The ‘Curé’ of Ars -- Parish priest of Ars, France for forty-two years. Outstanding for steadfast care of souls, spirit of prayer and mortification; but above all, for tireless dedication to the Sacrament of Penance. He spent most of his life in the confessional, drawing energy from his intimate and constant friendship with our Lord in the Eucharist. Patron of the Universal Clergy. (Fr James Socias, et al [Eds], “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1593)
Love for the priesthood
When John Baptist Mary Vianney was about to be sent to the small parish of Ars, a tiny place of two-hundred and thirty inhabitants, the Vicar-General of the diocese told him: “There is not much love for God in that parish; you will have to try to introduce it.” (F Trochu, “The Curé d’Ars”, London 1951, 101)
He precisely did that and set aflame those peasants and countless other souls besides with the love for the Lord he bore in his heart. He was not very learned, healthy or wealthy, but his personal sanctity, his union with God, worked the required miracle.
A few years later, great crowds from all regions of France came to Ars. At times they had to wait for days to see the parish priest and go to confession.
The great attraction was not curiosity to witness the miracles he made every attempt to hide, but the expectation of finding a saintly priest, “surprising in his penance, so familiar with God in prayer, outstanding for his peace and humility amidst popular acclaim, and above all, so intuitive in corresponding to the interior dispositions of souls and freeing them from their burdens, especially in the confessional.” (cf John Paul II, “Holy Thursday Letter to Priests”, 16 March 1986)
The Lord chose “as a model of pastors him who, alone, would only have been able to appear poor, weak and defenceless, worthy of scorn in the eyes of men” (1 Cor 1:27-9). “God rewarded him with his greatest gifts as a guide and doctor of souls.” (cf John Paul II, op cit)
Once people asked a lawyer from Lyon returning from Ars what he had seen there. He answered: “I saw God in a man.” (Quoted by John Paul I, “Address”, 7 September 1978)
Today we ask the Lord that we may be able to say the same of each priest. In the sacrament of Holy Orders, the priest is constituted a minister of God and dispenser of his treasures. (cf 1 Cor 4:1) These treasures include the divine Word for preaching, the Body and Blood of Christ he dispenses at Mass and in Holy Communion, and the grace of God in the administration of the other sacraments.
The priest is entrusted with the divine task, the most divine of the divine works, in the words of an early Father of the Church, no less than the salvation of souls. He is an ambassador, a mediator between God who is in heaven and man who is still on his way on earth.
By the exercise of his mission as a mediator, the priest participates in the authority of Christ, who builds up, sanctifies and governs his Body. (cf Second Vatican Council Decree “Presbyterorum ordinis”, 12) He ‘confects’ the Eucharist, the holiest action man can carry out on earth.
The ‘Curé d’Ars’ frequently said: “What a great thing to be a priest. If I were to understand this fully, I think I would die.” (B Nodet, “Jean-Marie Vianney, Curé d’Ars, sa pensee, son coeur”, le Puy, 1958, 99)
Today is an appropriate occasion to pray for the holiness of priests, especially those who in some way are placed by God to help us on our way toward him.
Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 7:59-61
The Priest, A Gift of God to His Church
My greeting goes to priests, both diocesan and religious, sharers in the one priesthood of Christ the High Priest, “taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Heb 5:1). Your presence gives me great joy and fraternal support.
In you I recognize the good shepherd; the faithful servant, the sower who goes to sow the good seed, the laborer in the vineyard, the fisherman who casts his net for a catch. You are Christ’s close friends: “You are my friends.” (Jn 15:15)
As priests we must recognize the mystery of grace in our lives. It is a gift; an act of trust on Christ’s part, calling us to be “administrators of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor 4:1). It is a sacramental configuration with Christ the High Priest.
The priesthood is not ours to do with as we please. We cannot re-invent its meaning according to our personal views. Ours must be true to the One who called us.
The priesthood is a gift to us. But in us and through us the priesthood is ‘a gift to the Church’. Let us never separate our priestly life and ministry from full and wholehearted communion with the whole Church.
Ref: cf “Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II”, p296
Prayer
“Since Mary is our Mother, we may consider how great is the love she bears us; love towards our children is a necessary impulse of nature; and St Thomas (De Dil. Chr. c. 13) says that this is the reason why the divine law imposes on children the obligation of loving their parents; but gives no express command that parents should love their children, for nature itself has so strongly implanted it in all creatures, that, as St Ambrose remarks, ‘we know that a mother will expose herself to danger for her children’, and even the most savage beasts cannot do otherwise than love their young.” (Hexam. 1. 6, c)
“It is said that even tigers, on hearing the cry of their cubs taken by hunters, will go into the sea and swim until they reach the vessel in which they are. Since the very tigers, says our most loving Mother Mary, cannot forget their young, how can I forget to love you, my children? And even, she adds, were such a thing possible as that a mother should forget to love her child, it is not possible that I should cease to love a soul that has become my child: ‘Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will I not forget thee’ (Is. xlix. 15).”
Ref:. St Alphonsus Liguori, “The Blessed Virgin Mary”, 1982, p26-7
· “There are only three ways to conquer impurity: mortification, flight from occasions of sin, love of Mary.” -- St Robert Bellarmine (In Rev Joseph A Viano, SSP, “Two Months with Mary”, p34)
Our Lady of Dordrecht, in Holland, built by St Santere on the spot designated by an angel, as it is said, who was sent by the Blessed Virgin; she received afterwards, the crown of martyrdom in this church. To render her memory more celebrated, God caused a fountain to flow, after her death, which cured fevers. — Molanus on the Belgian Saints. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar (http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)
Our Lady of Dordrecht. Netherlands. Shrine built by St Santera.(www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)
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