Vigils Reading – St John Vianney

PRAYER IN THE LIFE

OF THE CURÉ D’ ARS

From the encyclical “Sacerdoti Nostri Primordia” by St John XXIII

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To the priests of this century, apt to be sensitive to the effect of action and

easily tempted by a dangerous activism, how beneficial is that model of

assiduous prayer in a life given up entirely to the care of souls, which was the

Curé d’Ars! O What prevents us priests from being saints, he said. It is lack of

reflection. We don’t search our hearts; we don’t know what we do. Reflection,

prayer, union with God, are the things we need. He himself remained, according

to contemporary evidence, in a state of continual prayer from which he was not

distracted by the wearisome burden of confessions nor by his other pastoral

cares. He preserved a constant union with God in the midst of an exceedingly

busy life.

Let us listen to him again: he is unfailing on the subject of the joy and

blessing of prayer. Man is a beggar who needs to be asking everything from God.

How many souls we can convert by our prayers! And he would repeat: prayer is

all man’s happiness on earth. This happiness he long enjoyed himself with his

eyes, lit by faith, contemplating the divine mysteries and, in adoration of the

Word incarnate, his pure and simple soul lifted towards the Holy Trinity, the

supreme object of his love. And the pilgrims who thronged the Church of Ars

realized that the humble priest was confiding to them something of the secret of

his own inner life with the frequent exclamation dear to him: A Being loved by

God, united to God, living in the presence of God: oh, what happiness in life and

in death!

We could wish that all priests might be convinced, by the witness of the

holy Curé d’Ars, of the need to be men of prayer and of the possibility of being5

so, whatever the heavy and sometimes severe load of the labors of their

ministry. But we need an intense faith, such as moved Jean-Marie Vianney and

made him able to work miracles. What faith! exclaimed one of his colleagues.

Enough to spread over a whole diocese!

With St Pius X, let us consider it certain and well-founded that a priest, in

order to occupy his station properly and fulfill his duty, must devote himself

before all else to prayer. Above all he should obey Christ’s precept: We ought

always to pray, a precept earnestly recommended by St Paul: Continue

steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Pray constantly.

The prayer of the Curé d’Ars, who, so to speak, spent the last thirty years

of his life in his church where he was kept by his numerous penitents, was above

all a prayer of thanksgiving. His devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament

of the altar was indeed wonderful. He is there, he would say, he who loves us so

much; how could we not love him? And most certainly he loved him and felt

irresistibly drawn towards the tabernacle: We do not need many words to pray

well, he explained to his parishioners. We know that God is there, in the holy

tabernacle; we open our hearts to him; we rejoice in his holy presence. This is

the best prayer of all.