 The disciples approached Jesus and said, the disciples approached Jesus full stop. That verb is so common that we often overlook the importance and the arrest that it has on our imagination. Or in the words of a priest classmate of mine who visited me in St. Louis this last week, he used to consider the Middle West as flyover country. But now he actually likes St. Louis having visited. Approach is similarly a flyover word in many of our gospel passages. But today it's the heart. It speaks to us the hearts of holiness. The first reading and the gospel play on this vacillation between nearness and farness, proximity and distance. And I'd like to reflect with you on this dynamic because I think there is an important lesson on holiness to be had here. Moses brought the people near to God, who though was still distant. He spoke from a dense cloud up the faraway top of the mountain. Moses instead himself drew near to God at the summit while the people stayed at a distance. Think about the gospel as well. The disciples asked Jesus why he speaks to the crowd in parables, which keep the precise understanding of Jesus and perhaps immediate acceptance of him at a distance. Whereas to the disciples and to those who press in on him, he reveals himself plainly and is quite near, making them the ultimate insiders, sure to make jealous Ponyboy Curtis and the company. What's going on with this dynamic of near and far? It's something that's been picked up on by theologians. One famous biblical ethicist, Jacob says this, the fundamental mental lesson here is that holiness indeed refers to a state and an activity. The first effect of holiness is to keep man at a distance, like at the burning bush, who can survive before the Lord our holy God. The inhabitants of Shemesh tell us into two chronicles. There is indeed a transcendence and a separateness about God. But then we read in Isaiah that the Lord keeps close to Israel, especially to the brokenhearted. Or in the New Testament we'll read in 1 Timothy, God dwells in light inaccessible, but yet in the beginning of John's gospel, that light shines on every person coming into the world. What's going on here? Ultimately, yes, God is distance and far and ultimately beyond us. But that's not to say that he is not approachable. In fact, he is approachable. And the goal of the Christian life is to draw near to him, who says to us, come, follow me. But like we heard yesterday with Dr. Hahn, we actually can't do just that. We need him to come to us to approach us first, which he did in history at the incarnation and in mystery at every mass. Like any winner of a scramble golf tournament would know, it's all about the approach. And that's what we are hearing today. Truth be told, when some person approaches me as a priest, I sometimes find myself recoiling a bit, if not externally, at least internally. Parish ministry sometimes will do that to you. Couple of months ago, I was approached at the end of mass, a Sunday mass at the old cathedral, by a fellow who never sticks around to say hello to the priest after mass, about 60 years old or so. He walks out of mass and says to me, Father, I wanna thank you. That was the first good homily I've heard here in two years. I leaned right into it and I said, well, I've been here for two years. And he just said, oh, I know and walked away. Wow. Sometimes the approach can be a little hard, but humility is to be had. Probably the most informative approach for me in my priestly ministry, as of recent, came at the hands of another person at the old cathedral. Her name is Pat. I first met Pat while I was walking around the arch grounds right on the Mississippi riverfronts, where the old cathedral is located. After dinner, I like to walk around in my cassock praying my rosary. I remember what Mother Teresa said, don't pray in order to be seen, but never be afraid to be seen praying. You just never know who might need that witness. Well, there was one who needed that witness that evening a few years ago. Pat, I was walking around the arch and I heard the familiar Father from the distance and I turned around and I saw a woman who must be about 50 years old, pushing in a stroller, a small child who must have been about five years old. I said, hi, my name is Father Samson. What's your name? And she paused and said, my name is Pat. I said, oh, okay, well, who's this? She explained who this child was. And then I said, well, tell me about you, where are you from? And she said, Father, I actually am a little bit desperate. I am on my way to the domestic violence shelter. I couldn't take what I was going through at home and so I had to leave and this backpack is all I have. Do you think you could give me a hand? And I said, oh my gosh, of course, I am so sorry. Come over to the rectory. So I brought her to the rectory. I gave her some money, a grocery card to Schnucks, our local grocer, and said, I'm here at the old cathedral. Never