In Ars, I have enjoyed the many contrast that I have found. This morning as I took the brief walk up to the site on the Encounter, I thought about these many contrast. The site of the encounter is where Father Jean Marie Vianney asked a small shepherd boy if he could show him the ways to Ars. It was here that the Priest would see his parish for the first time. In thanks to the little shepherd boy for showing him the way to Ars. Father Vianney told the boy, he would show him the way to heaven. What if at each moment of our life, we could tell others this? Through not only sharing the good news with them, but living out the good news. Our actions will draw others to God more than our words. We have all seen the person that preaches about Gods love but fails to allow Gods love to shine forth from them. And if we are honest with our selves, we can see at times in our life when we have been that person that failed to allow Gods love to work through us.
Another contradiction is the Basilica itself. After his death, the church wanted to build a basilica that would accommodate the pilgrims that had already been coming to Ars. The towns people did not want the parish church torn down and so the Basilica was built into the parish church. This contradiction is a beautiful contradiction. If you enter from the old parish side- it is small, crowded, mainly wood, and simple when compared to the Basilica side which is large, spacious with high ceilings, marble, and elaborate. Yet, this is the very essence of this simple country priest. Father Vianney interiorly was a very simple and humble man. Yet, to those that knew him, met him, and traveled a great distance to get to the confessional with him- realized something else... Yes, he was a humble man, but a humble man that walked with a giant daily (aka God). The two sides of the church reflect this contradiction so well and yet together it does make perfect sense.
The next contradiction was the contradiction between his home and his church. The parish home, upon his arrival was well decorated - too decorated for a simple humble servant of God. So out with the decadence and in with the bare necessities. How he decided to live is very important, he kept the bare minimum when it came to furniture but he surrounded himself with images and books of our Lord and Saints. Having a hard time focusing on God? Look around your home and office- what image do you see? what books are on your self? i will say if you came to my office (when I had an office) the joke was my walls looked like a general shirts - Lined in order with awards. Guess what, those awards mean nothing. When I left last August we had an award ceremony, where I gave away those awards to my staff. The wall, told people that came to my office- I was a success, I know what I am talking about. But does that really matter? I can honestly say, I never did any of it for the award but in a way, with those awards on the wall all about me... We can say what was really important to me... Me! So Father Vianney lived modestly and surrounded himself with things that called to mind God... Hmm, seems likes a no brainer and yet how many of us fell to do this.
Now in complete contrast to how Father Vianney lived, he desired for God to dwell in the best place possible. So he took the very modest parish and made small changes. These changes were designed to glorify God, to call God to the minds of his people, and to help his people understand the importance of Christ. How do you teach Gods majesty? You show it. Well his parish began noticing how little he considered himself in importance when he compared himself with God. A neat addition, that he made to the parish was the bell tower. Father Vianney wanted to call his people to God. This was before the time of mass emails, calendar alerts, commercials, billboards, and text messages. So the bells would ring and would bring to mind God and call his people from the field to Mass. I have written previously about the church bells, so no need to restate here. The part of him restoring the church and wanting to do all he can to glorify God, reminds me of the Priest currently at , my parents church, Father Jason Cargo. I do not know if he got on their roof, to restore the bell tower, but I do know he has put in his manual labor to help get the job done on their church restoration project. And yes, when you enter the church, even without understanding the presence of the Eucharist, a person knows they are in a holy place, a place to pray, a place to be reverent. I have been blessed to visit many beautiful churches during my life, but I know we will never be able to build anything that expresses the majesty of God or His goodness but that should not stop us from trying. I think our best work looks like a kindergarteners art project to God but God like a loving parent tells us how much He loves it because He knows how hard we tried.
Father Vianney would serve at the parish of Ars for the remainder of his life. He desired to let the people know of Gods love and he lived out the acts of mercy that Christ calls all of us to, through educating, sheltering, and feeding those in need. We know his source of all this came through hours of prayer and the Eucharist. Anyways, Father Vianney parish came to life and the people came to have a life with God. It was through the confessional, where people were the most touched by this priest. A good confession, where one is truly remorseful and desires to sin no more is a beautiful thing. Yea, you might cry but at the end you leave FREE. The bags you walked in with; guilt, shame, regret, etc are left there and Christ literally makes them disappear for us. Father Vianney understood the importance and desire of man to be connected to God and as we learn, nothing separates us faster from God then sin. In the same way, nothing connects us faster to God then having that sin (that obstacle) removed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Because of Vianney's understanding he spent many hours in the confessional. Want to see a Christ center church and its people? Look for one that offers reconciliation and mass regularly (and people are there). Because a Christ-center church will not be one without sinners -we all fall short regularly but one where people acknowledge their failures and seek to be reunited with God as soon as possible and to have them being in their presence always.
So this simple parish priest that understood the importance of the sacraments became known to neighboring towns and one by one more people began coming to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. Well, even without the social media of today, word spread and near his final years of his life he would spend up to 17 hours in the confessional. Three times Father Vianney tried to leave to live a life solely devoted to prayer as a monk but on his final time, he realize, 'no, this is where God called me' and he regretted ever trying to avoid Gods will for his own desire (an honest desire at that, a life of prayer focused on God).
The Gospel reading on this day was from Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus told his disciples this parable:
“A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one– to each according to his ability. Then he went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them. The one who had received five talents came forward bringing the additional five. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five talents. See, I have made five more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.’ Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.’ His master said to him in reply, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my return? Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’”
I can say that St. Jean Marie Vianney, did well with what God entrusted to him. Jean Vianney was not known for his academic excellence, he had trouble in seminary with the Latin and so he was given a small talent (a very small village parish), like the servant only given 2 talents. But through allowing God to use him in any and all ways possible, those two talents multiply many times. Because he was faithful to God in small matters, God then gave him great responsibility. I cannot imagine the stress and workload that our Priest take on (all the life changing moments that they are part of for so many people) but yet, if they simply allow God to use them the load becomes doable. No not easy but Jesus never promised an easy path. So the final question, what is it that God has currently given me to be the steward of? How am I doing?
No comments:
Post a Comment