Sunday in the Year for Priests

 As all the Cure's clients had become accustomed to the permanent miracle of his life, no one even dreamed that the end was approaching. But he had no illusions about it. There can be no doubt that he had presentiments of death. When he was given a beautiful ribbon to be used in the procession of Corpus Christi in 1858, he expressed his thanks and added: "I shall not use it twice." As it happened, in June 1859, he did not have the strength to carry the monstrance. And when he sent Catherine to the chateau of Cibeins to collect his small annuity, he said to her: "This will be the last time!"

On Friday, July 29, Father Vianney carried on his "ordinary" activities. He spent sixteen or seventeen hours in the confessional, taught his catechism class, said the evening prayers. When he returned to the rectory in a state of total exhaustion he collapsed on a chair saying: "I cannot go on any more!"


...at one o'clock the next morning when Father Vianney tried to get up to go to the church, he found he was unable to move...I think this is the end of my poor life, " he said in a whisper.
From The Remarkable Cure of Ars, by Michele de Saint Pierre

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Sunday in the Year for Priests

Father Vianney is a man of medium height, with a frail body, he is excessively thin and pale, extenuated by sickness and fasting; his cheeks are hollow, his cheekbones prominent, his eye is quick and penetrating, his face is that of the Spaish saints, full of the indefinable expression that only a Zurbaran or a Murillo can give...The Cure spends the greater part of his time in his church, usually leaving it at ten or eleven o'clock at night...He eats only once a day, and it is certain that his food is chosen from among the most common vegetables...

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars, by Michele de St. Pierre

Video from USCCB

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

Speaking to his intimate friends, Father Vianney once said: "God did me the great favor of not endowing me with anything on which I could rely--neither talent, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, nor strength, nor virtue...When I look at myself, I discover within me only my poor sins. And even then the good God does not permit me to see them all, or to know myself completely. Such a sight would drive me to despair. I have no other resource against this temptation to despair than to throw myself at the foot of the tabernacle like a little dog at his master's feet."

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars by Michel de Saint Pierre

Please keep in your prayers those seminarians who will be ordained to the priesthood in May and June in dioceses throughout the world.

Rite of Ordination to the Priesthood

Beautiful photos!

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

Ordination Class of 2009

(From the US Bishops' website-2010 Class will be posted soon)

When Father  Vianney came out of his confessional, the crowd was so thick that he had to be shielded from them. Nervous and disgruntled people would pull on his cassock. They would almost knock him down! He would be pushed around, and some went so far as to tear his clothes. But he never uttered a word of complaint. And let us not imagine that Father Vianney sent his penitents off at top speed. On the contrary, he demanded a well-prepared confession, and quite often a general confession.

From The Remarkable Cure of Ars, by Michele de St. Pierre

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

So there we were in church. My old friend set me down in a pew facing the sacristy. Soon the door opened and the Cure of Ars came out, wearing his sacred vestments. His eyes met mine. It was only a quick look, but it penetrated to the depths of my heart. I felt crushed under this gaze. I bowed low. I hid my  head in my two hands. I remained motionless throughout the Mass. After Mass I tried to raise my heavy head, and decided to leave. But as I was passing by the sacristy where the crowd was gathering, I heard these words:

 Everybody leave, everybody leave!"

At the same time a bony hand was laid on my hand, and I was drawn as by an invincible force. The door closed behind me. I found myself face-to-face with this gaze that had left me thunderstruck. I stammered a few words:

Monsieur le Cure, I have a weight on my shoulders that is crushing me.

 A voice of angelic gentleness, that did not seem to come from any human breast, answered me:

"My friend, you must get rid of it as soon as possible. Get on your knees. You will tell me your poor life, and Our Lord will take your burden upon Himself, for He has said: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."

Then my anxiety seemed to disappear a little...I began to tell this holy man the story of my life since the time of my First Communion.

While I spoke he sprinkled me with his tears, and at times he would exclaim: "How merciful is the good God! How he has loved you!"

