 For a number of years now I've had the great pleasure of actually working with Ralph Martin and renewal ministries in various different capacities. But one of the blessings that I've had is over the last about five years each year I've been able to go to China and do ministry and work in China. This one particular time, the last time I went, we were having a holy hour much like we did last night, but it was the first time in this particular village that they'd ever experienced anything like that. They'd never had an adoration like that, they've never had the priest process through the congregation, and it was actually quite interesting. So at the beginning there was a person in a wheelchair that was in the middle, and I came down with the Blessed Sacrament, and I began to just walk down the middle, and this man began weeping, and he couldn't walk and he couldn't get out of the chair, but he was trying to grab and to try to get close to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and their tears. You've heard the theme, the image of the river of tears, I mean that's exactly what was going on. This tears were, well then what began to quickly happen is as I was processing through the congregation, the people were, where they were coming and they were beginning to grab me, and they were beginning to grab my hands. I was holding the monstrance, and these women and the men, the emotion and the tears and the power that was going on, there was just, it was overwhelming, but it was also chaotic. I mean they were literally grabbing me. Some of these Chinese ladies are really, really strong, alright? So I'm holding the Blessed Sacrament and they're grabbing and trying to get closer to Jesus, and tears are just pouring down their cheeks, and they begin to gather around me. There's not this nice little path. Somebody grabbed my legs, I felt like I was running for a touchdown, and he grabs my legs, and there's this power of emotion that, it was chaotic, huh? It was undignified. And one of the most beautifully profound experiences of my priesthood. When Ralph spoke of desperate need, that's what I was surrounded by. Men and women who had a desperate, desperate need, and they knew it, and they were aware of it, and they longed to be even closer to him. It seems to me that's exactly what we have in today's Gospel. This woman, again, when Ralph was preaching, I was just struck with this challenge. Do we have this desperate need? Do we recognize this? I think this woman in the Gospel today had a desperate need. If you want to know what desperate need is, think of this woman, how she runs in this, there's, try to set the scene that they're having dinner, they're having a meal, it's not this huge auditorium, they're having a meal in this room, and it's the home of the Pharisee, and the woman hears that Jesus is there. I just wonder, imagine what that journey was from her when she realizes that Jesus is there, and she's obviously moved with great emotion, she has this desperate need, and she runs, and I wonder if there was a moment that she stood at the door thinking to herself, I do not belong here. I am not welcome here. But this woman did not care, huh? She didn't care if she missed the invitation. She knew that that's where she needed to be, because that's where he was. You know, when we hear this story, and it's not scandalous to us, but for them it would have been scandalous, just try to imagine the scene, and I tried to pray over it, there's, there are all these men that are having this meal, and this woman barges into it, unwelcome, not invited, and they're kind of like, what are you doing here, huh? And she lays at the feet of Jesus, and tears are flowing out of her, and just, and they're falling to her feet, and it seems as if all of this is taking place, and nobody seems to be mentioning the obvious, all right? There is this woman who wasn't invited at the feet of Jesus, and tears are coming down, and they're like, nobody seems to be bothered by this. It just kind of goes on, amen? All right, and then she does something which would be, again, scandalous. She takes whatever's in her hair, it's not something I think a great deal about, she takes something out of her hair, and she's literally at the feet of Jesus, and the tears are on his, in his feet are wet, and everybody's just kind of watching this, and she takes her hair, and she begins to dry the feet of Jesus with her hair. That is desperate need. That's a woman that is motivated and empowered by her radical, desperate need for Jesus, and it's scandalous. A Jewish woman would not take down to let her hair fall in a group of men. What is taking place here is so intimate, and it's so extravagant, but it's also scandalous, and Jesus seems to be okay with this. He seems to be all right with it, and then we've got Simon. Simon is just watching all of this take place. The Pharisee who invited Jesus saw this, and he said to himself, if this man were a prophet, he would know what sort of woman this is, and that he was touching a sinner. He just doesn't get it. Jesus knows exactly what type of woman this is. In fact, that's why the woman was able to do what she did, because this Jesus knew exactly what kind of a woman, because he knew exactly what kind of a woman was, she was able to run to him, because Jesus knew exactly the type of woman that she was, she was able to barge into a place that she wasn't welcome. Because Jesus understood and knew exactly the type of woman it was, she could go and she could sit at his feet and weep at his feet, because Jesus knew the type of a woman that she was. Amen? But Simon did not. All that Simon saw was a sinner. Simon saw an adulterer. He didn't see the type of woman. We take a moment and we reflect on the two hearts that we have. We have the heart of the woman who is at the feet of Jesus weeping and we have the heart of Simon. And all Simon sees is a sinner, an adulterer, a homosexual. What does Simon see? He doesn't see a woman. He sees a sinner. It's Simon who's blind here. Jesus sees. And it's because of that that she knew she could barge into a room that she wasn't welcomed, because she wanted to be with her brother, because she wanted to experience the love of her brother. And that she had the same father. And that Jesus would see the depths of her and look past what everybody else looked, look past what Simon saw and look past what everybody else. And she knew that finally she would be, yes, yes, yes Simon. He knows the type of woman that she is. And that is exactly why she was able to go. And then Jesus says to Simon then he turned to the woman and he said to Simon, do you see this woman? I don't. I don't. All I can see is their sinfulness and the things that she's done and the story, that's