ORDINARY SUNDAY XIV “B”
JULY 4/5, 2009
On March 16th of this year Pope Benedict XVI announced that beginning this past June 19th through June 19th of next year the church would observe a “Jubilee Year of the Priest” to highlight the role the sacramental priesthood plays in our lives of faith. At the same time the pope named St. John Vianney, who died in 1859 in France the patron of all priests. While St. John Vianney’s life has much in it to mine for priests such as myself in the living out of the vocation to the priesthood, his life can also serve as an example to inspire all of us in light of today’s scriptures.
John Vianney was born in 1786 in France. It was at the time of the French Revolution and the intellectual and philosophical period known as the “Enlightenment.” Much like our own it was a time that was at best indifferent and at worst openly hostile to spiritual truths and the practice of religion. Being of peasant stock John Vianney lacked an early formal education and only after persistent effort in face of the opposition from his father did he go to the seminary. Since the courses were taught in Latin, Vianney had great difficulty mastering not only another language, but assimilating the content of the courses. He was given a tutor, an older student by the name of Matthias Loras. (If you’re wondering if this Loras is the same person who became the first bishop of our archdiocese, you are correct!) Exasperated one day with Vianney’s slow progress, the future bishop reprimanded him harshly, so much so that Vianney knelt down before him to apologize for his stupidity. (Loras and Vianney over time became close friends.) As he neared the end of his seminary formation, the bishop and the rector of the seminary realizing that Vianney would never rise to great heights in his career in the church, reluctantly ordained him and assigned him to a little parish with only 230 members in the town of Ars. As he sent him off to his assignment the bishop told Vianney about the great deal of indifference and very little religious practice among the men of the community. The bishop warned him, “There is not much love of God in that parish, you will put some there.”
John Vianney went to Ars. By the simple example of his life things eventually changed. Word of this man of God circulated and people from throughout the region and beyond came to seek his counsel especially through the sacrament of penance. It is said that in 1858, just a year before he died, 80,000 people visited him in his parish sometimes waiting for days to see him.
In our lives of faith one of the great temptations is to despair. So often in our personal life, in our family, in our community and world we are tempted to “give up” in the face of our own weaknesses: physical, emotional and spiritual, as well as the indifference or outright ridicule and rejection of peers, co-workers or even members of our families in our efforts to live and promote our Catholic faith. Today’s scriptures and the example of St. John Vianney teach us that such experiences are not unique to us, and indeed, are to be expected if we sincerely try to remain faithful to the call of God we have received and accepted.
The prophet Ezekiel speaks of having to speak to people who are “hard of face and obstinate of heart”. Some scholars suggest that Ezekiel’s difficulties scarred him emotionally and psychologically. Yet he affirms, “The Spirit of God entered into me and set me on my feet.” It was out of that conviction that God was with him no matter what, that Ezekiel persevered. St. Paul speaks about the famous “thorn in the flesh.” As a witness to Jesus he endured shipwreck, insults and physical and emotional persecution. Whatever the “thorn” was, St. Paul accepted it and bore it as a “battle scar” as a badge of honor for his faithfulness to Christ. Rather than defeating him, it made him all the much more aware of his need for God’s grace in his life. Finally in the gospel Jesus himself has to face the indifference and hostility of the people of his own hometown, Nazareth like Ars a place where there was not much love of God. Eventually Jesus will bear the rejection, the wounds and the death of the cross for his faithfulness to God. Yet out of that defeat God will triumph. Death, sin and evil will be destroyed. But that does not take away to painful road to victory.
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, “God has not called us to be successful, but to be faithful.” Ezekiel, St. Paul, St. John Vianney and Jesus himself especially as he gives himself to us again in the Eucharist today, are given to us as companions on our journey as we strive to daily by word and example live love for God through love for neighbor. We pray today for the gift of a persevering faith in imitation of them.