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars, by Michele de Saint Pierre

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

Another witness relates that at eight o'clock in the evening he went to Benediction and found the church filled with people, including many strangers. "The walls were covered with banners, the tabernacle resplendent with gold leaf, the monstrance ablaze with jewels,and hundreds of candles reflected their light on the gold and diamonds." Then came "A priest exhausted by fasting and vigils, who offered up in an almot inaudible voice a prayer that breathed forth his love."

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars by Michele de Saint Pierre

Fr. Christensen of Sioux Falls Diocese Blog Diary

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

A man like the Cure of Ars could not help attracting crowds. Here was a man who worked "miracles," who had "the gift of tears," who was said to inflict terrible penances upon himself who labored every day far beyond human endurance, who fought with demons, who obtained by his prayers the multiplication of bread, flour, and wine, who could keep an audience enthralled for over an hour at a time without obeying the first rule of grammar and syntax, a man whose bizarre attire was unforgettable as were his power of persuasion and his bright blue eyes shining out of the face of a crucified man.

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars, by Michele de Saint Pierre

CLERUS.ORG

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

About Divine Mercy

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Knights of Columbus

Announce Novena for our Holy Father, Benedict XVI

Beginning today-Divine Mercy Sunday

and concluding on Monday, April 19

Prayer for the Holy Father

Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to your shepherd, Benedict, a spirit of courage and right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love. By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care, may he, as successor to the Apostle Peter and Vicar of Christ, build your Church into a sacrament of unity, love and peace for all the world. Amen.

Let us pray for Benedict, the pope.

May the Lord preserve him, give him a long life,make him blessed upon the earth, and not hand him over to the power of his enemies.

May your hand be upon your holy servant.

And upon your son,

whom you have anointed.

Our Father...Hail Mary...Glory Be...

 

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the King of Israel!

In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth. This is what the Church means by saying that the priest, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, act in persona Christi Capitis (in the person of Christ).

Catechism 1548

This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience.
Catechism #614

Jesus said to all: "Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps."
Luke 9:23

The Passionist Nuns

Whitesville, Kentucky

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Sunday in the "Year for Priests"

Lord Jesus, with St Jean-Marie Vianney, we entrust to your care:

all the priests we know,
all those we have met,
all those that have helped us,
all those you give us today as fathers.

You have called each of them by name. For each one, we praise you and we beseech you: keep them faithful to your Name. For you consecrated them so that, in your Name, they might be our pastors. Give them strength, confidence and joy in accomplishing their mission with their eyes fixed on your countenance. We know well that you choose for your work creatures that are weak, so that they have no cause for pride or vanity. Therefore we entrust them to you, so that they rely above all on you.

May the Eucharist that they celebrate nourish them and give them the courage to offer themselves with you on behalf of the lambs that we are. Plunge them into the heart of your Mercy, so that they always bear witness to your forgiveness.
(From a prayer book from the Sanctuary at Ars, France)

St. Therese of Lisieux and the "Year for Priests"

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Sunday in the Year for Priests

A good pastor, a pastor according to the heart of God, there is the greatest treasure that the good Lord can give to a parish in His mercy, and one of the most precious."  
St. John Vianney

Read about the featured priest this month from the nuns of St. Joseph Monastery Portsmouth, Ohio

Featured priest: Rev. Matthew Albright, Parochial Vicar St. Michael Church, Canton, Ohio.
Click Here

The website of the Poor Clares Portsmouth, Ohio

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Sunday in the Year for Priests

(anointing with holy chrism)

...Another time, I brought to Ars one of my nephews who had been suffering from a very serious cancerous infection for six years, Monsieur le cure greeted him and said: 'My friend, let us quickly heal the soul; then you will go to Lyons to be operated on. St. Philomena will guide the operation and everything will turn out for the best. You will certainly be cured. Dr. Bariller, the surgeon at the Hotel-Dieu, performed the operation. Two weeks later, the patient...was attending to his affairs with the greatest energy. He is now enjoying perfect health.

