‘If you are afraid of other people's opinion, you should not have become a Christian’. So warned today’s Saint. As a child John Vianney went with his family to Mass in a barn because the French Revolution had banned worship. A shepherd boy of firm faith he struggled to get ordained. Though his faith was clear and his prayer was deep he had little learning. This he acquired through saintly sponsors and became not only a priest but after his death in 1859 the patron saint of parish priests.
What I like about today’s saint is his fearlessness and humility. He lived at a time not unlike our own when Christianity was despised but made no apologies for God and would encourage us to be fearless in championing our faith in the face of opponents. ‘The sun never hides his light for fear of inconveniencing the owls’ he said. Most of his life was spent in the village of Ars in the south of France near Lyon where he raised the banner for God in the wake of the French Revolution not using arguments but by holy living. He became an attractive figure because like his patron John the Baptist he ‘constantly spoke the truth, boldly rebuked vice and patiently suffered for the truth’s sake’ (Collect for the Birth of St John the Baptist). That truth telling came from a priest who lived close to his people in humility and simplicity. ‘Remain humble, remain simple; the more you are so, the more good you will do’ he used to say.
When people came to him, and they came in tens of thousands, he exercised the Holy Spirit’s gifts of knowledge and discernment cutting to the chase. Henri Gheon writes of his encounter with an intellectual approaching him in Church and how Fr Vianney pointed him mistakenly to the confessional stool. ‘Monsieur le Curé, I have not come to make my confession but to discuss things with you’. ‘Oh, my friend, you have come to the wrong place; I have no skill at discussion. But if it is consolation that you want, kneel there and believe that many another has knelt there before you and has not regretted it’ said the Saint. ‘I have not the faith. I do not believe in confession any more than the rest of your doctrine’ complained the man. ‘Very well, kneel there. I shall hear your confession, and afterwards you will have the faith, just as I have’… the persuasiveness, the sweetness, the tone of authority tempered by grace with which these words were spoken, brought the man to his knees almost without knowing it, certainly with much reluctance…. He arose, not only comforted, but a firm believer’.
The Curé d’Ars was a powerful apologist. This unlearned priest gave forceful reason for belief by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who showed him again and again the emptiness of souls like this man awaiting the planting of faith. In Gheon’s story there is emphasis on the Curé’s humility as the clue to the atheist’s surrender. St John Vianney tried to live humbly as well as fearlessly once comparing humility to the chain that holds a rosary together: ‘Humility is to the various virtues what the chain is to the Rosary; take away the chain and the beads are scattered, remove Humility and all virtues vanish.’
John Vianney read hearts like a book and brought healing to many. He experienced visits from the Blessed Virgin as well as from the devil who did his best to annoy the Saint by waking him in the night by loud knockings on the clergy house door! Thousands flocked to him and he was made a Canon and given the Legion of Honour none of which he could make out by all accounts attributing the miracles around him to God and the prayers of the Saints. This misunderstanding of the way he got famous is the best proof of his deserving his place today in the Calendar of Saints.
St John Vianney pray for us, for priests especially, that we may be fearless yet humble instruments of God.
Intercessions
We thank you, God our Father, for those who have responded to your call to priestly ministry. Accept this prayer we offer on their behalf: Fill them with the sure knowledge of your love. Open their hearts to the power and consolation of the Holy Spirit. Lead them to greater union with your Son. Increase their faith in the Sacraments they celebrate as they nourish, strengthen and heal us.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
Lord Jesus Christ, at the prayer of St. Jean Vianney, grant that your priests will be inspired to strive for holiness by the power of his example. As people of prayer, may they ponder your word, follow your will and faithfully lead the flocks you have entrusted to their care. Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
We pray, Lord, for Martin our Bishop and for our Diocese, for vocations to the sacred priesthood. May many more faithful people hear your call, and respond with courage and generosity. Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
Recalling the fearlessness and humility of today’s Saint we confess the fear and pride that hamper our Christian witness. Come, Holy Spirit, and work a new work in us so we may constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice and patiently suffer for the truth’s sake. Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
We commend to you, Lord, those in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness or any other adversity, especially those who have asked our prayers.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
Joining with Our Lady, St Bartholomew, St John Vianney and all the saints we commend to you those who have died and all whose anniversaries fall at this time. Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
Merciful Father, hear, accept and answer these prayers we make in the glorious name of your Son, our Saviour Christ the Lord. Amen
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