all I can see. Jesus goes on to say, Simon, you did not give me water, but she has. I just found myself praying over this contrast. Three different times Jesus said, Simon, you did not, but she has. Simon, you did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet. You did not anoint my me with oil, but she has. No. No, Lord. Simon doesn't see and all he can see. And at times all we can see in ourselves and in others is our brokenness and our sinfulness. And we rejoice in the reality that God does know that he doesn't need Simon to remind him, do you know the type? That's why we can go. You see, what we have here is we've got two sinners, and that's already been established. We've got the woman, and she is a great sinner, and we've got Simon. And Simon is what I call a religious sinner. That's us, amen? We're religious sinners. We dress up to go to confession on our terms. Simon, what causes Simon to repentance? What moves Simon to repentance is the law. What moves her, what moves the woman is the Holy Spirit. It's the Spirit of God that's working in her. It's the Spirit of God that's convicted her. I love in John's Gospel it says that the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin. In Brothers and Sisters, the Spirit convicts us to convert us, not to condemn us, amen? Hear that, that the Holy Spirit convicts us to convert us, not to condemn us. And this woman knew that. It was the Spirit of God that was moving in her that allowed her to barge into this room that she wasn't welcome, that allowed her to go to the feet of Jesus knowing that she wasn't going to be turned away. Because that's the Spirit of God, huh? The world had probably told her a million times, all the stuff that you're doing is wrong and sinful. But that's not what's going to change her heart. It's the Spirit, because we know that when it's the Spirit convicting us, it leads us to Jesus. Exactly the opposite of what the evil one wants. I want them to know how bad they are and how horrible they are. And he continues to speak in us. But when it's the Spirit of God, we might see the same things. But the evil one tries to condemn us, and the Spirit of God converts us, amen? And the woman knew that. The story that I opened up with Friday night, which apparently the only thing anyone remembers is the jelly aisle, OK? So there was something more to that story. And with that being said, one advantage, and again, this is the grace and the power of the Lord that in the end, all things work for His glory. This woman I'm sure you've been praying for, this woman that I met in the jelly aisle, I'm sure this week you've all been praying for her, right? Right? I have. So who's the judge now, huh? So of nothing else, this woman has 800 people praying for her all the time now. And the profound moment of that night was not what took place in the grocery store, what took the profound moment, what was took place in my heart while the pies were in the oven baking, and I was sitting in the chapel, repenting. That's what made that night so powerful for me, was that the Spirit of God moved upon me and brought me to repentance. Brothers and sisters, any great movement in my life has always began with the Spirit of God in repentance. Any movement to depth and purification and transformation and conversion has always been precipitated by profound repentance. And this woman understood that. And she was in desperate need. And she ran to Jesus. And Jesus says to her, woman, your sins are forgiven. And then he goes on and says, your faith has saved you. Well, what was her faith? Her faith was running to Jesus and going to a place that she wasn't invited into a place that honestly she wasn't welcomed and knowing that Jesus would not abandon her and knowing that Jesus would not turn her away. That was her faith. Imagine the courage to walk into a place that she wasn't welcomed, knowing that he knew her and everything about her. And he would not turn her away. I think that's one of the things Pope Francis is saying time and time again. And if I'm honest, at times that bugs me. But what Pope Francis is saying is everybody's invited. He says in Evangelio Nunciante a couple of times, everybody's invited. And it's like everybody, Lord? Like everybody, even those people are invited? Everybody's invited. Brothers and sisters, if everybody is invited, then that means some people aren't invited. And if some people aren't invited, it's possible that that somebody's me is you. Everybody is invited. And the woman knew that she was going to walk into a situation where nobody thought she was invited except for one person. And she knew that that was her faith, that he would not turn me away. But it's important for us to recall that she walked through a door to be able to get there. And that door is repentance. Everybody's invited, yes. But this woman walked through the door of repentance. As we begin this liturgy, every liturgy we begin, we begin with the penitential right. And I think sometimes we just kind of blow that off. We don't give it the prayer and the reflection that it deserves. It's kind of the thing that we get through. We're just getting to mass and we're getting settled. But it's important that it's at the beginning that we literally walk through this door of repentance as we enter into the rest of it. Everybody's invited. And the door that brings us to this altar, the door that brings us here is a door and it's an arch of repentance. That's one of the things I love about the Holy Doors right now, that the Holy Father has given us Holy Doors at Franciscan University. The door's in the Christ of King Chapel. If you haven't walked through that Holy Door yet, you need to, amen? You need to. Because that door is a Holy Door and it's a door to mercy. And that each one of us walks through it and we receive all of mercy that this woman received. And everybody's invited to walk through that door of mercy. The only key we need is the one that each one of us has. And that's our sin. And that's what Jesus is saying, is the woman who, the person who understands the profound nature of their sin experiences great mercy. So that I never walk through a Holy Door. I never walk through this, through the door that leads me to this altar without the recognition that it is my sin that opens up the mercy of God. Amen. And unfortunately, I'll probably never forget that key. But I'm reminded, as this woman reminds me, of a desperate need that I have. A desperate need to the mercy of God. A desperate need of somebody knowing me, knowing everything about me and saying that I'm still welcome, that I'll never be turned away. Brothers and sisters, the Lord himself has invited us to this altar. We come to him with desperate need and we experience his glory. Amen.