Wednesday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, August 4, 2021

The Feast of St. John Vianney

Matthew 15: 21-28

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

“It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” The “food of the children” is the graces that Almighty God bestows upon those who believe in him, or, at least, desire to believe in him.  This second destination for grace is shown in the Lord’s coaxing the Gentile woman to say, “Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” This the Lord confirms, answering her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”  That is, God’s grace is both for those who already believe and are baptized, and for those who desire to believe and desire to be baptized.  This food comes to us from Almighty God, and is most especially “served” to us by his chief attendants, his priests — men whom he has chosen for his service and who are conformed to the Priesthood of his Son by a special outpouring of grace.  One of the best examples of his priests is St. John Vianney, whose feast we celebrate today.

St. John toiled away in a town that was not much bigger than a hamlet, in the south of France in the years after Napoleon.  A very simple man with little formal education, upon his ordination his bishop sent him to the least place in his diocese. He struggled, labored, and suffered there, at Arles, for the rest of his life.  Early in his priesthood he worked to reform the morals of the rustic people given to his care.  They were particularly addicted to parties that began with dancing and that often ended in drinking and debauchery.  He would sometimes meet up with the fiddle players making their way to the village and pay them to go away.  He also went from house to house beseeching his people to come to Mass on Sundays to worship God and preserve their souls.  And he took a hard stand against gambling, since the villagers could ill afford to engage in this activity.  He made enemies through his apostolic work, and for some time he himself was accused of secret immorality with women, thought to sap one’s vitality, because of his thin and haggard appearance.  For some time, too, a young woman would station herself at the door of his tiny residence and cry and carry on, accusing him of assaulting her, a charge she later acknowledged as false.  It took years for the example of his holiness to cause his people to think better of him.  Throughout these hardships and his later exhausting labor hearing hundreds of confessions every day, he persevered in his faith and virtue.

We pray for the men whom Almighty God calls to be conformed to his Son as servers of his children’s Food, that they will rejoice to accept his invitation and will work with the same zeal as St. John Vianney.  If our faith is great, then it will be done for us as we wish.