Memorial of Saint John Vianney, Priest

Today we celebrate the memory of Saint John Vianney, the French priest who was a contemporary and friend of Saint Peter Julian Eymard. Father Vianney, the Curé (pastor) of the town of Ars in Eastern France, was renowned and loved for his bountiful kindness and gentle care for his flock and indeed for anyone who came to him. A true caregiver, he listened, counseled, and forgave all, and shared in the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments.

A vocation as an ordained Roman Catholic priest was never simple or easy, even fifty-some years after the excesses and persecutions of the 1789 French Revolution. Horrible memories of violent anticlerical mobs and then the sneering disdain of Napoleon and his Empire persisted. Father Eymard knew firsthand the fickle nature of gangs of the urban poor and destitute.

Jeremiah 30 describes the plight of the people of Israel with words such as “wound”, “bruise”, “running sore”, “pain”, “guilt” and “numerous sins”. Decades of invasion meant slaughter, oppression, and abduction. The nation was nearly wiped out. But when the people again honor the covenant “You shall be my people, and I will be your God”, then will forgiveness, “songs of praise” and “the laughter of happy men” return.

The words Jesus speaks to Peter (Matthew 14): “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” are directed to us as much as to the disciples there present and to the 19th-century French priests we revere as saints. Obstacles and adversity beset all who spread the Good News. As Jeremiah pictures the chastened Israelites, we, too, may banish fear with faith. But we have a New Covenant to cherish: the Savior’s unfailing love and our redemption with the promise of the Bread of Life to nurture us unto life everlasting!

Let us pray:

Dear God, may we never doubt that you are always present to rescue and save us. Give us true faith, dear Jesus, that we may always proclaim: “Truly you are the Son of God.” Amen.