Marriage & Family
Beloved in the Lord, in today’s Epistle to the Galatians, it speaks over and over about the ‘Promise.’ This Promise, which was foretold to Abraham and the prophets of old. This ‘Promise,’ is Jesus Christ. Christ has fulfilled the promise of old because he has come to save his Church.
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St. Paul will say in Ephesians 5, that the relationship of Christ to his Church is displayed in the relationship of husband to wife. They make promises to each other. ‘I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.’
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This promise then, is suppose to reflect the great Promise of Our Lord: that his love will never cease; we may be unfaithful to him, but he will never be unfaithful to us. And so that same St. Paul calls marriage a ‘great mystery,’ because it is a sign of Christ’s love for his Church.
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There is a lot of talk about the upcoming Synod on the family, and the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. And so I thought we could speak a bit today, about marriage and the family.
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Marriage has been called a ‘social sacrament,’ because this sacrament is not just for the couple, but for the whole community.
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I am so happy that in our parish we have a number of new families who are just glowing, full of joy at their new children that are coming along one after the other. It is a real blessing for us all.
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It is true that some couples find that they are not able to have any biological children, but we often see that God is making their marriage fruitful in other ways; some of our best aunts or uncles, to whom we are very close, could not have children of their own.
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Family is the foundation of society. If family is happy, stable, and a place where children learn good habits, society will thrive. The Christian home should be a place of peace, happiness, and real affection. Yes, trouble and friction can arise, but if Jesus is the center of our home, every difficulty can be overcome.
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I know that after children are grown and out of the house, husbands and wives sometimes struggle with their relationship. Why is this? It is because we are at our best when we are thinking of others; children in the house force us to think of others – after all, little ones have many needs!
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But whether our children are little or are grown, they are helped most by their parents, if their parents love each other. ‘Love’ does not just mean feeling good, when everything is fine. Love is really revealed during the little trials that happen. A woman sighs in love over her handsome, witty husband; but when he is unhappy or angry because of something – or when he is sick and grumpy – or smelly! – she cares for him in patience. That is true love.
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If the promise of marriage is to reflect the Promise of Christ, marital love and intimacy should be kept pure, without any lust. Some people take delight in sinning together, but this ruins their friendship; they start to see each other as accomplices, and this situation is hard to heal. The love that flourishes is a wholesome love.
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Holy Scripture says: ‘Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy; it is not proud. It is not arrogant and does not insist on it’s own way. Love is not resentful and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil.
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So spouses should lead each other on the path of goodness, because sometimes one or the other is weak. In this way, marriage will be a blessing, not a curse.
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Of course there are always some quarrels. St. Josemaria says never argue in front of your children; children notice everything, it makes them form judgments. They think: ‘Mommy is bad or Daddy is bad.’ Don’t make them suffer. ‘Be patient, he says, and later you can argue, once the child is asleep, but just a little, because you might not be in the right!
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A man must never view his wife as 2nd class, holy scripture says that he must be ready to sacrifice himself for her, like Jesus did for us. And the woman must never hen-peck or be overbearing; St. Paul says ‘wives, be subordinate to your husbands.’ It is poison to a marriage for the woman to be controlling, or for the man to be tyrannical.
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Parents don’t bring their children into the world in the way animals do. Parents know that their children have souls and that the most important thing is that they be Christian children, who love God and will one day reach heaven. This work of guiding a child to be Godly, is assisted by brothers and sisters, aunts or uncles, grandparents, and others. But it is parents’ responsibility to teach their children to pray and to help them learn their catechism. This does not mean only sending them to Catechism class, it means sitting down with them: ‘Let’s see your book. What have you learned today? ‘Who is this? ‘It’s Jesus.’ Tell me what he did for us. ‘Do you know the commandments? Are they written here?
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But we should also speak on difficult subjects with our teens. They should learn from us about the origin of life, about the beautiful meaning of sexuality and it’s place only within marriage. Young people can feel anxiety as they go through changes in their bodies, parents should speak and listen to their children. Do not let the public schools form our children with indecent or false ideas.
