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| St. Jean Vianney, patron of parish priests |
In these times, so like the ignorant days after the French Revolution when many people had lost the sense of the sacred and the knowledge of Catholic doctrine, we need priests who will instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, admonish sinners, and pray diligently for the living and the dead. Just a handful like St. Jean Vianney, the patron of parish priests, could turn our pagan culture back to God.
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| St. Jean Vianney, patron of parish priests, pray for us. |
Indeed it comes as no surprise to any pastor that St. John Vianney was severely abused and derided because he called his people to chastity when debauchery was the norm, to sobriety when drunkenness was rampant, to holiness when secularity was much more popular.
Because he loved, however, he did not cease to challenge sinfulness and call his people to repentance. His determined love for souls cost him dearly. I strongly suspect that if St. John Vianney himself were in many of our American parishes, there would be an abundance of letters from concerned parishioners about the direction in which he was taking the parish.
This in no way implies that letters about priests to chanceries all across this country are not sometimes warranted. It also in no way implies our priests are comparable to St. John. What it does imply is that most of us do not respond well when the sinfulness of our own lives is challenged. That goes for all of us.
And yet the old adage about the need to “hate the sin but love the sinner” makes perfect pastoral sense, but the situation is often made very difficult when the sinner has such a solid affection for and attachment to and even defense of the sin that any attack on the sin—not the person, but the sin—is deemed an unjust and indefensible attack on the sinner!
In some ways the adage has been revised for American sensibilities so that its present rendering might go something like: “Love the sinner, and you do that by condoning the sin.”Read the rest here and don't forget to pray for your priests today.
Tomorrow is the first Thursday of the month and a special day in this year of the priests. The Holy Father has made every first Thursday through June of 2010 an opportunity to secure a plenary indulgence. Let us pray often for priests. As St. Jean Vianney said, "Without the Sacrament of Holy Orders, we would not have the Lord. Who put him there in that tabernacle? The priest. Who welcomed your soul at the beginning of your life? the priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest, always the priest. And if this soul should happen to die [as a result of sin], who will raise it up, who will restore its calm and peace? Again, the priest...After God, the priest is everything!...Only in heaven will he fully realize what he is."B. The Plenary Indulgence is granted to all the faithful who are truly repentant who, in church or in chapel, devoutly attend the divine Sacrifice of Mass and offer prayers to Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest, for the priests of the Church, and any other good work which they have done on that day, so that he may sanctify them and form them in accordance with His Heart, as long as they have made expiation for their sins through sacramental confession and prayed in accordance with the Supreme Pontiff's intentions: on the days in which the Year for Priests begins and ends, on the day of the 150th anniversary of the pious passing of St John Mary Vianney, on the first Thursday of the month or on any other day established by the local Ordinaries for the benefit of the faithful.
It will be most appropriate, in cathedral and parish churches, for the same priests who are in charge of pastoral care to publicly direct these exercises of devotion, to celebrate Holy Mass and to hear the confession of the faithful.
The Plenary Indulgence will likewise be granted to the elderly, the sick and all those who for any legitimate reason are confined to their homes who, with a mind detached from any sin and with the intention of fulfilling as soon as possible the three usual conditions, at home or wherever their impediment detains them, provided that on the above-mentioned days they recite prayers for the sanctification of priests and confidently offer the illnesses and hardships of their lives to God through Mary Queen of Apostles.
Lastly, the Partial Indulgence is granted to all the faithful every time they devoutly recite five Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glorias, or another expressly approved prayer, in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to obtain that priests be preserved in purity and holiness of life.
This Decree is valid for the entire duration of the Year for Priests. Anything to the contrary notwithstanding.
Given in Rome, at the Offices of the Apostolic Penitentiary on 25 April, the Feast of St Mark the Evangelist, in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 2009.
Today is the first day of the year dedicated by the Holy Father to priests. And what an appropriate day for it to begin, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is also the 150th anniversary of the death of St. Jean Vianney, patron saint of parish priests. Wow! What a double whammy of grace. Make that a triple whammy. St. Jean Vianney had great devotion to the Blessed Mother who has a special love for her priests. What a powerful intercessor she is and how wonderful when a priest knows it and calls on her to pray for himself and his sinful flock.