Some saints, like Augustine, or Thomas Aquinas, or Alphonsus Liguori, have been intellectually brilliant. Since ours is a teaching church, we must have some intellectual leaders. But other saints, more like the rest of us, have been far from geniuses. In them, God wants to emphasize that what He most wants from everybody is humility of heart. That is what attracted thousands to seek out the famous 19th century Cure (pastor) of Ars, France, his earthy simplicity of spirit.
John Vianney, the future Cure, was the son of a poor farmer in east-central France. John was devout and wanted to study for the priesthood. His father couldn’t spare him from the farm work until he was 20. Then he began his preparatory studies with a nearby parish priest. A slow learner by nature, John simply couldn’t master Latin; but after a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. John Francis Regis, he at least got over his discouragement. Then came another setback. Drafted into the Napoleonic Army in 1809, he accidentally missed the departure of his contingent and thus, technically but contrary to his own intention, he became a “draft-dodger”. The mayor to whom he reported his plight sensibly advised that he go into hiding rather than risk the severe penalties prescribed for deserters. So under a pseudonym, John remained working on a local farm for the next 14 months. In 1811, thanks to an amnesty, he was able to return home a free man.
Now he resumed his seminary studies. Latin remained the bugbear, but his bishop realized that Vianney had great common sense and was a model of goodness; so he ordained him a priest in 1812. Named assistant pastor to the parish of his first priest-instructor, young Father Vianney soon showed particular gifts, as a confessor. In 1818, John-Mary was named pastor of the run-down rural parish of Ars-en-Dombes. Here he was to spend the rest of his days. Thanks to his diligent efforts, his own holiness and the miracles that he occasioned, he finally succeeded in winning over his listless congregation to grateful obedience and Christian regularity of life. It was not an easy success, so far as Vianney was concerned. He tried three times to run away to a monastery or other more peaceful locale, but he always came back. He was also under constant assault by the devil, who even threatened him physically. At the same time he was the object of enmity on the part of some of his fellow priests. They resented his zeal, which far outstripped their own. But his bishop fully appreciated him.
Jean-Marie Vianney excelled as a confessor. When people began to come to Ars in droves to consult him, he might spend as many as 16 hours a day in the confessional. In this important work he was aided by the spiritual gift of reading peoples’ souls. Sometimes he could remind them to confess old sins that only they knew of. The saint preached, of course; but preachers, like the writers of today’s medical advice columns, can only discuss “diseases” in general. For the particular diagnosis and remedies, one must still see one’s own doctor.
In the year 1858-1859, over 1,000 pilgrims visited Ars. The Cure, now 73, and worn out, took to bed for the last time on July 18, 1859. Even then he summoned several persons to kneel beside his bedstead and finish their confessions. He died on August 5, 1859. Pope Pius XI canonized Vianney in 1925. Four years later Pius named him the principal patron of all the Catholic parish clergy. The choice of this gentle, self- sacrificing, unlikely shepherd for that heavenly task could not have been more appropriate. --Father Robert F. McNamara
Scripture Ezekiel 3:17-21
The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, I have appointed you as sentry to the House of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from me, warn them in my Name. If I say to a wicked man, “You are to die,” and you do not warn him; if you do not speak and warn him to renounce his evil ways and so live, then he shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, however, you do warn a wicked man and he does not renounce his wickedness and his evil ways, then he shall die for his sin, but you yourself will have saved your life. When the upright man renounces his integrity to do evil and I set a trap for him, he too shall die; since you failed to warn him, he shall die for his sin and the integrity he practised will no longer be remembered; but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, however, you warn the upright man not to sin and he abstains from sinning, he shall live, thanks to your warning, and you too will have saved your life.’