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Yes, children sometimes become rebellious. But we should really take time to listen to them. Sometimes they are at least partly right. They can even get caught up with influences from school or the university, and seem to lose their faith. I know a mother who is sad because her son does not go to Church anymore. But I told her, be patient and pray for him. God will bring him back in time.
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About this, I quote again St. Josemaria : ‘Speak calmly and sincerely with your child, heart to heart. Not with all of them together, but one by one. You know each of them well, so each must be treated in a different way. Talk and be friends with them; they will understand you very well because the same faith that you have, still beats in their hearts; perhaps on top they are carrying a heap of filth that has been thrown on them by someone. Let them go to confession and you’ll see how well things go.’
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We must keep our families pure and good; we pray for our spouse and our children, entrusting them to the Blessed Virgin. Mary, pray for our families, that regardless of the turmoil of the world, our homes will always be safe places of faith and joy.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Augustine]
The Queen Mother
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of the Queenship of Mary, and this comes as we conclude the Octave of the Assumption. Mary as Queen – What kind of Queen?
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In ancient Israel, who was the Queen? Was King David’s queen one of his thousands of wives? No. They were not worthy of being Queen. The Queen was the King’s Mother. There was actually an official position in the government, known as the Gebira,[i] the Queen Mother, and this was true of the other kings of Israel.
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It also seems, that anything the Queen asked of the King, was likely granted. This was the tradition, she was the mother! These Queens were therefore images, types, of the real Queen to come.
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It is also a little-known fact, that Adam and Eve were supposed to be a King and Queen. They were given DOMINION over the earth – were given to RULE the earth and all the creatures there. This fact is seen in ancient Jewish weddings, where the couple wears crowns, as well today in Eastern Catholic Rite marriages – the couple wears crowns. This recalls the role of the original man and woman: King and Queen.
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But if Eve was meant to be the Queen of the earth, Mary is the New Eve, and therefore Queen. We see this in Scripture as well: Jesus is the King, as says the inscription on the cross: ‘King of the Jews.’ And the Book of Revelation describes Mary as a woman clothed with the sun, and a CROWN on her head. King and Queen.
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Yet how much more than King David’s mother or any of the other queens – how much more wonderful is this Queen of Heaven.
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The greatness of kings and queens, says Seneca,[ii] consists in how much they relieve the suffering and sorrows of their subjects. Kings should be involved therefore in works of mercy, but not so as to forget justice and punishment, which must sometimes be given by their power.
But it is not this way with Mary, who is a Queen not of justice or of punishment, but a Queen of mercy intent only on pardoning sinners, and so the church calls her, The Queen of Mercy.
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Gerson says, God’s kingdom is as it were, divided into two parts, justice and mercy. Reserving justice and power to himself, he yielded the Empire of mercy to Mary, so that all mercies dispensed to us should pass through the hands of Mary.
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The secret is,[iii] that the children of Mary are the best of the world. They are the spoiled children, who enjoy the choicest possessions of their Mother, who is the Queen of heaven and earth.
Fr. Luke Winkelmann
[i] 1 Kings 2:19 – ‘So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah; the king got up to meet her and bowed before her; he then sat down on his throne; a seat was brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down on his right.’ (There are many other instances of the Gebira)
[ii] Glories of Mary, p. 37.
[iii] Glories, p. 678.
The Workers who came Late
Friends in the Lord, today we read about these workers who were hired late, but still received the same wage. As with many of the gospels, Our Lord is here revealing a few different things.
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One thing he is referring to, says St. Gregory the Great, is the history of salvation. The morning of that workday represents the early beginning of the world, and so it is the time from Adam up to Noah. The vineyard is God’s kingdom on earth, and the promised payment of the wage represents salvation. God’s covenant with Adam was the agreed-upon wage; but the rest who came later – they had no contract with God and no covenant.
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The third hour of the day, is the period from Noah up to Abraham, the sixth hour, is from Abraham up to Moses, and the ninth hour is from Moses to the coming of Christ. So the workers at the third, sixth, and ninth hours represent the ancient Jewish people, chosen in the beginning to serve the Lord in the vineyard.