be afraid to come back. In fact, come back in a few days and let's check in and see how you're doing. We set up prayer and she went on her way. A few days later, as I was walking around the arch grounds again, she came back, this time without the child and the stroller. And she said to me, Father, I forgot to mention to you something when I first met you. I entered the church last year at the new cathedral, at the Easter vigil, but I was sick the day that they taught us how to pray the rosary. Do you have a second? Can you teach me how to pray the rosary? I'm like, yes. So I brought her again to the rectory, gave her a rosary from the holy lands and taught her how to pray and she went on her way. A couple of weeks passed and then one day right before the 1210 mass that I was celebrating, I see her walking up to the old cathedral. She has a big grin on her face and I asked her, oh, Pat, this looks good. What's going on? And she said, I've got great news. I was able to find housing through St. Patrick's Center, our ministry to the homeless. They were able to get me a basic job. I put my child into a school and I'm safe. I'm gonna make it. And I want to thank you because when I first met you, I could not see a future for myself and my child and we were in danger. But you paused, you taught me the rosary, you brought me to Mary and you encouraged me that I am not a failure as a mother and I just wanted to come back and say thank you. And I thought, my goodness. And I said, well, this really means so much but we're about to start mass. Would you want to join us for mass? And she said, can I? I said, yes, you became a Catholic a year ago. Yes, come on in. So she came in and for many months she would come to Daily Mass and she would sit right in the front pew and as a convert, she, whenever I would say the Lord be with you, she would put her hands up and say, and also with you. And it was the best. It was the best. And the parishioners got to know her and got to help her and she became a part of our community. But then I didn't see her for actually about a year and a half and I started to worry about her. She came back to the old cathedral last week. She looked terrible and said to me, Father, the hotel that I was put in had burned down in a fire. There were fires in North City and she needed a little bit of money to get some food so she could live out the day and get back to the charity to find a new place to live. But I was so struck by and actually really a lot of compunction coming in, she hesitated to come to me and she quickly became really embarrassed, so embarrassed that she cried. Some time ago, she had somehow gotten my cell phone number, I think, from a secretary and I had to put a few boundaries there but I guess I didn't treat gently enough the bruised reed and the smoldering wick to my humble shame. She didn't come back for years but now she's back. Apologized and we went into mass together and that's what makes me think about the approach. Question for you, how approachable are you? Better is God approachable in you, in your heart or on you? Your affect, the joy and the sincerity of your face, the gentle attentiveness of your body. Can others draw near to God when they draw near to you? Or are you at times disagreeable, aloof, or even abrasive in your comportment or in your speech? We could put it this way, is the force of grumpy cat, rest in peace, strong in you. Are you approachable? Let's rephrase that with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Are the love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, meekness, generosity, self-control of Jesus Christ in and on you. The lesson that I learned yesterday from Thomas Aquinas is true. Holiness is the perfection of love from all eternity. That love was poured out into our hearts at baptism and we are topped off with that theological virtue every time we receive the Eucharist when we are given to participate in his very nature. I might have learned this lesson from Thomas but I first encountered it in earnest in Pat. As Father St. Andre mentioned, a value of Franciscan University is encounter. And so I encourage and urge you today as you strive to grow in holiness in your own vocations. Make God's big five attributes of Exodus 34.6 readily, unflinchingly available in your vocation, in your hearts and in your homes for all to see. God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loyal and forgiving love. Read and reread that text, frame it. Get to know God in that way as that way. The medieval rabbi, Moses Maimonides, commented on Leviticus 19,2, Be holy as I am holy by saying, What is God's holiness? Be gracious as he is gracious. Be merciful as he is merciful. By thereby availing ourselves of who God is, we will more easily make his holiness available to all who approach us. Help us, Jesus, to be merciful as the heavenly Father is merciful so that others may encounter you when they encounter us.