Memorial of Saint Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney. A Modest Parish Priest
On August 4, the Catholic Church remembers in the liturgy Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, Pastor of Ars. A modest priest from a French village sets as an example for parish priests, according to John Paul II, who dedicated to John Marie Vianney his Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday in 1986, he is a model of strong will in the pursuit to the priesthood. Jean-Baptiste-Marie was born on May 8, 1786 to a peasant family in the village of Dardilly near Lyon. The priestly vocation began to take root in him under the influence of the parish priest of Ecully. It was only at the age of 25 that he was allowed to enter a theological seminary, but he was expelled from it due to learning difficulties, especially Latin, due to a lack of education in his childhood. Eventually, he was allowed to take exams not in Latin but in French, and in 1815 he was ordained a priest. Three years later he became the parish priest in the village of Ars, inhabited by 230 people. After 40 years, 80 thousand people wanted to use his pastoral service. People coming there from all over France.
How did he do it?
Let me convert the parish
In a religiously neglected parish, he spared all effort to restore people to friendship with God. "O my God, I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You for a moment ... I love You, my Divine Savior, because You were crucified for me ... because You allow me to be crucified for You" - this attitude led him to extraordinary pastoral zeal. His prayer:
"O my God, let me convert my parish: I agree to accept all the sufferings you want to send me throughout my life", testifies to a deep sense of responsibility for the people entrusted to his pastoral care. This self-sacrifice for the salvation of others was expressed in the combination of constant fasting and long hours spent in prayer with pastoral activity focused on catechesis, the Eucharist and the sacrament of penance.
It was confession that became his special charisma. It sometimes happened that he spent several hours a day in the confessional. He wept for people's sins. He tried to awaken in penitents a desire to repent for the evil they had committed, and at the same time "emphasized in the beauty of God's forgiveness." Thanks to this, as well as the penance undertaken in their intentions, he managed to reconcile many sinners with God and lead them to the Eucharist, which was the reason for his inexpressible happiness.
The cause of the priest's fall
He considered the Holy Mass to be a center of a pastoral ministry. He was convinced that "all the good works taken together will not be equal to the sacrifice of the Mass, because they are works of people, while the Holy Mass it is the work of God." He encouraged priests to offer themselves to God as a sacrifice while celebrating the Eucharist, and to prepare beforehand to celebrate it. He spent at least 15 minutes on it each time. He warned that "the cause of a priest's fall is a lack of concentration during the Mass."
He was also aware of Christ's constant presence in the Eucharist. That is why he spent long hours in adoration in front of the tabernacle, "at dawn or in the evening." "He's there!" - he used to say during the sermons, pointing to the tabernacle. Aware of his own limitations, he diligently prepared his sermons and read the works of theologians and spiritual masters in the evenings. For he believed that "Our Lord, who is the truth himself, attaches no less importance to his Word than to his Body." His sermons were short and simple. He preferred to show in it "the attractive aspect of virtues than the ugliness of vices", and also "the happiness that comes from knowing that you are loved by God, united with God, that you live in His presence, for Him."
The priest does not live for himself
The priest "does not live for himself; lives for you," - St. John Marie Vianney used to repeat to his parishioners. Therefore, in the opinion of Saint John Paul II, the person of the Pastor of Ars is an "eloquent answer" to attempts to question the identity of the priest, which is based not on recognition from the world, but on his participation in God's efforts to save all people. "Our priestly identity is revealed in the creative development of the love of souls acquired from Jesus Christ," explains John Paul II.
For this reason - as Pope John XXIII succinctly put it in the encyclical "Sacerdotii Nostri primordia", published on the hundredth anniversary of the death of St. John Marie - the priest is not allowed to "live for himself"; is to love "all without exception"; even his "thoughts, will, feelings no longer belong to him, but to Jesus Christ, who is his life." This ideal of a priest was embodied by the Pastor of Ars. Destroyed by asceticism and diseases, he died on August 4, 1859, after 41 years in Ars. “Indeed it was at two o'clock in the morning on 4 August 1859 that Saint Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, having come to the end of his earthly life, went to meet the heavenly Father to inherit the Kingdom, prepared since the world's creation for those who faithfully follow his teachings (cf. Mt 25: 34). What great festivities there must have been in Heaven at the entry of such a zealous pastor! What a welcome he must have been given by the multitude of sons and daughters reconciled with the Father through his work as parish priest and confessor!” (Benedict XVI, General Audience, Wednesday, 5 August 2009) He was beatified in 1905 by St. Pius X. Pius XI canonized him in 1925, and four years later proclaimed St. John Mary the patron of all pastors of the Catholic Church.
His name is also included in the Litany of the Saints.
Let us listen to the exact words of the Cure of Ars and then translate them into the application in our spiritual lives. Some of the words of the Cure of Ars are overwhelming in depth and beauty but of the utmost simplicity. Let us read and meditate and then apply:
“O how great is the priest! If he realized what he is he would die… God obeys him: he utters a few words and the Lord descends from Heaven at his voice, to be contained within a small host. Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the Lord. Who put him there in the tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for the journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest—always the priest. And if the soul should happen to die (as a result of sin) who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and peace? Again, the priest. After God, the priest is everything. Only in heaven will he fully realize what he is.”
Until Tomorrow
fr. george