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But at the eleventh hour the Gentiles are called, and that is us. Now these Gentiles for so many ages of the world did not labor for the Lord, they stood by idle. But notice what they say to the Master: ‘No one has hired us; and it is true: neither the Patriarchs, nor Abraham, nor Noah, or the prophets had ever come to the Gentiles to invite them. The Gentiles say: ‘No one has preached to us this way of life; so finally the Gentiles are sent also, into the vineyard.
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When the time of payment comes, this is the end of the world. And so the Lord said to the steward, that is, to the Holy Spirit, ‘Call the labors, and give them their wage. Now it turns out that they are all able to obtain the same wage, that is, salvation. Thus says, St. Gregory the Great.
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Most of us were called to work in God’s vineyard from childhood, in our baptism. But we should keep our eyes out for those we might know, who are late in life, still searching for God. RCIA begins this fall. It is an opportunity for Catholics to review their faith, or for people to complete their sacraments; but it is also a chance for those who want to learn more about becoming Catholic. So let us keep our eyes open, and maybe invite someone into the kingdom.
Unless you eat my flesh
Beloved in the Lord, at a conference that I attended, we met a Catholic professor named Dr. Bandt Pitre. During lunch, he told us truthfully, that he had not always been so committed to Christ. ‘When I was young, he says, ‘I did not take my faith seriously.
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The day came, however, when he was about to be married – to a Southern Baptist girl! They went to meet her Baptist minister. He said: ‘When the minister found out that I was Catholic, he grilled me for three strait hours. How can you follow the Pope? How can you worship Mary? How can you pray for the dead? Why do you worship statues? Your Church is the whore of Babylon! And of all things, how can you claim that Communion is actually the Body of Christ? Do you know what that would mean? If you eat Jesus, you would become Jesus!!
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Dr. Pitre told us that he went home shaking, he felt doubts. ‘I dusted off my bible and knelt down and prayed: ‘Lord, show me the way. Help me to know the way. With a lump in his throat he told us: ‘I opened the Scriptures, and the page fell open to John, chapter 6. ‘Amen, amen, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life everlasting and I will raise him up on the last day.’
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Dr. Pitre is now a committed Catholic, and a gifted Scripture scholar. But he told us: ‘At that time, I had not been living my life right. ‘I really was lost. ‘But when those words spoke to me from that page, I knew, with not a doubt in my soul, that the Lord is real, that he is with me, that the Catholic Church is true.
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‘In a single instant I had the answer for that minister. Yes. Jesus gave us the Holy Eucharist. Yes. When we eat the Eucharist, we begin to share in the very life of God, we are joined to Jesus Christ, and he wants us to begin to live like him, with him, and in him.
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There are many today who say that they are Christians, but they do not accept that Christ comes down from heaven to our altars under the appearance of bread; they don’t accept that he literally gives himself to us, to eat. Like that Protestant minister, there are people who SAY they follow the bible, but they really don’t.
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They are just like those many in Jesus’ day, who rejected what he taught. They said: ‘This is a hard saying, that we are to eat your flesh. Who can listen to that?’ So how did Jesus respond? Did he say: ‘I didn’t really mean it? its not really my flesh? don’t walk away? Its just a symbol? No – he did not say that. He said: ‘Amen, amen, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.
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Faith is a gift from God, and if we do not seek it, or we live in sin, we will not have Faith. It will remind us of those very sad words in the Holy Scriptures: it says, ‘from that time on, many turned back and no longer went with him.’ They left Our Lord, over the teaching on the Holy Eucharist.
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In the early centuries of the Church, the belief in the Eucharist was so strong, that some of the Romans accused Catholics of being cannibals. They did not understand that at Holy Communion, we receive the risen, living Christ under the appearance of bread; it is truly Christ Jesus in Body –the living Lord, hidden under the veil of a sacrament. This is a Living Sacrifice that we offer and receive.
