Saint John Marie Vianney is the patron saint of priests. As far as I know – and I’ve been putting this challenge out for my entire life – he is the only priest to be canonized as a simple parish priest, not a martyr, not a founder of a religious order that he then joined, not a bishop, not a missionary, just a simple parish priest.
Being a parish priest puts one right in the middle of the ever present tiny group of entitled parishioners who are at the ready to be sycophants to insecure bishops who are looking for accolades from them. It’s the parish priest who is smacked down from both sides. And somehow that’s fitting, you know, to be like Jesus who had the crowds shrieking “Crucify Him!” and the chief priests playing their puppets. This is enough to make any faithful priest into a saint. We have Saint John Vianney as our shining star, and he’s enough for us in the General Roman Calendar, because we now have one day a year when we can humbly thank the Lord for making us His priests.
But this needs humility. The first job of a priest is get his hell out of the way of the One High Priest, Christ Jesus, King of kings, Lord of lords, Prince of the Most Profound Peace. He does this by going to Confession. Priests have been passing through my parish in these two days. I’ve taken advantage and have gone to Confession two days in a row! Father John Harden said that, all things being equal, there is an infallible increase in sanctifying grace with a well-received absolution. Thanks be to God. When a priest gets his own hell out of the way, it is the priesthood of Christ Jesus who shines through such a weak human being. Glory be to God. It is truly stunning to witness.
But I know of about no bishops, especially the bishop of Rome, for whom being a Catholic priest is to be all about Jesus. There are some, but… it’s politically incorrect, embarrassing for them to insist that Jesus is the One, the only One, you know, to quote Traditionis custodes, “l’Unico.”
Instead, it is the sacrament of Confession – for which Saint John Vianney was rightly dedicated – which is mocked by the encouragement of fake, unrepentant Confessions such as find with “accompaniment” of Amoris laetitia, by the encouragement of homosexualist impurity, the denigration of our bodies which are to instead be temples of the Holy Spirit. This means no humility, no reverence before Christ Jesus, seeing no purpose in the priesthood.
It means that it’s not about Jesus, but rather ourselves, only, as if each one is the only one, you know, to cite Traditionis custodes, “l’unico.”
This self-entitlement of so many bishops and priests is sickening. Enough is Enough, as is now being proclaimed.
Hey! I have an idea for our bishops and priests that will turn all of this around, you know, all things being equal, infallibly:
- Go to Confession! Frequently, regularly, with honesty, with new found integrity, so humbly thankful, then, for Jesus having gotten our own hell out of the way, that His priesthood can shine through us.
Oh, and that picture up top? That’s the chapel in honor of Saint John the Baptist that Saint John Vianney constructed on the one side of his parish church. Saint John the Baptist is one of my confirmation names. Thanks for that as well, dearest Curé.
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 