Transcript of Abbot Clement’s Talk on Monday, 24 February 2003

            One of the most obvious things about our life is that we are people of worship. Everybody knows that Benedictine’s sum up their life in work and pray. But what exactly effects our worship? If we look at worship as a kind of running definition we could say: that as I see God for who He is, and as I see myself for who I am, then there we be an appropriate relationship between those two realities, and that’s worship. In fact I would say that to the degree that you really come in touch with God as He really is, is the essence of worship. And in fact, I would say further, to the degree that you do this, not only will you have good worship but your life will also change. But it’s important to realize exactly how this happens and works out.

            There are people who have a kind of vague notion of God, He’s somewhat out there, somewhere. They don’t have a sense that He’s present. And because He’s vague they have no motivation to really worship. How can you worship what you don’t know? And of course you also have people who are developed much more than that who really can give you a really good, clear presentation of who God is. But it’s distorted. God is always punishing people. Or you have problems today with the feminists, they have a hard time with gender problems. And so as a result they have difficulty really relating to God. But the fact is if you really do come in touch with God as He really is, not only do you come to discover yourself, but you also grow in that relationship. You grow in that reality. So, for instance, in the life of St. Faustina Kowalska, her approach to God was His mercy. It was very real. So real that not only did it put her in touch with God, but she changed and she in turn grew constantly, in deeper intense ways of being merciful herself.

            But there’s the other side as well. There are people who know God very well. But they have a very poor understanding of themselves, they think they’re always bad. And so they say something like, "God could never take interest in me, I’m not worthy." And so they don’t open themselves up to what they know about God. Or you have people who are pretty knowledgeable about God and they’re pretty confident about their own life, they’re ego life is so strong that everything revolves around their ego, so they walk with God in a kind of parallel way. So the result is they really don’t need God and so they worship accordingly. They stay at a distance. Now of course, there are a variety of these things in every direction both in the knowledge of God as He really is and of ourselves. But what really counts is how real this is. So I want to give an image for you to reflect on and think about and work with.

            It seems in this village there was a very, very good goldsmith. And a couple heard about it so went to visit his shop. When they came it wasn’t a very impressive place, it looked like a log cabin. So they went in and man, they were impressed by all the jewelry but no one seemed to be around. So they saw a door with a curtain on it so they peeped in and there he was. They said, "we’d like to buy something." He raised his hand so they came in and there he was purifying the gold with the crucible. They said, " we’d like to purchase something." He says "Not right now, I can’t." They said, "what are you doing?" He says, "I’m purifying my gold. If it’s too hot then it evaporates. If it’s too cold and the temperature is not high enough, then it doesn’t get purified." "Well, how do you know when the gold is purified, ready?" And the goldsmith said, "when I see my reflection." Now that’s the real relationship of God to us. It’s not the total real relationship. God has made us in His image and likeness of His Son. And He’s purifying us. And so He’s acting toward us. And when we come to that stage of purity that counts we reflect His vision of us and of course we see His smiling face upon us. But this is another image from one little sentence in Sunday’s second reading. Paul said, "that God is a "yes" to us." If that is real for us then we will also say not only "yes" to God but "yes" to our everyday life. And "yes" to the people that God places across our path. And of course the result is that worship then flows into life and people begin to sense that this is a holy place.