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What is the sacrifice? It is the Lamb – remember the Passover Lamb? This was the great sacrifice, but it had two parts. The lamb was slain and its blood offered in the temple. This was the bloody sacrifice. Part I.
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Then the lamb was brought home to the family for the sacrificial meal – the unbloody sacrifice, the Passover meal, Part II.
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For the sacrifice to be completed, you had to eat the lamb. The family must eat the lamb. And so, our Lord offered his life on the cross – the bloody sacrifice – Part I.
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But there remains something more: the whole family must eat the Lamb. And that is what our Catholic family is still doing today. We are all participating in the Great Sacrifice – This is why the Church requires each Catholic to receive Holy Communion at least once a year, in the Easter Season. We must go to Mass every week, yes; to miss Mass is a grave sin. but we are required to Confess our sins and receive Holy Communion at least once a year. It is important for our salvation.
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The Catechism teaches, that by our Baptism, the Lord has made us “other Christs.” St. Cyril says the same thing, that since we are adopted children of God, we are to live as ‘other Christs.’ Other Jesus’s.
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We are part of this great Mystical Body of Christ, and as we try to be holy, do what is right, live just as Jesus lived – we are growing in his likeness. But this likeness is magnified when we can receive him; when we are able, at his Holy Table.
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And this is related to the Doctrine of Deification. By sharing in the very life of Christ, we are assimilated to Christ: we become shares in Divinity. St. Peter says the same, that we become ‘sharers in the Divine Nature.’ And this is what Jesus wants more than anything for us.
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Yesterday we celebrated the great Feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. Mary leads the way for us. The Blessed Virgin is now clothed with the sun, sharing in the Divine life of Christ.
O Mary, pray for us, that united to Jesus in this life, we will be given the pledge of future glory in the next.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Agatha]
Mary is the Ark
The Assumption
Beloved in Christ, today is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. I thought on this great day, we could take a closer look at the Holy Scriptures, and see what they are teaching us.
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Remember in the Old Testament, the holiest object of the Jewish religion, was the ark. This is not Noah’s ark, rather, it is the golden box which was carried by Israel through the desert, and then placed in the temple of Jerusalem. This Ark was the place where God himself came to dwell with his people, in the Cloud of Glory.
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In the temple, two large statues of angels were on either side of it. And since the golden Ark held the presence of God, that is why our tabernacle has two angels by it – to recall the Ark of the Old Testament.
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When King David first brought the Ark up to Jerusalem, this important event is described in the book of kings. If we look closely, we will see many parallels between the bringing of the ark to Jerusalem, and Mary going up to Elizabeth, which is the gospel today.
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In the Book of Kings, it says, that David “arose and went” into the Judean hill country; the gospel says that Mary arose, and set out for the hill-country of Judea. Very similar.
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It is written: ‘David leaped and danced before the ark – and in the gospel it says, John the Baptist ‘leaped’ in the womb of Elizabeth.
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David asks, ‘how can the ark of the Lord come to me? And Elizabeth asks, ‘how can the mother of my Lord come to me?
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There are more parallels: David shouts in the presence of the ark, and Elizabeth exclaims with a loud cry in the presence of Mary. And in the Book of Kings it says that the ark remained in the house of Obededom 3 months; and St. Luke tells us: Mary remained with Elizabeth – for 3 months.
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These are not coincidences. St. Luke writes his gospel this way, showing these parallels, to show us that Mary is the Ark of the New Law. As God’s Glory Cloud came down to the Ark of the Old Law, God himself, Jesus, came down to the Ark of the New Law: Mary. So Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, she carries God.
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In the Book of Revelation, chapter 12, it says that the Ark was seen up in heaven. The Ark? Yes. And then it describes it: ‘A woman clothed with the sun.’ Mary is the Ark because she carried the Son of the Eternal Father in her womb.
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On today’s feast we remember that Mary was taken up into heaven body and soul. This dear Blessed Virgin shows us the way, that we too will one day be resurrected in heaven. Pray for us Mary in this life, until we see you and Jesus in the next.
