DIFFICULTIES FROM WITHIN
On the very threshold of his vocation he found within himself an apparently insurmountable obstacle: dullness of mind made him fail in all his attempts at passing the indispensable examinations. But he remained undaunted, persevered in his efforts, went for a pilgrimage to the tomb of St Francis Regis, and finally was ordained a priest of God! What if he had succumbed to discouragement and given up the struggle? There would have been no Cure d' Ars, with all he stood, and stands, for... Practical lesson for us: never to give up anything we undertake for God because of the initial difficulties encountered. How much good was perhaps left undone for others and in our own soul, because we lost courage at the apparent futility of our efforts for some parish work, for a conversion, for the improvement of our flock, for the acquisition of some virtue for ourselves! Let us be convinced that there are few things that cannot be achieved by unflinching perseverance in efforts along with an unperturbable confidence in God. "Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat."
His deficiencies in learning and education were a stumbling block also for his Sunday sermons, which he wanted to make as worthy as possible of the sacred message he had to convey. He tackled this difficulty by the most strenuous efforts to prepare his sermons at every available free time, working persistently at them for hours together. Grace did the rest, and the Spirit of God gave him that practical eloquence which soon brought men in crowds to listen even to his daily catechisms... All priests, even the most gifted ones, know by experience the difficulty of moving hearts, in sermons, in argumentations, through the press. Do we react by painstaking labor in our preparation and by putting all our trust in God? "Gratia Dei mecum."
Another limitation he had to battle with in order to persevere in his heroic apostolate was the physical exhaustion of his hard-ridden body. At the pace he went (we know what his daily programme was) how could he carry on for more than a very few years, especially when racking ailments were added to his labors and penances? "Sinners will kill the sinner" he once exclaimed. But he let them... and withal carried on for forty years! ... What a lesson for timorous pastors of souls who fear lest apostolic labors should injure their health! When we have taken the precautions which the virtue of prudence counsels; let us not be afraid to spend generously for souls the life God has given us to serve Him and which is doubly His since our ordination. "Libentissime impendam et superimpendar ipse pro animabus vestris."
VARIOUS TEMPTATIONS
The first temptation that assailed him in his priestly life was against chastity. He had spent his youth in purity, but contact with vice now troubled his innocent soul. Not for long. He knew the remedy of bodily penance and applied it vigorously; he knew the protecting power of Our Lady and vowed a daily prayer to her Immaculate Conception: "Thus," said he, "I was set free for ever"... Are we prompt in detecting and generous in combatting all dangers to our virtue?
Much more lasting and trying proved the direct assaults of the evil one. For thirty-five years Satan tormented his victim, in the hope of stopping his work of conversions. But he met with a long-suffering patience which trust in God tempered like steel, and he succeeded only in making the Saint redouble his apostolic labous... Wherever great good is done, we must expect the devil's retaliation under some form or other. A zealous priest will never be discouraged at this; rather he will see in it additional proof that he is doing God's work, and will carry on undeterred, strong in the Master's assurance: "Confidite, ego vici mundum."
A more subtle temptation harassed him long, and thrice he succumbed to it momentarily: he thought himself called to leave his parish work for a life of seclusion and uninterrupted prayer. But at every attempt to flee he was made to realize that God wanted him at Ars, and every time he again bent his wearied shoulders under the yoke... If ever tempted to desire other fields or ministries than those assigned to us by obedience, let us seek nothing but the perfect accomplishment of God's holy will: "Non mea voluntas, sed Tua."
CONFLICTS AND OPPOSITIONS
Let us just evoke some of the vexations he had to endure: angry parishioners, who resented his uncompromising zeal, howling threats and calumnies at his door. . . and the Saint calmly carrying on, within, his prayers and penances for them; - brother priests leagued in opposition to him, sending round for signatures a petition to the bishop for his removal . . . and he humbly adding his own signature to the denouncing document; - his conceited curate whose domineering and nagging ways he suffered in silence for eight years, until one day he let himself be persuaded to complain to the bishop. . . but after finishing his letter quietly tearing it up!
* Our resolution: serene patience, cheerful courage in all such trials and humiliations, seeing in them gifts of the Sacred Heart to His own; "Tamquam aurum in fornace probavit illos."
"Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui humano generi ad imitandum humilitatis exemplum, Salvatorem nostrum carnem sumere et crucem subire fecisti: concede propitius, ut et patientiae ipsius habere documenta et resurrectionis consortia mereamur. Per eundem C.D.N."________________________
Adapted from Alter Christus, Meditations for Priests by F.X. L'Hoir, S.J. (1958)
Meditation 44.
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Please pray for our priests and pray for vocations to the priesthood.
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