⛪️ St. John Mary Vianney, known as the Curé of Ars, is the patron saint of parish priests. Born in 1786 in Dardilly, France, he overcame great academic difficulties to become a priest. Assigned to the remote and spiritually neglected parish of Ars, he transformed it through his tireless dedication to the confessional, where he spent up to 16 hours a day, his fervent preaching, his life of extreme penance, and his profound love for the Eucharist. His life was a living witness to the vigilance and detachment celebrated in today's liturgy, making him a model of priestly perfection who drew crowds from all over Europe seeking his wisdom and absolution.
🕯️ Introit (Ps 36:30-31 | ibid., 1)The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment... The law of his God is in his heart. Ps. Be not emulous of evildoers; nor envy them that work iniquity.
📜 Epistle (Ecclus 31:8-11)
Blessed is the rich man that is found without blemish: and that hath not gone after gold, nor put his trust in money nor in treasures. Who is he, and we will praise him? for he hath done wonderful things in his life. Who hath been tried and made perfect, he shall have glory everlasting. He that could have transgressed, and hath not transgressed: and could do evil things, and hath not done them. Therefore are his goods established in the Lord, and all the church of the saints shall declare his alms.
📖 Gospel (Lk 12:35-40)
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands. And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But this know ye, that if the householder did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. Be you then also ready: for at an hour that you think not, the Son of man will come.
🤔 Reflections
🕊️ What does "loins girt" mean? Men who are working gird themselves, lifting their tunics with a belt. You too, be at work. To gird the loins is to restrain the lusts of the flesh. And what do "burning lamps" signify? They are good works, of which the Lord says, "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (St. Augustine, Sermon 108). He who watches awaits the Lord's coming so that, upon His return from the wedding, he may enter into the joys of the eternal feast. He girds Himself to serve us, for He will take those He has redeemed and make them partakers of His divinity. (St. Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, 13). Let no one think that the Lord will come only at the end of the world, for He comes to each of us when we are called to depart from this world. Therefore, everyone must watch so that the Lord's coming finds him prepared. (St. Bede the Venerable, Homilies on the Gospels, II, 4).
🔄 The Gospel of Luke presents a unique and sublime detail: the promise that the Lord himself "will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them." This image of role reversal, where the Master serves the faithful servants, is not found explicitly in the other synoptic gospels. Matthew (24:45-51) expands the parable by contrasting the faithful servant with the wicked servant, who beats his companions and is severely punished, detailing the penalty of being "cut in sunder" and placed with the hypocrites. Mark (13:33-37) focuses on the urgency of vigilance with the analogy of the doorkeeper who does not know at what hour the master of the house will return, incisively repeating the command: "Watch!"
✒️ The exhortation to vigilance and readiness echoes strongly in the writings of St. Paul. In his First Letter to the Thessalonians, he warns, "the day of the Lord shall so come, as a thief in the night" (1 Thess 5:2), urging the faithful not to sleep like others, but to be "sober, having on the breastplate of faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation" (1 Thess 5:6-8). This image of "spiritual armor" complements Luke's image of "girt loins and burning lamps." The theme of detachment from wealth in the Epistle ("hath not gone after gold") is deepened by Paul in his Letter to the Colossians: "Seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth" (Col 3:1-2), showing that true wealth is established not just "in the Lord," but in heaven.
🏛️ Church documents, especially those dealing with the priestly life, reflect the essence of these liturgical texts. Pope Pius XI's Encyclical Ad Catholici Sacerdotii (1935), in outlining the sanctity required of a priest, states that he must be "another Christ" (alter Christus), whose life should be a mirror of virtues. The document insists that the priest must shine "not so much by his culture or erudition, but by a holy life" that demonstrates detachment from earthly goods and constant vigilance over his own soul, like a spiritual "householder" who guards his house (the Church and souls) from the invasion of evil. This vision directly echoes both the purity of the "man without blemish" from the Epistle and the readiness of the "watching servant" from the Gospel, applying them as a program for the life of the clergy.