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars, by Michele de Saint Pierre

Devotion to St. Philomena

A holy Redemptorist priest

Miracle of healing attributed to

Blessed Francis X Seelos

Read more about Bl. Seelos

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

If you desire the worship that you give to God to be pleasing to Him and valuable for the salvation of your soul, put it properly into practice. Begin by preparing for holy Mass as soon as you awake, uniting yourself to all the Masses which are being said at that moment...

When you come out from your home, think about what you are going to do and what you are going to ask of God. Begin by clearing your mind of earthly matters so that you will be thinking of God only. Avoid all sorts of unnecessary conversations which serve no other purpose than to make you hear Mass badly. When you enter the church, recall to yourself what the holy patriarch jacob said: How awesome is this place! How holy it is! It is truly the house of  God and the gateway to heaven!

From the Sermons of the Cure of Ars, Translated by Una Morrissy

Please pray for the repose of the soul of the Rev. James Schleicher, a priest of the diocese of Cleveland who passed away recently.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday of the Year for Priests

Now between 1827 and 1859--despite the skepticism of the times--the little village church of Ars was always full. As early as 1828, pilgrims came thick and fast. Monsieur le Cure, Catherine Lassagne once said to her pastor, the other missionaries run after sinners, even into foreign lands. But with you, it is the sinners who run after you!

This fascination of a single man, toward whom vast crowds converged for thirty years, is perhaps unique in the history of man and in the annals of the Church. In any event the total context of Ars was unique, for it was a prodigious brew of miracles and satanic infestations, of seething crowds and modest ordinary lives, and above all a place habitually immersed in the realm of the supernatural.
Here is how one good man expressed his reaction to Father Monnin: "Before I came to Ars, before I saw the good Father, I found it hard to believe all that I read in the lives of the saints. Many things seemed impossible to me. Now I believe everything because I have seen all these things and still more with my own eyes."
From The Remarkable Cure of Ars, by Michele de Saint Pierre

More about St. John Vianney

St. John Vianney had a great devotion to
St. Philomena-Read more about this saint



Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Sunday in the Year for Priests

From St. John Maria Vianney we learn a deep connection between the priesthood and the sacrifice: He taught his parishioners: “If one wants to destroy religion, he begins to attack the priest, because where there is no priest, there is also no sacrifice, and because where there is no sacrifice, there is also no religion any longer.”
(Excerpt from Opus Angelorum-to view the website click here)


The Cure of Ars was subjected to extraordinary diabolic interventions...he was subjected to what demonologists call infestation, that is, situations in which devils reveal their presence by troublesome vexations, which are more terrifying than painful...

He himself has related the beginning of these unbelievable persecutions which were to continue for many years:
"The first time the devil came to torment me was one night at nine o'clock, just as I was about to go to bed. Three loud knocks resounded on my courtyard door, as if someone wanted to break it in with an enormous sledge hammer. I immediately opened my window and asked: Who is it?...But I saw nothing and went quietly to bed, recommending myself to God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to the holy angels. I was not yet asleep when three more knocks made me jump. These were more violent than the first, and struck not against the outside door but against the one at the foot of the stairs leading to my room. I got up and cried out a second time: Who is there? No one answered...

 Now Father Vianney was subject to fear like anybody else. But he overcame it. One of the persons whose help he sought in the first days to protect him was none other than the village wheelwright, Andrew Verchere.

He reported the following: "That night I went to the rectory. I talked with the Cure until ten o'clock, meanwhile warming myself. 'Let us go to bed,' he said at last. He let me have his room and went into the one next to it. I did not go to sleep. About one o'clock in the morning I heard the handle and latch of the outside door being violently shaken. At the same time I could hear heavy blows against the same door, while inside the rectory there was a thunderous noise as of the rolling of several carriages...The rectory was swaying as if from an earthquake. "'So you're afraid?' Monsieur le Cure asked. " 'No, I said, I am not afriad but I feel my legs giving way. The rectory is going to collapse.' "What do you think it is?' " 'I think it is the devil.'
From the Remarkable Cure of Ars by Michele de Saint Pierre

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Sunday in the Year for Priests

(The Holy Father in Lourdes-Praying for the sick)

photo: property of Spirit Singing

One of the Cure of Ars' essential activities was his visitation of the sick, and we know how important he considered it. If anyone came to get him to hear a sick person's confession, he would set out at once without regard for time or distance. One day he happened to

be so ill himself that when he arrived at his penitent's home he was obliged to lie down on a bed and hear the dying man's confession in this position. He than had to be taken home in a carriage, which did not please him at all.

