Three times he tried to leave his seemingly fruitless labors in the parish. The people there laughed at him, ignored him, started vicious rumors about him. He was sincere, but he had struggled in school and sometimes with his selfconfidence.
His bishop had to intervene to get him from getting dismissed from the seminary, as the staff considered him kind and pious but not really pastor material. Finally ordained, he was assigned a small, backward place where, it is said, people thought he couldn’t do much harm.
Such is a part of the story of St. John Vianney. Today, August 4, is his feast day, the 165th anniversary of his death. Born in 1786 in Dardilly, France, his childhood coincided with the social upheaval and at times violent persecution of the Church in the French Revolution. As an adult, he sought to minister to a people who had largely abandoned Christian faith or at least viewed it with a combination of disdain, suspicion, and indifference.
Yet the hunger for God remained, and Pere Jean Vianney, the Cure d’Ars, began his work of prayer, witness, sacraments, and works of charity. It changed not only the village of Ars, but far beyond.
In five weeks, you are invited to hear the story of this saint through the dramatic theater of Leonardo deFillipis. This presentation will be Sunday, September 8 at 7:00 p.m. in the parish hall at Sacred Heart. All are welcome; the drama is suitable for those age 9 and above. There is no charge, though a free will offering will be accepted.
St. John Vianney’s call to the priesthood continues today in the life of the Church. As the Preface of the Mass of Ordination says: “Christ not only adorns with a royal priesthood the people he has made his own, but with a brother’s kindness he also chooses men to become sharers in his sacred ministry through the laying on of hands.”
13 months ago, Bishop Neary asked me to serve as his vicar for clergy. As I prayed about that invitation, especially focused on the needs and support for my brother priests, the voice of Jesus was suddenly very clear in my mind: “Help take care of them, they belong to me.”
That was it, a single sentence. But it continues to inspire me. The same can be said, of course, for any role of service – spouses for one another, parents and their children, educators and their students, health care professionals and their patients, employers and their staffs.
“Help take care of them, they belong to me.” When we keep that perspective, we are able to bring our relationships into the orbit of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and remember that the people in our lives are a gift, an opportunity, a mission of sorts.
They do not belong to us, they belong to God. Like St. John Vianney, we are here to help take care of them, so we can know God’s love with, for, and through one another.
Pray for vocations, especially to the priesthood for our diocese. Pray for our young people, particularly those we will seek to engage with the message of Jesus through our Young Life pilot program. Pray for parents, entrusted with the beautiful gift of family.
When we join our prayers, and above all in the Church’s liturgy, we adopt the wisdom of one of St. John Vianney’s sayings: “Private prayer is like straw scattered here and there: if you set it on fire it makes a lot of little flames. But gather these straws into a bundle and light them, and you get a mighty fire, rising like a column into the sky; public prayer is like that.” And: “Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the souls and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun.”
May you find it so.
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