Basic HTML Version
ˈin the womb.ˉ (Jeremiah 1:3.) In Elizabeth˅s womb, John jumped for joy over
the divine presence in Mary˅s womb (Luke 1:41), a sign of John˅s unique voca-
tion to make way for the Messiah. John Vianney found the Mary within him in the
womb of the confessional ˀ up to 18 hours a day during the last 10 years of his
life -- where his priesthood bore extraordinary fruit, reconciling the great and the
lowly who repented of their sins and resolved to reform their lives in Christ. God
also revealed to John Mary his other gifts such as supernatural knowledge to see
a sinner˅s unacknowledged sins. John Mary˅s spiritual direction came to be in
great demand; in 1855, for example, the pilgrims who journeyed to see him
reached 20,000.
We are always pilgrims, even in the comforting wombs of our own homes. ˈHow
may I, like John Mary, humbly allow you to work more fully through me in the rou-
tine responsibilities of my life? Let me, like John Vianney and Mary, the mother of
Jesus, see my lowliness so that your Word. may bear fruit through me.
P
RAYER
We pray for all parish priests and especially for our priests at Holy Family in grati-
tude for their humanity, their parents, their prayers, their many gifts to this com-
munity. And, together with St. John Mary Vi-
anney, we pray in gratitude for them espe-
cially today as confessors, spiritual directors,
and ministers of the sacrament of Recon-
ciliation.
______
P
HIL
A
RGENTO
,
Chair Worship Commission