Today, August 4
Feast of the Day
No feast of the day
Saint of the Day
The name of this French priest may be unfamiliar to many, but by his title he is world renowned: the Curé d'Ars. He was born in 1786 near Lyons, France, three years before the French Revolution. At age 20, he enrolled in a school run by Abbé Balley, but found studying difficult. Having learned the rudiments of theology, John was ordained in 1815.
In 1818, John became the parish priest of the little village of Ars-en-Dombes, where most of the people were not interested in religion or God. He spent the rest of the life serving the parishioners of this village. His devotion to prayer and fasting obtained unimaginable results. He became so renowned as a confessor that, between 1830 and 1845, visitors and pilgrims numbered in the hundreds every day.
The priest heard confessions for 12 to 16 hours a day, and from 1844 until his death, he gave a short lesson in the church every morning. When he walked from the confessional to the rectory, pilgrims would surge after him, cutting pieces from his clothing and his hair. Three times he tried to leave the village to join a monastery, but each time was persuaded to return. For 30 years he served all who came to him: people were healed and converted, and many were given appropriate words of wisdom or advice even before they had explained their predicament. When he died in 1859 at the age of 73, John Vianney already had the reputation of being a saint. He was canonized in 1925 and is a patron of parish priests.
©2011 Living with Christ, Novalis - Bayard Press Canada Inc., http://www.livingwithchrist.ca/. Reprinted with permission.
Readings of the Day
Book of Jeremiah 30,1-2.12-15.18-22.
The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Write all the words I have spoken to you in a book. For thus says the LORD: Incurable is your wound, grievous your bruise; There is none to plead your cause, no remedy for your running sore, no healing for you. All your lovers have forgotten you, they do not seek you. I struck you as an enemy would strike, punished you cruelly; Why cry out over your wound? your pain is without relief. Because of your great guilt, your numerous sins, I have done this to you. Thus says the LORD: See! I will restore the tents of Jacob, his dwellings I will pity; City shall be rebuilt upon hill, and palace restored as it was. From them will resound songs of praise, the laughter of happy men. I will make them not few, but many; they will not be tiny, for I will glorify them. His sons shall be as of old, his assembly before me shall stand firm; I will punish all his oppressors. His leader shall be one of his own, and his rulers shall come from his kin. When I summon him, he shall approach me; how else should one take the deadly risk of approaching me? says the LORD. You shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Psalms 102(101),16-18.19-21.29.22-23.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD, and all the kings of the earth your glory, when the LORD has rebuilt Zion and appeared in his glory; when he has regarded the prayer of the destitute, and not despised their prayer. Let this be written for the generation to come, and let his future creatures praise the LORD: "The LORD looked down from his holy height, from heaven he beheld the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoners, to release those doomed to die." The children of your servants shall abide, and their posterity shall continue in your presence, that the name of the LORD may be declared on Zion; and his praise, in Jerusalem, when the peoples gather together and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 15,1-2.10-14.
Some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash (their) hands when they eat a meal. He summoned the crowd and said to them, "Hear and understand. It is not what enters one's mouth that defiles that person; but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one." Then his disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" He said in reply, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides (of the blind). If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit."
Daily Reflection
Purity of heart corresponds to the degree of love and grace of God. Therefore, when our Savior calls blessed those who are pure in heart (Mt 5:8), he speaks of those who are filled with love, since blessedness is bestowed on us according to the degree of our love. He who truly loves God is not ashamed of what he does for God before the world, nor does he hide it away in confusion though the whole world should scorn him. He who truly loves God considers the loss of all created things to be a gain and reward, together with the loss of himself for love of God... He that with pure love works for God not only does not care whether or not it is known by others, but does not even do these things that God Himself might know it... It is a great thing to exercise oneself much in holy love, for the soul who has attained the perfection and fulfilment of love is not held back, whether in this life or the next, from seeing the face of God. He whose heart is pure profits equally from being raised up or cast down to become ever more pure. Whereas the impure heart is useless for anything except to produce still more fruits of impurity. In everything the heart draws out a knowledge of God that is flavorsome, chaste, pure, spiritual, full of joy and love.