Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of the famous St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests, specifically our parish priests. He was also known by his name of the Cure of Ars, from the role he played in his dwelling at Ars in France, where he worked many works of wonders and miracles among the people of God through his hard work and dedication.

In the Scripture readings today, we heard about the covenant and the promise that God had made through His prophet Jeremiah, that He would renew the covenant with His people and bring them together again as one people, and gather them in His love into His embrace. And this was taken in the context that the people of God had been brought low and many were brought into exile in the land of their enemies, having sinned many times before the Lord.

And brothers and sisters in Christ, today we also heard in the Gospel, the famous exchange between Jesus and His disciples, primarily St. Peter, who professed his renewed faith to the Lord, proclaiming without hesitation that Jesus his Master, is the Son of the Living God, the Messiah, and the Lord of all. This is something which many others, the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and even among the disciples themselves, found hard to believe.

And Jesus entrusted all of His flock to him, whom He charged to be the leader of the whole Church which He established upon this world, founded upon that same faith which St. Peter had proclaimed before all that day. And He charged him with the care of the keys to the kingdom of heaven, with the responsibility to bind and unbind the souls of mankind to the Lord, that is the mission of the Church.

And how is this relevant to what we are celebrating today as the feast day of St. John Vianney? St. John Vianney is an example for all the priests, all those who have devoted themselves to the Lord. He has given himself in service to those who are the least and the weakest in the society, and he has delivered many great sermons, calling on many people to repent their sins and to find their way back to the Lord.

He cured the hearts of the faithful, and brought them back from the darkness and back into the light. He stirred the hearts of sinners that they might hearken to the word and the calling of God, which sounded in their hearts, and pulled them back from the edge of the precipice leading to hell. And thus, in this manner, St. John Vianney embodied that calling and that mission which Jesus our Lord had entrusted to St. Peter.

Our priests and our devoted servants of God are all precious to us, and they are the ones who are our bridges, the ones who help us to encounter the Lord, much as He is the One Who is the bridge between us sinful men and the Father in Heaven. They do not have an easy life, and as we all should understand, being priests and devoted servants of God is difficult, as challenges after challenges shall come their way.

Therefore today, as we celebrate together the feast of St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests, let us all pray for our priests, all those who have devoted their lives and given themselves to care for God’s people, and to gather as many souls as possible to the salvation in God. Let us all devote ourselves as well in similar manner and commit ourselves to support our faithful priests, that their works will lead to even greater impact in bringing God’s beloved but wayward people back into His embrace.

May God help us all, and may He awaken in us all as well, the spirit of service and dedication, and hopefully that some of us may take up the challenge and the calling He had made unto us, that we too may have new priests and holy servants of God arising from our ranks. God bless us all. Amen.