Writings
(Year C). CAN WE, of our own strength, avoid sin, and practice virtue? No, my children, we can do nothing without the grace of God: that is an article of faith; Jesus Christ Himself taught it to us. See, the Church thinks, and all the saints have thought with her, that grace is absolutely necessary to us, and that without it we can neither believe, nor hope, nor love, nor do penance for our sins. St. Paul, whose piety was not counterfeit, assures us, on his part, that we cannot of ourselves even pronounce the name of Jesus in a manner that can gain merit for Heaven. As the earth can produce nothing unless it is fertilized by the sun, so we can do no good without the grace of the good God. Grace, my children, is a supernatural assistance which leads us to good; for example, there is a sinner who goes into a church and hears an instruction: the preacher speaks of Hell, of the severity of the judgments of God; he feels himself interiorly urged to be converted; this interior impulse is what is called grace. See, my children, it is the good God taking that sinner by the hand, and wishing to teach him to walk. We are like little children: we do not know how to walk on the road to Heaven; we stagger, we fall, unless the hand of the good God is always ready to support us. O my children! how good is the good God! If we would think of all that He has done, of all that He still does every day for us, we should not be able to offend Him – we should love Him with all our heart; but we do not think of it, that is the reason. . . .
The angels sin, and are cast into Hell. Man sins, and God promises him a Deliverer. What have we done to deserve this favour? What have we done to deserve to be born in the Catholic religion, while so many souls are every day lost in other religions? What have we done to deserve to be baptised, while so many little children in France, as well as in China and America, die without Baptism? What have we done to deserve the pardon of all the sins that we commit after the age of reason, while so many are deprived of the Sacrament of Penance? O my children! St. Augustine says, and it is very true, that God seeks in us what deserves that He should abandon us, and finds it; and that He seeks what would make us worthy of His gifts, and finds nothing, because, in fact, there is nothing in us – we are nothing but ashes and sin. All our merit, my children, consists in cooperating with grace. See, my children, a beautiful flower has no beauty nor brilliancy without the sun; for during the night it is all withered and drooping. When the sun rises in the morning, it suddenly revives and expands. It is the same with our soul, in regard to Jesus Christ, the true Sun of justice; it has no interior beauty but through sanctifying grace. In order to receive this grace, my children, our soul must turn to the good God by a sincere conversion: we must open our hearts to Him by an act of faith and love. As the sun alone cannot make a flower expand if it is already dead, so the grace of the good God cannot bring us back to life if we will not abandon sin. God speaks to us, without ceasing, by His good inspirations; He sends us good thoughts, good desires. In youth, in old age, in all the misfortunes of life, He exhorts us to receive His grace, and what use do we make of His warnings? At this moment, even, are we cooperating rightly with grace? Are we not shutting the door of our heart against it? Consider that the good God will one day call you to account for what you have heard today; woe to you, if you stifle the cry that is rising from the depths of your conscience! We are in prosperity, we live in the midst of pleasures, all puffed up with pride; our heart is of ice towards the good God. It is a ball of copper, which the waters of grace cannot penetrate; it is a tree which receives the gentle dew, and bears no more fruit. . . .
Let us be on our guard, my children; let us take care not to be unfaithful to grace. The good God leaves us free to choose life or death; if we choose death, we shall be cast into the fire, and we must burn forever with the devils. Let us ask pardon of God for having hitherto abused the graces He has given us, and let us humbly pray Him to grant us more. (Explanations and Exhortations)
Musical Selection
You are a priest forever In the line of Melchizedek
Consecrated to the service of the Lord
To sit at his right hand.
You are a priest forever
In the line of Melchizedek
In persona Christi
Ad majorem Dei gloriam
Totus tuus, Amen
Beneath the mantle of your Mother
Who intercedes on your behalf
In the arms of your Father
Who holds you in the palm of his hand
Lord pour out upon this servant
Your Holy Spirit from above
The grace and power of your priesthood
And your unfailing love
May the anointing of the Lord
Be upon your brow today
May the oil of gladness flow
From heaven above
And may the olive Branch of peace
Be raised in your right hand
That you might show the
Saving power of his love
Collect
God of power and mercy,
you made the holy priest John Vianney
a pastor devoted entirely to his flock.
By his example and prayers
grant that we may win for you
many brothers and sisters in the love of Christ,
and together with them attain everlasting salvation.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