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars by Michele de Saint Pierre

Christ's compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of infirmity are a resplendant sign that "God has visited his people" and that the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive sins, he has come to heal the whole man, soul and body; he is the physician the sick have need of.
Catechism #1503


Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Sunday in the Year for Priests

The Cross is the most scholarly book we can read. Those who do not know this book are ignorant, even if they happen to know all the other books. There are no true scholars except those who love the Cross, consult it, understand it. Bitter as this book may be, we are never happier than when we drown ourselves in this bitterness. The more we follow its teaching, the more we want to go on. Here time passes quickly. We know everything we want to know, and we are never satisfied... We should run after the Cross
the way a miser runs after money. It is consoling to suffer for the love of God. We must ask for a love of crosses. Are we not made in the form of a cross?
St. John Vianney-The Cure of Ars



The Holy Season of Lent begins in 17 Days

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
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Sunday in the Year for Priests

  

 

Photos from the Vatican during the Liturgy officially opening the Year for Priests-June 2009 

 The village folk were justifiably worried about Fr. Vianney's health. He seemed to show signs of exhaustion despite his robust constitution.  An unforgettable fire burned in his sunken blue eyes, and his face became a living image of asceticism. Sometimes he would grow faint,  but would manage to rekindle his strength to go on. Meanwhile he increased his mortifications beyond all reason. Some day he would call these excesses  "the folly of youth."

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars, by Michele de St. Pierre

 

A Prayer for Priests by St. Therese of the Child Jesus

O Jesus, eternal Priest, keep your priests

within the shelter of your Sacred Heart

where none may touch them.

 

Keep unstained their anointed hands,

which daily touch your Sacred Body.

Keep unsullied their lips,

daily purpled with your Precious Blood.

Keep pure and unearthly their hearts,sealed

with the sublime mark of the priesthood.

Let your holy love surround them and

shield them from the world's contagion.

Bless their labors with abundant fruit and

may the souls to whom they minister be their

joy and consolation here, and in Heaven their

beautiful  and everlasting crown. Amen.  

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

Father Vianney was not content to speak and to preach, he wanted to give good example. And he wanted to do even more. He wanted to deliver himself up to God's wrath, and to offer to heaven astonishing exchanges, first of all his own mortifications, fasts, penances, and sufferings, in return for the salvation of his parish.

To begin with, he prayed. And he prayed so well that his mental prayer was an act in the fullest sense of the word. There was already a feeling abroad that he was mounting guard for the village entrusted to his care. He got up long before dawn, and crossed the cemetery between the rectory and the church, lantern in hand. He would prostrate himself before the altar and pray aloud: "My God, grant me the conversion of my parish, I am willing to suffer everything You want as long as I live!" Then he would weep.

At daybreak he was still there...

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars by Michel de Saint Pierre

St. John  Vianney's body is incorrupt

Click here for photos on the bodies of incorrupt saints

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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Sunday in the Year for Priests

He would never lose his fear of being a bad pastor...so strong was this obsession, this sentiment of his unworthiness, that one fine day Fr. Mandy found him on his knees in a wood known as "Pope Joan's wood," weeping bitterly and crying out in a loud voice:

"My God, convert my parish!..."

O my dear parishioners, let us strive to go to heaven! There we shall see God. How happy we shall be! And we shall go there all together in a procession if the parish becomes virtuous, your pastor leading the way!"

From the Remarkable Cure of Ars by Michel de Saint Pierre

Year for Priests Blog

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie

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