Aug 4 – Memorial for St. John Mary Vianney, priest
In his youth, John Mary Vianney (1786-1859) taught other children their prayers and catechism. As a priest, was assigned to a parish which suffered from very lax attendance. He began visiting his parishioners, especially the sick and poor, spent days in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, did penance for his parishioners, and led his people by example. Crowds came to hear him preach, and to make their reconciliation because of his reputation with penitents.
He has been declared patron saint for all priests.
- Patron Saint Index
Jer 30:1-2,12-15,18-22
Mt 15:1-2,10-14
Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break away from the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat food.”
When I read about those Pharisees I immediately feel better about myself. I think of them as ‘they’, certainly not a crowd I belong to. After all, the Pharisees are prideful, boastful and condemning of others. They have planks in their eyes and consistently point out the splinter in the eyes of others. So, I definitely am not like them — though I do like to compare myself to them, as it makes me look so good; not being like them.
And yet, in that very thinking I am not just like them, I am them. I, too, like to point out where others are wrong, not as good as I am. That makes me seem ‘not so bad’, because ‘look at them’. And my pride drips into puddles where I stand. Comparing my best to another’s worst allows me to feel and act superior. Comparing my worst to others best allows me to feel and act like a victim, and share how I’ve been treated unfairly.
The simple act of comparing is the downfall of a person, a group, a nation. That’s really what Lucifer did, isn’t it? He compared himself to the mortal, Jesus and refused to serve Him.
A few weeks ago, I was talking with a friend who was feeling anxiety, and even a bit of anger, because she wasn’t where she thought she should be in life; even after all that she had done and sacrificed, for over a decade, in following the direction of God in her life choices. She was looking all around and her eyes saw all that she didn’t have, that others ‘just like her’ had.
In an instant, I remembered feeling similar thoughts at more than one time in my life. Common thoughts and feelings such as:
- Why does she have a boyfriend again, and I still don’t?
- Why did that person get promoted and I wasn’t? I’m the one who works overtime all the time.
- Why does that person get a spouse who cooks and cleans when I have to do it all myself?
- Why does that person get a new car every few years and I have to drive this beat up car?
- Why does that person get to have such a nice big house, new clothes all the time and I’m still pinching pennies?
- Why does that person have a spouse who listens and I have a spouse who…
- Why does that person have…. and I only have…..
Immediately, the lesson I learned from a bible study over a decade ago came to mind. The lesson that thinking in those terms is actually comparison, and comparison is a tool of the enemy. Comparison is saying – believing – that someone else received something that I deserve as well (or instead of them). As a Christian, when we allow these thoughts to take life in our heart, we are believing that God, quite literally, ‘ripped us off’.
Is it truly possible that we could walk with Jesus, look into his eyes and still believe and express those thoughts – that God has done us wrong because, well look at what THAT PERSON has? Could we really believe that God doesn’t have our best interests at heart – that God has been unfair, not just? That God simply must not love us completely?
Can we possibly believe that God defrauded us, fleeced us, abused us because we didn’t get what we should have, because we can see that others have received ‘it’? We would all say, of course I don’t think that. And yet, my words and actions often say that quite loudly.
Why do we look for created things to fill us, to satisfy us? Why do we think that the love of, or for, a created thing is of more value than the love of, or for, the Creator?
Today is the Feast Day of St. John Mary Vianney, and his prayer is perfect for today:
I love You, Oh my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life. I love You, O my infinitely loveable God, and I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You. I love You, Lord and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally. My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to repeat it to You as often as I draw breath. Amen.
Why do we reach for shiny red apples thinking they are what we need – when we know that that is a lie?
(Today’s OXYGEN by Gina Ulicny)
Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come. Envelop us with abiding peace and the grace of wisdom so that we will desire only more of God and less of this world.
Thanksgiving: Father God, we thank You for giving us all that we need; for giving us all that is everlasting; for giving us your very self.
OXYGEN 
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