This is the weekend of the third Sunday of Lent. In the scrutiny Gospel for this weekend, we encounter a familiar Gospel story which brings a strong memory/experience to light in my mind. It was back around this time in 1993 when our family joined St. Paul the Apostle Parish. Many of you who were members of St. Paul then, will remember with fondness this heart opening experience, I am sure! We were in the “old church” {which is now the Fr. Shori Hall} and when it came time for the Gospel to be read, our celebrant sat down–what’s going on, I wondered! A veiled woman walked up to the baptismal font which had been placed in the middle of the church’s main aisle. She then began to share with us all, her story of meeting Jesus at the well of Jacob and Him asking her for a drink of water. She poured her heart out as she told us that He was a Jew and she was a Samaritan, thus leaving her shocked that He would even speak to her. She told us that He said He knew all about her, her past, her sin…..and yet He said He would give her Living Water. As she vividly and dramatically shared her experience with Jesus at the well of Jacob, those who were sitting in her vicinity even got a taste of that Living Baptismal Water as it rained down on them. She was mesmerizing in the sharing of her experience with Jesus and when her dramatization had ended, you couldn’t help but feel that Jesus was truly present in our church at that moment! My heart was truly evangelized as I experienced the Gospel that day!

As time went on, I came to learn, know, and love that woman–Clairann McLean. She was a very special lady and touched the hearts of many through her life and her daily witness to the workings of the Holy Spirit in her life. Sadly, we lost Clairann a year ago–though our loss is her gain, as I truly believe that she is enjoying the reward of being in the presence of her Lord and Savior for the rest of eternity! Our parish was indeed blessed by her sharing her gifts with us. Every time I hear that Gospel story, my mind and heart immediately go back to the faith blessing that I experienced and the strength it reinforced in my walk with the Lord! Thank you, Jesus, for your many daily blessings!

In the Twelve Step zoom course I took during the closedown, I discovered that a prayer that we say frequently when things seem out of control contained a verse that I was not familiar with. This second part of this prayer is not as well known as the first, but at the same time is relevant and grounding. Hopefully, it will remind us all to give our lives over to God.

The Serenity Prayer (by Reinhold Niebuhr)

God, grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change…
Courage to change the things I can,
And Wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His will.
That I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with Him forever in the next.
Amen.