The Holy Sacrifice
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.’
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Friends in Christ, these Sundays of August we are reading Our Lord’s ‘Bread of Life’ discourse. Christ multiplies the few loaves to feed thousands – miraculous bread – today he calls himself the ‘Bread of Life.’ He says that we must eat this bread. And next week he will insist that his followers must ‘eat his flesh,’ – which shocked many; some even left him, because they could not accept this teaching.
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Our Lord is really speaking here of the holy Mass, which he would give us at the Last Supper. The Holy Mass is the very center of our Christian life. When a person in Confession says that he missed Sunday Mass (and not because of illness) – I will often say, ‘Well let’s make sure that we get to Mass even if it kills us! The early Christians risked their life to get to Mass, and sometimes were arrested, and put to death for it.
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At Mass, we are offering up Jesus, his Blood, for our sins, and in thanksgiving for his mercy, and seeking help in our needs. And in praise too. This sacrifice is the price of our salvation. The Mass is how Jesus applies his salvation to us today, so that we can come and say, ‘Father, have mercy me in the blood of Christ.’
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When we come here, even if we are tired, or don’t feel like it, or the homily is boring, or the music isn’t our style – when we come here, we are saying to Jesus, ‘Lord, I am here; I am still one of your disciples.’ It’s like a test of our loyalty.
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The mother of a boy told me recently, that she wanted to sign him up for CCD, but she was afraid he would miss some of his sports games. Her little son said to her, ‘Mom, if I have a game on that day, I just won’t play, I’ll go to CCD because God comes first.’ I was so proud of that little boy.
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Of course if we are able, at Mass, if we have confessed our sins and are living right, we also can receive Jesus in Holy Communion – become one with him, this Bread of Life. The Eucharist is a memorial of Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross, and so we call it the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
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A sacrifice is the offering to God of some good thing; each Christmas season, my sister has her children choose some of their many toys, to give away to poor children. It is a sacrifice, to take one and give it away. But to take your FAVORITE toy, and give it away, out of love of God – this is a great sacrifice. Or if a boy sleeps on the floor during Lent, as an offering to God, this is a real sacrifice.
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Every sacrifice expresses our desire to be united to God. By giving up something good, and offering it, we really give ourself to the Lord. Sacrifice means love.
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In the Old Testament times, we see sacrifice very clearly. A lamb for example would be taken from the flock; here is something very valuable, to people trying to survive. To take the best lamb and kill it, and burn part of it as an offering – this is a real sacrifice. And these offerings to God were sometimes in thanksgiving for something, but also in atonement for sins.
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Since the fall of Adam and Eve, all people know, deep down inside, that we have to make up for our sins, somehow. Because they offend the greatest Good, our Creator. We deserve the supreme penalty, death. But this we are unable or unwilling to do, and so we make vicarious atonement.
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The ancients took a living animal, offering it’s life to God, and placing upon it the guilt of their sins, and prayed that God would accept it. The offerer laid his hands on the animal. This took place in the Court of the Temple. If it was an offering for a specific sin, he confessed his sins as he laid his hands, saying ‘I have done this and that, may it bring me forgiveness.’ Notice by-the-way, that at Mass, the priest puts his hands out over the sacrifice – placing our sins onto the Victim: Jesus.
In ancient times, after the animal was killed, part was burned as an offering to God, part was eaten by the offerer. And so true sacrifice had these two parts: the offering to God, and the sacrificial meal, by which the offerer felt united to God. But can the life of an animal or even several animals make atonement for our sins? When we think of the infinite goodness of God that our sins offend, it is clear that these measly sacrifices can really do nothing. St. Paul will say this. But all these sacrifices were an expression of man’s desire for atonement, to make up to the Lord for his failings.
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In the fullness of time, such a sacrifice came, that of the Lamb of God: Jesus Christ. No animal can atone for man, but God himself can. A human being can be put to death, but God cannot die. Therefore, the Son of God took on human nature. As the perfect, sinless man, Jesus could die, and as God, he was able to make full reparation for us. It is as if all of humanity looked for the Perfect Man, the most innocent and sinless human being, and offered Him to God on behalf of us all. And let us not forget, that Jesus WANTED to do this.
