Three weeks ago, on the 11th Sunday of ordinary time, we heard the story of a woman who approached Jesus at the home of a leading Pharisee who had invited Him to dinner. Most of us know the story well.
“Standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with ointment…” (Lk 7:38).
“While this was going on, the Pharisee thought to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner’”(Lk 7:39).
Knowing his thoughts, Jesus told a parable about a creditor who forgave the debts of two persons, one a large and another a smaller amount. After asking the Pharisee who of the two would love the creditor more, he answered, “The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more” (Lk 7:43).
After affirming his answer, Jesus said, ‘Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much’… He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven … your faith has saved you; go in peace’” (Lk 7:47-50).
Just days after this gospel was read, in all of the Catholic churches throughout the world, a woman employed as a stripper outside the Diocese of Lincoln decided to travel to Lincoln to party with some friends. As you can imagine, the alcohol was flowing and once the word spread to the young men hanging around what her profession was, one decided to take advantage of her. During the ensuing struggle, she managed to break away and was found wandering the streets of Lincoln with her clothes torn and in shambles.
After seeing her in obvious distress, a friend of CSS brought her to us. After she refused to involve law enforcement, while doing her best to cover herself because of her torn clothing, we took her to our St. Louise Gift & Thrift store and clothed her. Afterwards we gave her a rosary and while looking at the corpus of Jesus hanging on the cross, she said with great emotion, “I’m not worthy of this!”
It was then we informed her of her God-given dignity of being a daughter of God the Father Who created her in His image and likeness. We then called a cab to take her to a friend’s house. She was told to call us if she ever needs anything.
I need not tell you that a seed was planted and what is necessary now is water and fertilizer, i.e. prayer and penance. During this year of Mercy, please pray for this young woman and if you can, please perform a little act of penance.
We are not worried that we may never see her again because, “One sows and another reaps” (Jn 4:37) – in other words, we have sown the love of Jesus Christ in her heart and another will witness her conversion as Jesus will say to her, “Your sins are forgiven … your faith has saved you” (Lk 7:48-50).
