I think I should write a book called ‘Working for Three’. Tonight for about the umpteenth billion time I heard the story from Fr. Clem, who is 83, about how he went to Lourdes and was healed of his terminal cancer. He made the promise to the Blessed Mother there, that if She healed him, he would always work for three. He goes on to explain that he has always done three jobs not just one. And still at 83 he does stay pretty busy with helping people.
I went to confession with Fr. Clem tonight because his holiness and his joy are just so exhuberant and inspiring. Sometimes in a formation house you can get pretty overwhelmed and feel pretty hopeless. You are aspiring to do a job where you work closely with people and are given the freedom to decide what’s best. Yet for the good part of the first ten years, you have very little contact with ministry and when you do, it all must fit within specific parameters the higher-ups have for you.
Fr. Clem is one of those sparks that can get you going and remind you that there is a god and we’re living for Him. And to finish on a funnier note, Fr. Clem told me tonight about a lady who once came in to his office and on their second meeting told him that she was in love with him and wanted him to leave the priesthood for her. He told me, “boy the Italian in me made me want to just punch her right in the nose”. Thank God for holy men like Fr. Clem.