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If we sin against the infinite love of God, there is only one way that we can pay back, or make up for what we have done, we have to offer Jesus, and that is what we are doing here. There is a nice little movie out there about the Mass, called The Greatest Miracle – you should watch it. It’s animated, but it’s for adults as well as kids. The story revolves around the lives of three different people who find themselves at the same Catholic Mass; they each have a crisis in their life. But at this Mass, their guardian angels help them to see the true meaning.
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We come here and offer Jesus, but also his whole Mystical Body, ourselves. We are offered up, and lifted up to Our Heavenly Father. Father, I thank thee. Father, I love thee. Father, help me. In the Blood of Jesus, have mercy on me. This is the Holy Mass. It is the Perfect Sacrifice.
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In the first part of Mass we go up to God, and offer his Divine Blood. In the second part of Mass, God comes down to us, and we can partake in this sacrificial meal. At every Mass, we are actually linked to heaven, surrounded by the saints and the angels, and Mary is with us too.
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Oh dear good Mother, help us to offer ourselves worthily at Mass with Jesus. Help us Mary, to know that no matter the troubles or joys or sins we have, here is the place to offer everything with Jesus to our Father in heaven.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. John Vianney]
Novena Pictures
Here are some pictures from the Feast of our Patron! Holy Mass felt like we were in heaven, and the procession was glorious!!
The Procession begins
Carrying our Saint
No one got tired
The Ladies Guild marched – and also made food!
We concluded in the gym
St. John watching over all
Dedication of St. Mary Major (i)
Friends in Christ, today we honor the great Basilica of St. Mary Major, in Rome. What is the story of this great Church?
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Well, from the earliest days of the Faith, Mary was called the Mother of God. By this title, we teach that her Son, Jesus, really is God. But in the 5th century, there would be a challenge to this truth.
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One day, the proud Bishop of Constantinople, named Nestorius, stepped into the pulpit of his cathedral to deliver a sermon.[i] In a shocking statement, he claimed that the Child in the womb of Mary was not God. The congregation was shocked and bewildered. Then a young man stepped out from the crowd; and summoning his courage, his voice thundered out to the Bishop: ‘the Eternal Word chose to be born to Mary. She is Mother of God!!!
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We do not know how Nestorius reacted to this interruption, but months later, Bishop Proclus answered Nestorius to his face in the same cathedral: ‘This Jesus, he said, ‘was in the Father’s bosom and also the womb of his mother. This Child was adored by angels, while he sat with tax-collectors. This Jesus, hung on the Cross but was never absent from heaven; His Mother is Mary, and so she is the Mother of God!
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The congregation broke into thunderous applause. But Nestorius would not listen to the Church, and he spread his errors like a cancer. In 431AD, the Church called the great Council of Ephesus. The question put before the Bishops: is Jesus One Divine Person or not? Is that little baby born to Mary, true God and true Man? or not?
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You know, it was only a short distance from where they were meeting, to where Mary had lived in her little house on the hill. Looking out over the city, she had prayed for the early Church. And here, centuries later, she still watched and prayed from heaven. Prayed, that we would get it right about Jesus.
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It was night when the decision was made: ‘Yes! Declared the Church: This is the Faith.’ The people greeted the decision with joyous shouts: Mother of God! Mother of God! they cheered, and formed a torchlight procession winding throughout the city; The people of Rome decided to build a grand church in honor of the Mother of God, but where?
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In a dream, it was revealed that the Church should be built where snow would fall. Snow. In Rome, in August. Indeed it did. On August 5th, in the miserable heat of Rome, a blanket of white snow descended onto the Esquiline Hill, and there was built the Basilica we call, St. Mary Major. This great Mother of God is also called, Our Lady of the Snows.
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[i] See Carroll, Vol 2, p. 92.
