Today is August 4, the Memorial of St. John Vianney, Priest.
We read at Mass today, “The children of Israel lamented, ‘Would that we had meat for food'” (Nm 11:4).
In today’s readings, we continue following the journey of the Israelites through the desert. God is providing for them — miraculously — with manna from heaven. And still, they grumble: “Would that we had meat for food!”
How often our own hearts echo that complaint. “Lord, this isn’t what I wanted. This isn’t enough.” We lose sight of what we’ve been given. We forget the grace that sustains us each day.
Today we also celebrate the memorial of St. John Vianney, the beloved Curé of Ars, a priest who spent his life drawing his people back to the Lord. He heard their sighs and laments and he responded not with bitterness, but with love. He pointed them, again and again, to what truly satisfies: God’s mercy.
‘He is for you’
St. John Vianney once said: “The priest is not a priest for himself. He does not give himself absolution. He is not for himself — he is for you.”
I once saw this quote featured on a vocations poster in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend where I grew up. It showed a priest offering Communion to a young family — my own sister, nephew and brother-in-law, in fact. And across the image were those powerful words: “He is for you.”
That’s the heart of the priesthood: self-gift. The priest exists to bring souls to Christ, to lead people to the only one who can slake their thirst.
St. John Vianney reminds us that a priest does not journey to heaven — or hell — alone. He goes with a thousand people behind him. That’s why he also warned, “When people wish to destroy religion, they begin by attacking the priest. For where there is no priest, there is no sacrifice. And where there is no sacrifice, there is no religion.”
Today, let us pray for our parish priests. Let us pray that they may be renewed in their vocation, strengthened in sacrifice and encouraged in their mission. They pour themselves out for us. Let us pour out our prayers for them.
Let us pray,
Almighty and merciful God, who made the Priest Saint John Vianney wonderful in his pastoral zeal, grant, we pray, that through his intercession and example we may in charity win brothers and sisters for Christ and attain with them eternal glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
