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Writer's pictureSarah Raad

Dunce

There was a special ticket office to Ars at the railway station in Lyons…


I have been reflecting on meekness and humility. Christ taught – after all – “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5). And that has got me to thinking.


After all, so much of my life is consumed with positioning myself in the world. That relates to the position and role that I have in my family as a wife and mother and a daughter and sister. Then there is my position in my workplace, among my staff and my clients and all the people I interact with. And, of course, there is my position as a friend – the dealings that I have with so many people…

And in all of my dealings – I am ashamed to say, I simply promote myself. I speak about myself and position myself (and my loved ones) for the maximum possible advantage.


And I have been thinking about that positioning as I have been reflecting on the words of Christ, who said, “He told a parable to those who were invited, when He marked how they chose the places of honour, saying to them, ‘When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honour, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’...For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:1, 7-11).

And I have been thinking about meekness and what it actually is. You see, pride is the most subtle of all sins. It is insidious. It sort of creeps up on us in a completely unexpected manner. And it infects everything that we do. It affects how we present ourselves to others and how we respond to accusations (and compliments) made against and about us.

Pride was the sin of Lucifer and the sin of Eve. And pride continues to be the greatest of all sins, because it is the sin of pride that causes us to value OUR will over the Holy Will of God. In other words, it is the sin of pride that causes us to think that we can tell God what to do rather than listening to what He tells us to do, because it is pride that makes us feel that we know better than God what is good…


And I have been reflecting on this – because I have come to realise that God has great use for meek souls and very little use of proud ones…


Saint John Vianney and was eventually ordained a priest at the age of 29. At that time, he was given permission to say Mass (by the bishop) but was not allowed to hear confessions or to preach.


After a few years, he was appointed as the parish priest (Cure) of Ars, which was a very small French village with about 300 inhabitants! He decided to devote his life to the salvation of the souls in that village. By 1827, pilgrims (including bishops) were travelling to Ars to seek Saint John Vianney’s counsel and to hear him preach. For almost thirty years from 1830 until his death in 1859, over four hundred people travelled to Ars each day to receive the sacraments and listen to Saint John Vianney preach. In 1855 there were two twice daily horse-buses travelling between Lyons and Ars and others meeting the Paris train at Villefranche. There was a special ticket office to Ars at the railway station in Lyons.


And that was the fruit of the Priest who was simply the class dunce.


And I have been thinking about that today, because it reminds me that there is really nothing that God is asking of me other than a little humility – after all, He is God, and He can take it from there…


For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.

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