St. John Vianney & Ars
Friends in Christ, today we are in our continuing Novena to St. John Vianney, and so, even though it is Sunday, it seems fitting to speak about our great patron saint today.
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One fine day in 1818, a boy herding sheep in the Dombes region of France met a young priest walking towards him; the priest was pushing a rickety cart full of objects and some furniture. He asked the boy, ‘Is it much further to the town of Ars?’ The boy pointed to the tiny town that lay ahead. “How small it is!” said the priest. Then he knelt on the ground and prayed.
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As he set out again with his cart, the boy was at his side. When they arrived at the poor church, the priest said to him: “Thank you for showing me the way to Ars… now I will show you the way to Heaven”.
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It was a tiny parish, the town, a mere 230 people. John Vianney saw that the church was a dilapidated mess, and filthy. He began himself to clean it. He would clean the church, but he wished even more, to clean hearts – the souls of the people.
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The people in Ars were not hostile to the Faith, he would have preferred that; what he found, was complete apathy and indifference. 19 years after the French Revolution, when ½ the priests in France had disappeared, and thousands of heads were cut off in the hatred of God – after all that, well, France was spiritually dead. Nobody except a handful of people cared at all whether a priest came to their village or said Mass.
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The town’s fame for dances and drunkenness was widespread. People came from miles around to join in the carousing, and to go wild in the four taverns there. The people would say, ‘this village is too small to have a church,’ but yet – there were 4 saloons. People did not go to Mass on Sundays and they even worked on that day; John Vianney came upon a drunk man one time who was swearing. he said to him, ‘My child, you are an animal.’ And indeed, people without God become animals.
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At the time of the village festival, came the parties, the dancing, and after hours, the expected mortal sins between men and women. But in the Sunday sermon, their new parish priest did not waste any time addressing these things: ‘The tavern is the devil’s shop, he said. ‘in the tavern, hell pours forth its doctrine, souls are put up for sale, and families are ruined. ‘At the dance club, a Christian leaves his guardian angel at the door, and a devil takes his place. Soon, there are as many devils in the room as dancers.’
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As St. John preached, and prayed for his people, and fasted; little by little, people were no longer comfortable in their sins. A small group at first, wished to learn about God. Some youth came to pray the Rosary. Improving morals led to the two taverns nearest the Church closing for lack of business; although 7 new ones appeared, eventually each of them had to close as well.
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Tirelessly the holy priest taught the people: ‘My children, we must love God above all.’ ‘We must not sin, or if we do, let us repent and make our souls clean.’
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Miracles started to happen. John Vianney had a great devotion to St. Philomena; when miracles started to occur, he would blame them on St. Philomena. ‘She is the one doing this,’ he would say. A young girl was paralyzed on one side; although she was able to drag herself along, her left arm was quite useless. She was about to tell her troubles to St. John, when he said: ‘Go and talk about this to St. Philomena!’ So she made her way over to her statue: ‘Restore my arm to me,’ she pleaded.’ She was cured at that instant.
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His preaching and miracles and – really it was his prayers: the love of God began to gain a foothold in Ars. In that little corner of France, the Word of God began to matter. Christianity was being lived again.
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Men got into the habit of making a visit to the Church before going to their fields, leaving their tools and their flocks waiting outside on the road. No longer would anyone cheat his neighbor or steal even a penny. In a Christ-like atmosphere, people became polite, and even hired servants were cared for and treated like children.
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The law of Sunday Mass and Sunday rest was carefully observed; on Sunday, there was a beautiful silence and peace in the town. Even clothes changed. The immodest fashions of Paris gave way to traditional and simple clothing. It was just a beginning, but it would be part of a renewal of families and the Christian faith that would blossom over the next century.
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Friends, we will have our procession on Tuesday evening to conclude our Novena. We are praying to St. John for our so-many needs and hopes, but also asking him to change our hearts, and make us real Christians. Let us pray to our Patron, and let us pray to the Blessed Virgin as well. Mary, pray for us, that we will become worthy disciples of Jesus Christ.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. John Vianney]
