Anniversary of the Canonization of Saint Peter Julian Eymard
“He tends his flock like a shepherd; he gathers the lambs in his arms” (Isaiah 40:11). God’s care for us is personal, individual, and intentional. He gathers to himself those who are poor in spirit, isolated, lonely, or overlooked. We hear it in the Gospel: “What man among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the one that is lost?” (Matthew 18:12-13).
Each person is precious, and Christ calls us to personally, individually, and intentionally care for the less fortunate. Saint Peter Julian Eymard exemplified this calling through his life—helping the poor, consoling the lonely, and guiding the aimless. He did so heroically, persevering through illness and hardship, in a time and place where such virtues were rare.
A Saint is one who lives a life of heroic virtue, where faith, hope, love, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance shine to an extraordinary degree. The Eucharistic charism Father Eymard bequeathed to his Congregation reveals these virtues in action. “Father Eymard’s own very active apostolic life offers a convincing model and a lasting witness to his spiritual legacy. As essential as was his prayer for his interior life, so was the apostolate the center of his priestly life. If his prayer was the heat of the fire, his apostolate was its flame.” (Father Norman Pelletier, SSS, Tomorrow Will Be Too Late, page 134)
Father Eymard’s devotion to Christ Eucharistic fueled his virtues, and the Eymardian family inherits this as our charism. Heroic virtue grows from the faithful practice of ordinary virtue—lived through mercy, outreach, and compassion: tending the needy, embracing the lost, and accompanying the lonely.
May we, Eucharistic people, live to hear: “Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him.” (Isaiah 40:10) Father Eymard, watch over us.
Prayer:
Lord, guide us to follow Saint Peter Julian Eymard’s example, tending to those in need with great love. May our virtue continue to grow, and that Your glory be made apparent to the whole world. Saint Peter Julian Eymard, Apostle of the Eucharist, pray for us. Amen.
