Today we remember the Patron Saint of Priests - St. John Marie Vianney
After 40 years of John Marie Vianney's ministry in the small town of Ars, inhabited by 230 people, 80 thousand people came there from all over France wanted to be close to this Parish Priest. How did the humble Pastor of Ars do it?
John Marie Vianney 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 due to difficulties in learning, especially Latin, due to a lack of education in 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.
Let me convert the parish
In the religiously neglected parish, he spared no 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 charism. It happened that he spent even several hours a day in the confessional. He wept for the sins of the people. He tried to awaken in penitents a desire to repent for the evil they had committed, and at the same time "emphasized the beauty of God's forgiveness." Thanks to this, as well as the penance undertaken in their intention, he managed to reconcile many people with God and lead them to the Eucharist, which was the reason for his inexpressible happiness.
The cause of the priest's fall
St. John Marie Vianney considered Holy Mass to be the center of pastoral ministry. He was convinced that "all the good works taken together will not be equal to the sacrifice of the Mass, since they are works of people, while the Mass 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 his 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 itself, attaches no less importance to his word than to his body." His sermons were short and simple. He preferred to show in his homily "the attractive aspect of virtues than the ugliness of vices", and also "the happiness that comes from knowing that we are loved by God, united with God, that we live in His presence, for Him."
The priest does not live for himself
The priest "does not live for himself; lives for you "- repeated St. John Marie to his parishioners. Therefore, according to Saint John Paul II, the person of the Pastor of Ars is an "eloquent answer" to the attempts to question the priest's identity, 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," explained Saint 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 "everyone 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. He was beatified in 1905 by St. Pius X. Pius XI canonized him in 1925, and four years later proclaimed St. John Marie the patron of all parish priests of the Catholic Church. His name was also included in the Litany of the Saints.
"Prayer is to the soul what rain is to the earth. If you fertilize the soil as much as possible, even if you cultivate it as carefully as possible, all this will be of no use if there is no rain" ( Saint John Marie Vianney)
Until Tomorrow
fr. george