faith brings with it hope, that we can do what otherwise might seem impossible, except for this gift, which makes us strong.

   He continues, our hope is strong because of love, “poured into our hearts by the Spirit.” This reminds me of Jesus’ final words to his followers before physically leaving them:  “Do not be afraid, I will be with you always!”  The gift of his Spirit was his final gift to them and us.

   Then Jesus continues the instruction for the Samaritan woman, his followers and us in the wonderful exchange at the well.   In this story we see clearly Jesus’ penchant for taking people’s surface understanding of a topic, deeper. 

   The Samaritan woman, coming to the well, looking for physical water, eventually came to see that a different type of “water” was being offered!  But this story is wonderful too, for a different reason, in that Jesus gives us a clear path to follow in encountering others “on our journey”  through life.

   His culture told him that not only should he not be talking to a woman in public, but also, not a “Samaritan” woman  whom “all good Jews” were supposed to shun, even though they were Jews too!  Jesus ignores this law which clearly was not about love, and was therefore able to do so much, more good.  By his ignoring a loveless law, Jesus taught everyone in his hearing that when we look for those things that unite us, rather than what divides, we truly choose the better path. 

   And one final comment from these readings comes from the psalmist today in #95:  “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”  In order to follow our brother Jesus, we need to have hearts of flesh, not of stone.  A “heart of flesh” as Jesus gave our world, would have allowed Bishop Barron to meet with us when we asked…  That is why I handed out stones when you arrived today – as you carry your stones around this week in your pocket, perhaps it will remind you that meeting our world with “hearts of flesh,” instead of stone, will get us much further.

   As you may be aware, March is Women’s History Month – and in fact, today is International Women’s Day!  March holds 31 days to remember the often-forgotten women of history – and many times, they were forgotten, simply because they weren’t men!  Former CBS News anchor, Norah O’Donnell, has a new book out, We the Women, remembering many of these memorable females.  I look forward to reading it! 

     March is therefore, a good time to remember the women in our lives and thank them for the gifts they gave us that made us who we are today – gifts many times taken for granted . And as I say this, I do realize that some of the women who have been part of our lives may not have been positive influences, but be that as it may, we all have many women who have been guides for us to follow.  You all have your own list to remember, and I will share just a few comments here regarding the plight of women in our world today, and why it is important to remember them. 

• Because both Church and State are very patriarchal places, women when paired with men, always, always have a tougher time, basically responding to a world that has been taught to believe that a woman is less than any man simply because of how they happen to have been born!  And if you don’t believe that, ask yourself why this country, in nearly 250 years, has been unable to elect a woman president, when in the last 10 years, two superiorly qualified women have tried and failed to be given the chance to lead in this way.  And, I would add, they didn’t fail, but our country did! 
• Our Church is no better, and I would submit, even slower to move than the country in general where women are concerned.  And women can’t change these ignorant ideas of “less than” perpetrated by men in positions of power, and sadly, by some women too, in both Church and State, by themselves.  Men who love women must be advocates for their sisters, wives, daughters, granddaughters and women friends declaring the lie when they hear it, and see it.  Not that a woman is better than a man, but all things being equal, she should not have to fight against the sexist notion of “being less than” from the get-go. 

   I think we have moved past the unfortunate situation that Hillary Clinton faced in 2016, when part of the commentary introducing her at the Democratic National Convention as the 1^st woman ever to be nominated by a national political party to run for president, included a description of “what she was wearing!” I don’t recall what her opponent was wearing!

   And even though some of this may be getting better, we have to keep in mind that so much of this, we call it sexism, is very subtle.  Women in my age group grew up “believing” almost unconsciously that they needed permission, especially in matters of faith from a man, who “stood” in the place of God, for all intents and purposes. 

   Our beloved Church, in well over 2,000 years, in its hierarchy of men, has not uplifted the calls of women to be priests, and I’m not holding my breath that they will anytime soon.  I, along with many Roman Catholic Women Priests, in the early days, struggled with our God-given calls to pursue priesthood for service, in a Church led by men who said, “No.”

   Earlier I mentioned the need for men to “speak truth to power” when they hear the lie of women’s unworthiness and of how important that is.  One such man in my journey to priesthood was a Southern Baptist minister who was my instructor in chaplain training.  Seeing my frustration with the Catholic church, of not hearing, “Father say it was okay,” my instructor, Mark Hart said, “Kathy, you don’t have to have anyone’s permission to do what God is calling you to do!”  This was a life-changing moment for me!  And of course, Robert’s support along the way has meant the world to me!  So, men, don’t underestimate the power you have to speak up for the women in your lives – for their goodness and humble worthiness to follow their calls in Church and State – wherever that may lead.

   Finally, my friends, many of us lament that our younger people have pretty much in mass walked away from Church affiliation, across the denominations.  And with eyes wide open, ears fully tuned, we should be able to understand that when we don’t listen to new ideas, and can’t accept the worth in all created beings, the days when we can hold the minds and hearts of our younger, less indoctrinated people, are really gone!

