This Is What We Need!

Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus                           
and said to his servants, "This man is John the Baptist.
He has been raised from the dead;
that is why mighty powers are at work in him."
Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip,
for John had said to him,
"It is not lawful for you to have her."
Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people,
for they regarded him as a prophet.
But at a birthday celebration for Herod,
the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests
and delighted Herod so much
that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for.
Prompted by her mother, she said,
"Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist."
The king was distressed, 
but because of his oaths and the guests who were present,
he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl,
who took it to her mother. His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him, and they went and told Jesus.

Let me preface my reflection on St. John Vianney, whose memorial we celebrate today, by saying that I have known many priests in my life. Some of them considered the priesthood just another job and they worked at it on a more or less normal business day schedule.  They got the job done, that is to be sure, but they were nothing special.  I have known good priests such as my current pastor, Father Joe, who takes the job of being a shepherd seriously.  He takes good care of his parish but he also is down to earth, easy to speak to and he is gentle and kind to all that he meets.  He is a people priest.  I have known others like him, priests that are there to serve.  I thank God for these pastoral priests because they are a beacon that will lead their flock home and draw others into the Church. 

Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, commonly known to us English speakers as St. John Vianney was a French priest who is probably better known as the Cure' d' Ars - which is French for "Parish Priest of Ars."  

He was born on May 8, 1786, to a devoutly Catholic family.  He was the fourth of six children.  This was a bad time in France to be a priest.  Many priests had to go underground because the French Revolutionaries had decreed that being a priest was illegal and there was only one cure for this offense and that was a ride on the guillotine so priests were at risk of their life every time they said Mass or administered the sacraments.  John knew that this was the case and that the priest that was saying mass was risking his life for John and his family and he considered them as heroes.  His first communion and confirmation were held in secret with windows being covered so that the candlelight could not be observed by passers-by.

In 1802 Napoleon made the Church legal again so that which was being held in secret could now be brought back into the light.  When John was twenty, his father allowed John to leave the farm and attend a seminary school.  John had trouble in school and it was only his dogged determination that got him through it.  Once again his education was interrupted because he was drafted to fight Spain with Napoleon.  He fell ill and his group left without him.  When he recovered he was sent to Rome to link up with another troop.  When he could not find the troop after he fell behind after stopping to pray in the local church, another draftee told him that he would help him. Instead of taking him to the troop he took him to a very isolated mountain town where deserters from the army took refuge.  He lived there for fourteen months establishing a school for the village children.  In March of 1810, an amnesty was granted to the deserters so John went back to school and was ordained a deacon in June of 1815 and a priest on August 12, 1815.  He served in the Abbey at Balley but was found to be of the right temperament and with sufficient piety to be a parish priest and was appointed to be the parish priest of Ars. 

The town of Ars was very rural and the revolution had seen to it that the norms of Christian life were stamped out in it. Sunday was just another day of work for some while others used it to drink and dance in taverns.   John solved the problem by refusing to grant absolution in the confessional unless there was a promise to give up the bad behavior.  He was a priest with great spiritual strength and wisdom.  He was very insightful in giving counsel and his reputation as a wise, just, yet gentle priest spread far and wide.  By 1855 the Cure' of Ars was spending up to sixteen hours a day hearing confessions.  It is estimated that the number of pilgrims coming to Ars was twenty-thousand each year.  He was so popular as a confessor that the bishop would not even let him take time off for the annual diocesan retreats held for the clergy because of the "souls awaiting him yonder." 

John died on August 4th in 1859 at the age of 73.  The bishop presided at this funeral and three hundred priests con-celebrated and over six thousand people attended the funeral.  In 1925 he was canonized by Pope Pius XI who in 1929 made him the patron saint of parish priests.

