Vigils Reading – St John Vianney

Prayer in the life of the Curé d’Ars:

a reading from an encyclical by ST. John XXIII.

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 being 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.