   In conclusion then, our brother Jesus said something really wonderful to the Samaritan woman in today’s gospel that we should take into our present day lives – would that our hierarchical men could as well!  Jesus said to her:  “If you only recognized who it is who is asking you for a drink…”  For us my friends, we need to take that a step further – “If we only recognized who  it is who is asking us for some food, for a bed, for respect, and so on…”  Friends, it only matters that Jesus gave himself as gift so many, many years ago, if we can then see him today in the imploring of the needy in our midst.  “Open your eyes and see, [he says], the fields are ready for the harvest!”  Amen? Amen!

My friends, this week’s Scriptures speak to us very clearly about what it means to be “in relationship” with our Loving God, and additionally, what it means to truly follow our brother Jesus.  Let’s take a cursory look and then, as always, we will try and dive deeper into just what these Scriptures might mean for us today, because as you know, these readings are just “words on the page,” unless we are willing to act upon them. 

   First off, if we were looking for a general theme for today, the psalmist in #33 gives us a good one, “The Creator loves justice and right.”  And very quickly we see that through our “relationship with God,” as we read from the Old, or First Testament, “God will be God for us, and we will be God’s people, that relationship comes with duties. 

   In the Genesis reading today, we see our forebears in the faith, Abram and Sarai, later to become, Sarah and Abraham, are called by God to do their part, and it is no small part at that! God asks them to “go forth from their kinfolk and [what is] familiar to [them]. God continues, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you.”

   On first glance, this might sound pretty straight forward, so let’s look closer.  For Abram and Sarai, and the Israelite people in general, their families and homes were everything to them and they are being asked to leave both, family and home, so in many ways, this is a “big deal.” And it is such a big deal that as a covenant or promise between God and them is made, “I will be your God, and you will be my people,” the deal is sealed, as it were, by each taking a new name – Sarai becomes Sarah, and Abram becomes Abraham.

   Before leaving Genesis, we might wonder out loud, what gave these two forebears in the faith the strength to do what they did? We call them, “our forebears in the faith” for one very important reason – “they left all they knew, walking ‘in faith,’ not knowing what would come next” – we friends are called many times, to the same.

   We get added good counsel from Paul in his letter to Timothy today: “Do not be ashamed of me” – or to testify about God.” I think most of us who admit to having a good conscience, have been challenged from time to time in our lives to do the “right thing,” speak the word that no one else will speak, but that needs to be spoken. And of course, the easier thing is to remain, “silent with the crowd” because we want to be liked and loved by family and friends.  But, the “rubber does really meet the road” when we find ourselves disagreeing at “heart level” with family and close friends. 

   Trying to live as Jesus did, always choosing what is best for all, reminds me of a class via zoom that I had the good fortune to take recently, entitled, Leo XIII – Leo XIV.   It was presented by theologian, Sister Dawn Nothwehr, Rochester Franciscan. 

   The class was intended to help us see how being involved in social justice has long, if not always, been a part of Catholic Social Teaching, whether it is consistently acted upon or not.  You will recall that Pope Leo XIII, in 1891 wrote the encyclical, Rerum Novarum, more commonly known as, the encyclical for “the Workers.”

   Catholic social teaching has always instructed that persons look at the conditions of life around them and try and match that up with what we know of God’s plan for all through the Scriptures, and also through the wisdom of others that comes from the Spirit of God.  The answers that come to those so engaged are never easy – we might say, “black and white.” 

   If we look to Pope Leo XIII, we see this dilemma.   During the time he composed, Rerum Novarum, 1891, capitalism and socialism were vying for prominent places in society.  Each had some good things to offer, but neither was a complete answer with regard to what Leo thought was, “being a good Christian.”

   With capitalism, individual rights were uplifted, which in and of itself was good, but that notion carried to the extreme worked against the Christian ethic of caring for the poor.  Socialism, while having a tenet of caring for the poor in conjunction with Christian principles, was too involved in individual lives, Leo thought, basically taking many personal rights away. 

   Thus, Rerum Novarum seemed “to fall” as a balance to both social ideas: It encouraged a just wage for workers, shorter workdays (common was 12-15 hours a day), protections for workers, safer work environments, days off, and so on…He also advocated for the right of individuals to own property, and this too, within balance. 

   I believe our present Pope Leo chose his new name to make clear that he would follow in his predecessor Leo’s footsteps being aware of the great imbalance in our world between the “haves and have-nots.” 

   So, my friends, I think from this example, we can clearly see that “doing what is right,” including all, is never easy.  Our 3^rd reading today from Matthew’s gospel gives us perhaps, the tone we should use in our Christian-like endeavors.  Peter, the impetuous one, responds from his heart in the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus with Moses and Elijah, “Teacher, how good that we are here!”  This particular line from Scripture has always been one of my favorites.  The times in which we live are, if truth be told, so discouraging in many ways – much that is going on in our country through lack of leadership, lying, selfishness, meanness, and likewise in our world, deflates our best desires for peace and goodwill for all.  But, my friends, at the end of the day, I can say with Peter, “It is good that we are here!”  I can say this because I know that each of you is here too – each of you working against those lowest denominator qualities, striving for peace, lovingkindness, justice, mercy and love. And a final comment from our brother Jesus, that gives me great hope, “Don’t be afraid, because I am with you always!” Amen? Amen!