Do we realize what it must be like to be a parish priest in this day and age? First, there is the work.  As priests are hard to come by today their job requires much more than a nine to five commitment.  Next, there is the loneliness that comes with authority.  A pastor is the captain of his parish and every decision has to be run past father who is ultimately responsible if something fails and who receives little acknowledgment is something succeeds.  He has to see to the spiritual welfare of the flock he has inherited, usually from another priest who now is gone and who wore shoes twelve sizes larger than the incoming pastor. Why would a man want such a job?  The answer is love. A priest, and by priest I mean a good priest, does all out of love.  He loves his people, his church, and his job.  Most of all, he has a love for God and God's Son, Jesus Christ and he allows the Holy Spirit to guide him through life.  He is a man of prayer, for a man who does not pray is not going anywhere with his life. But the priest prays because he knows that God is so very much in love with him and he wants to grow and be very much in love with God.  What is our responsibility when it comes to supporting our priests?  We must cooperate with them and see in them the Divine spark that fuels their soul.  We must pray for their health and their spiritual well-being.  We must help them all we can in the work that they are doing for us.  Please understand something.  No priest starts out like John Vianney.  But any priest can become like him if his people pray, comfort, and support him.  What can you do to help the priest that serves you? 

St Padre Pio’s visions of the souls in Purgatory

In May 1922, Padre Pio testified the following to the Bishop of Melfi, His Excellency Alberto Costa and also the superior of the friary, Padre Lorenzo of San Marco along with 5 other friars. One of the five friars, Fra Alberto D' Apolito of San Giovanni Rotondo wrote down the account as follows:

"While in the friary on a winter afternoon after a heavy snowfall, he was sitting by the fireplace one evening in the guest room, absorbed in prayer, when an old man, wearing an old-fashioned cloak still worn by southern Italian peasants at the time, sat down beside him. Concerning this man, Pio states: ‘I could not imagine how he could have entered the friary at this time of night since all the doors are locked. I questioned him: 'Who are you? What do you want?'

The old man told him, "Padre Pio, I am Pietro Di Mauro, son of Nicola, nicknamed Precoco." He went on to say, "I died in this friary on the 18th of September, 1908, in cell number 4, when it was still a poorhouse. One night, while in bed, I fell asleep with a lighted cigar, which ignited the mattress and I died, suffocated and burned. I am still in Purgatory. I need a Holy Mass in order to be freed. God permitted that I come and ask you for help." 

According to Padre Pio: "After listening to him, I replied, 'Rest assured that tomorrow I will celebrate Mass for your liberation.' I arose and accompanied him to the door of the friary so that he could leave. I did not realize at that moment that the door was closed and locked: I opened it and bade him farewell The moon lit up the square, covered with snow. When I no longer saw him in front of me, I was taken by a sense of fear, and I closed the door, re-entered the guest room, and felt faint.”

A few days later, Padre Pio also told the story to Padre Paolino, and the two decided to go to the town hall, where they looked at the vital statistics for the year I908 and found that on September 18 of that year, one Pietro Di Mauro had in fact died of burns and asphyxiation in Room Number 4 at the friary, then used as a home for the homeless. 

Around the same time, Padre Pio told Fra Alberto of another apparition of a soul from Purgatory which also occurred around the same time. He said: 

One evening, when I was absorbed in prayer in the choir of the little church I was shaken and disturbed by the sound of footsteps, and candles and flower vases being moved on the main altar. Thinking that someone must be there, I called out, "Who is it?" 

No one answered. Returning to prayer, I was again disturbed by the same noises. In fact, this time I had the impression that one of the candles, which was in front of the statue of Our Lady of Grace, had fallen. Wanting to see what was happening on the altar, I stood up, went close to the grate and saw, in the shadow of the light of the Tabernacle lamp, a young confrere doing some cleaning. I yelled out, "What are you doing in the dark?" The little friar answered, "I am cleaning." 

"You clean in the dark?" I asked. "Who are you?" 

The little friar said, ‘I am a Capuchin novice, who spends his time of Purgatory here. I am in need of prayers.’ and then he disappeared," 

Padre Pio stated that he immediately began praying for him as requested, and it is not known if he had any further dealings with this particular soul. However, in regards souls in Purgatory, it is very interesting to note that later in life Padre Pio once said that ‘As many souls of the dead come up this road [to the monastery] as that of the souls of the living.” Without a doubt, many souls from Purgatory visited Padre Pio seeking his prayers, sacrifices, and sufferings to obtain their release.

LIVE LIFE FULLY 

LIVE AS A PRAYER WARRIOR

PRAY FOR THOSE WHO WILL NOT PRAY

PRAY FOR THOSE IN PURGATORY

PRAY FOR YOUR FAMILY - BY NAME

PRAY FOR YOUR FRIENDS - BY NAME

PRAY FOR YOUR ENEMIES - BY NAME