Remembering St John Vianney

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Today in the first reading from the book of Numbers we hear the people in the desert complaining because they only had manna to eat. In the gospel, the multitude that had come to listen to Jesus were also hungry. A young boy offered his five loaves and two fish which Jesus multiplied to feed the large crowd. The sad situation in Gaza has made us very much aware of the terrible effects of starvation. Yet today we celebrate a saint who voluntarily chose severe fasting as part of his spiritual journey. John Vianney was born in 1786 and died in 1859. During the French Revolution priests were persecuted and those who celebrated mass in secret were heroes to young John and inspired him to become a priest himself. But learning was difficult for him and his schooling was interrupted by the need to help on the family farm. He persevered however and was finally ordained and sent to a run-down parish called Ars. The revolution had disrupted religious life but his deep piety and his gifts as a confessor drew people from far and wide to visit him in Ars which underwent a radical transformation. He often spent 16 to 18 hours a day in the confessional, eating one meal a day, often just boiled potatoes. However he lived till he was 73 and by 1855, 20,000 pilgrims a year sought him for his spiritual guidance. John Vianney was canonized in 1925 and in 1929 was named patron of parish priests. As one who ate little, let us ask for his intercession for all those who are starving in our world today so that international pressure will bring about a radical transformation as John's life brought about in Ars.