Today we celebrate the feast day of St. John Vianney, the Curé d'Ars (1786 AD- 1859 AD). St. John Vianney's story is well known; his humble background, his lack of education, his difficulties in gaining admission to seminary, his struggles with Latin, and, following ordination, his humbling assignment to an obscure hamlet, Ars. Despite his academic difficulties and other misfortunes, St. John Vianney's manifest saintliness would soon draw thousands to that obscure hamlet, which his prodigious holiness had made famous throughout not only France but all of Europe. St. John Vianney had the gift of discerning souls, he could heal the sick, especially children, he possessed supernatural knowledge of the future, he spent endless hours hearing confessions, and he somehow subsisted upon practically no food, and very little sleep.
Although it would be marvelous to have a Curé like St. John Vianney in the local parish, I would settle for a priest who heard confessions for more than half an hour per week.
St. John Vianney, pray for us.
I've never asked him but I'm reasonably sure that's why Fr. Rutler (who spoke, of course, about the Curé d'Ars in his homily today and has written two books about him) hears confession every day of the week. A few years ago at the Church of Our Saviour a a nice statue of Vianney was placed next to the shrine to Our Lady.
ReplyDeleteMy chief objection to the limited opportunities for confession in most parishes is one shouldn't have to wait several days to do it, should the mood strike, or worse still, have to file into the parish office, find someone who works there and tell him or her you wish to make your confession and ask if a priest is available; it's too cumbersome and surely must encourage many Catholics to simply skip the whole business. Therefore, I am grateful to Rutler, as to well to the Franciscans for the confession mill they run on West 31st Street.