Thursday of Week 18 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, Patron Saint of Priests
Jeremiah 31:31-34 | Psalm 50:12-15,18-19 | Matthew 16:13-23
You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. (Matthew 16:18)
We too are rough-hewn stones that form the structure of the Universal Church, supporting each other against the buffeting typhoons of the secular world.
If one stone in a building falls out of place, the support burden on the remaining pieces grows ever larger. When enough stones fall out, the entire structure will come crashing down.
So it is with our faith. It’s easy to look at the neighbour whose Sundays are free and easy, just like (you suspect) his morals. It’s tempting to walk away from the support of our fellow Christians, to embrace the “freedom” and “riches” of the mundane world. And when one of us does so, it’s ever harder for the others to maintain their steadfastness against the sudden hole that appears; when the next ones fall away, one after another, the faith we thought unshakeable starts feeling very wobbly indeed.
And as our fellow stones start falling out, the entire building begins to shift, settling into an uneasy equilibrium each time as we shift into new support positions. Soon, it would seem as if we’re headed towards certain collapse.
Until we roll up against Christ, the unyielding corner stone.
Pressed against Him, we at last find stability, and can then brace the stones around us from further movement. They in turn help stabilize their neighbours, and so on, and so forth. Thus shall the edifice that is the Church remain upright.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
St. John Vianney, shepherd of Ars, knew this well, which was why he spent 12-16 hours daily in the confessional, being a solitary listening, advising and comforting bulwark to hundreds of thousands of faithful from near and far. That he would be declared a patron and model to all our earthly shepherds should surprise no one.
In commemorating his feast today, let us pray to Jesus in his own words, so profound that they are enshrined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2658):
I love you, O my God, and my only desire is to love you until the last breath of my life.
I love you, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving you, than live without loving you.
I love you, Lord, and the only grace I ask is to love you eternally.
My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love you, I want my heart to repeat it to you as often as I draw breath.
Amen.