4 August 2022 – Thursday of 18th week in Ordinary Time - St John Vianney - PSALM 51

    “Create a clean heart in me, O God.”  I find it really interesting that the psalmist does not say purify my heart or cleanse my heart, but rather “create” in me a clean heart.  The psalmist emphasizes God’s creative action, the new life and the new creation that we become through God.  The psalmist goes on to say – “A steadfast spirit renew within me.”   In asking for a new spirit and a new heart, the psalmist asks to renew the presence of both the human and the divine within him, to renew that which is depraved and broken and disordered within him.

           I thought of the saint we celebrate today, a priest whose ministry touched the hearts of the faithful in a special way.  St John Vianney was born in France near the end of the 18th century.  He is known as the Cure of Ars from the name of the French village where he lived most of his life as a priest.  He was a  seminary student studying for the priesthood during the era of the French Revolution, a time in which the Catholic faith was being oppressed in France. He was known as the least capable student in his seminary.  He was ordained to the priesthood reluctantly by his superiors, even though he failed his final oral exam. He was sent to a small French village where it was thought that he would do the least harm.  He led a very strict, devout life as a priest. His example of faith touched the lives of many of the faithful which went beyond his parishioners. He became well-known for his preaching, for his compassion as a confessor, and for his spiritual direction. As his reputation grew, Vianney had more than 300 people visiting him each day from different parts of France to hear him preach and to go to confession with him.  John Vianney is the patron saint of diocesan priests.  I pray for all the priests in the Diocese of Jackson in a special way today, especially the Diocesan priests.  I will leave with a quote from John Vianney on a homily he did on happiness.  It contains a good message for us to take away from his spirituality: “My God, I give you my heart, and since you are so good as to give me another day, give me the grace that everything I do will be for your honor and for the salvation of my soul.”