Transcript of Abbot Clement’s Talk on Monday, 3 March 2003

            I would like to speak about worship again from really the same angle but with scripture instead of from just discussing elements. We said that worship entails the question of meeting God as He really is and who we really are and the appropriate response. So one of the most powerful text in terms of this is Isaiah 6. Isaiah goes into the temple, death of Uzziah, he’s obviously a bit upset because of the death of a king, because the king represents, I’m sure, a certain amount of stability in the community and everything looks kind of chaotic and as he prays, he beholds the throne of God. And surrounded by angels, the angels in the Eastern imaging, are creatures with six wings covering themselves and flying around and all this, and singing, "Holy, Holy, Holy." So at that moment Isaiah reaches and touches something that’s very real about God, His holiness. It’s the characteristic reality of Isaiah as the prophet. And so he knows God’s holiness in a very deep new way that he never knew before. And he cries out, "woe to me for I am a sinful man among a sinful people." So the consequence of seeing God as He really is, is to behold ourselves as we really are. And he realizes it’s not just him but the whole people. How different God is from us in His holiness. Then, of course, the angel moves forward and touches and purifies him and then further yet, he hears God’s discussion of who will they send and he is prompted to say, "send me." So each of these actions, of course, I think really highlight the depth and the breadth of the mystery of worship. Because we see that not only does God respond to our acknowledgment of who we are before Him, and He graces us but He also missions us. It shows that God’s intention that when we come to worship is to do us good. Not just us but others through us.

            We see the same thing in the New Testament when Jesus is preaching and hops in the boat and preaches and then He asks the apostles, Peter especially, to move out into the deep and they had been fishing all night long, and Peter says, "we didn’t get anything all night but since you said so we’ll do it." And of course they catch a fantastic amount of fish and Peter’s eyes are opened and he awakens and says, "depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord." He has some deep insight into the presence of Jesus as God. As not just an ordinary human being but also some attribute of his holiness again. And again Jesus’ response is, "fear not, I will make you a fisher of men." So the real issue is where in our life do we find God most real for us? Because God vibes differently with each of us. And it’s true for Sr. Faustina, it’s God’s mercy, in the case of Isaiah, it’s holiness, in the case of John of the Cross, it’s the cross. But the result is when we are in touch with that point then of course we are going to also know ourselves and be healed, be touched by God. And then of course, then our prayer, our worship will be fruitful. Not just for ourselves but for what God sent us out to accomplish. And so it tells us something about God is kind of more anxious to show up for our prayer meetings than we are, I think. That is, He is there ready to grace us. And so if you know what it’s like to go to a party with your friends, and you’re expecting a good time and it turns out that everybody is flat, you’re kind of disappointed. I think one of the things we do when we come to prayer prepared this way is we delight God and give joy to His Heart because He wants to respond to us.