Thoughts on the Way
to Church by Saint John Vianney
When our duty calls us to a holy place,
might not anyone say that we resemble criminals being led before their judges
to be condemned to the worst possible tortures, rather than Christians whom
love alone should lead to God? How very blind we are, my dear brethren, to have
so little heart for the things of Heaven, while at the same time we are so
taken up with the things of the world! Indeed, when it is a question of
temporal matters or even of pleasures, everyone will be preoccupied with them.
They will think about them in advance. They will meditate upon them.
But,
unfortunately, when the question is one of the service of our God and the
salvation of our poor souls the whole thing becomes a matter of routine and
inconceivable indifference.
Suppose someone wants
to speak to a very important or influential person and to ask him some favour.
He will dwell upon the matter for a long time in advance. He will consult
others whom he thinks better educated or more experienced than himself in order
to find out in what way he should approach this person. He will appear before
him with that modest and respectful bearing which, generally speaking, the
presence of such a personage inspires. But when he comes into the house of God,
ah, there is no more of that sort of thing. No one thinks then of what he is
about to do or of what he is about to ask of God.
Tell me, my dear
brethren, who is there who, as he is going along to the church, is saying to
himself: Where am I going?
Is it to the house
of a man or to the palace of a king? Oh, no, it is into the house of my God,
into the dwelling place of Him Who loves me more than Himself, since He died
for me, Whose compassionate eyes are aware of my actions, Whose ears are
attentive to my prayers, always ready to hear my prayers and to forgive. Filled
with these blessed thoughts, why would we not exclaim with the holy King David:
"O my soul, rejoice that you are about to enter the house of the
Lord," to give Him your homage, to show Him your needs, to listen to His
divine words, to ask Him for His graces.
Oh what things I
have to say to Him, what graces I have to ask of Him, what gratitude I have to
pay Him! I will speak to Him of all my worries, and I know that He will console
me. I will admit my faults to Him, and He will forgive me. I am going to talk
to Him of my family, and He will bless it with all sorts of mercies. Yes, my
God, I shall adore You in Your holy temple, and I shall return from there
filled with all sorts of benedictions.
Tell me, my dear
brethren, is that the sort of thought which occupies you when your religious
duties call you to church?
Are those indeed
the thoughts you have, after having wasted the entire morning in discussing
your sales and your purchases, or at the least, some other entirely useless
matters? You come along in a hurry to hear a Mass which often is half-finished.
Alas! If I dare to
put into words how many go to visit the god of drunkenness before their
Creator; and, coming to church full of wine, they will talk and concern
themselves with temporal matters right up to the very door! Oh! Dear God! Are
these Christians, who ought to be living like angels upon earth?
What of you, my
good woman, are your thoughts any better now that you have occupied your mind
and part of your time in thinking how you were going to dress, so that you
might please the people you know; and then you come to a place where you should
come only to lament for your sins?
Indeed, too often
the priest is ascending the altar while you are still turning around and
around, looking at yourself in front of a mirror. Ah, dear God! Are these
really Christians who have taken You for their Model, You, Whose whole life was
spent amidst scorn and tears? Listen, my dear young lady, to what St. Ambrose,
the Bishop of Milan, has to teach you. As he was in the doorway of the church
one day and saw a young person approaching dressed with the greatest of care,
he spoke to her." Where are you going, young woman?" he asked. She
told him that she was going to church." You are going to the church,"
the holy Bishop said to her, "but one might rather think that you are
going to the dance or to a play or a spectacle.
Go away, sinful
woman, and weep for your sins in secret, and do not come to the church to
insult with your frivolous adornments a crucified God."
Dear Lord! How our
century has provided us with.... [sentence incomplete - Trans.] How many people
when they are coming to the church think of nothing else except themselves and
their clothes and styles.
They enter the
temple of the Lord saying from the depths of their hearts: "Have a good
look at me." When we see such wrong dispositions, how can we help but shed
tears?
And you, fathers
and mothers, what are your dispositions when you come to church, to the Mass?
Alas! We must admit it with sorrow that most frequently the fathers and mothers
that we see are coming into the church when the priest is already on the altar,
or even in the pulpit! Ah, you will tell me, we came as soon as we could. We
have other things to do.
Undoubtedly you
have other things to do. But I know very well, too, that if you did not leave
until Sunday the one hundred and one things in your homes which you should have
done on Saturday, and if you had got up a little earlier in the morning, you
would have done them all before holy Mass, and you would have arrived at the
church before the priest had ascended the altar. It can be the same thing, too,
with your children and your servants: if you had not been giving them orders
until the very last stroke of the Mass bell, they would have arrived at the
church at the beginning. I do not know whether God will receive all these
excuses easily; I hardly think so.
But why, my dear
brethren, should I speak of particular cases? Surely it is the majority of you
who behave in this way.
Yes, when you are
called to church so that the graces of God may be administered to you, anyone
may see this lack of enthusiasm in you, this indifference, this boredom which
consumes you, this practically general inattention. Tell me, where will you see
the majority of the general congregation when the services are beginning? Are
the Vespers not half said by the time you arrive?
We have work to
do, you tell me.
Well, my friends,
if you were to tell me that you have neither faith, nor love of God, nor the
desire to save your poor souls, I would believe you much better. Alas! What can
anyone think of all that? .... There is a great deal to lament in what is to be
seen of the dispositions of the majority of Christians! A great many seem to
come to church only in spite of themselves or, if I dare to put it that way, as
if someone were dragging them there. From the house to the church, temporal
matters only are discussed. A group of young girls together will talk about
nothing except style, beauty, and all the rest of it; the young men only of
games and amusements or of other matters which are more evil.
The fathers or the masters of households
will chat about their property or business, about buying and selling. The
mothers are preoccupied only with their households and their children. No one
will go so far as to deny that. Alas! Not a single thought will be given to the
happiness they are about to have, not a single reflection on the needs of their
poor souls or those of their children or their servants! They enter the holy
temple without respect, without attention, and a great many of them as late as
is possible. How many others do not even go to the trouble of coming in at all,
but stay outside, in order to find better ways of distracting themselves? The
word of God does not trouble their consciences: they look around at those who
are coming and going.... Dear God! Are these really the Christians for whom You
suffered so much in order to make them happy? And this is all they think of it?
....
With dispositions
like that, how many sins must be committed during the services? How many people
must commit more sins on Sunday than during all the rest of the week! ....
Listen to what St.
Martin has to tell US.... While he was singing the Mass with St. Brice, his
disciple, he noticed the latter smiling. After it was all over, he asked him
what had made him smile. St. Brice replied: "Father, I saw something
extraordinary while we were singing the holy Mass. Behind the altar I saw a
devil and he was writing on a huge sheet of parchment the sins which were being
committed in the church, and his sheet was rather full before the Mass was
finished. So the devil took the sheet of parchment between his teeth and tugged
it so hard that he tore it into shreds. That was what made me smile."
What sins, and
even mortal sins, we commit during the services by our lack of devotion and
recollection! Alas! What has become of those happy times when Christians passed
not only the day but even the greater part of the nights in the church,
mourning for their sins and singing the praises of God? See, even in the Old
Testament, see holy Anna the prophetess, who withdrew into a tribune in order
to leave the service of God no more. Look at the holy old man Simeon.
See again Zachary
and so many others who passed the greater portion of their lives in the service
of the Lord. And note, too, how marvellous and how precious were the graces
which God bestowed upon them. To reward Anna, God willed that she should be the
very; first to recognise our Lord.
The holy old man
Simeon was also the first, after St. Joseph, to have the happiness, the very
great happiness, of holding the Saviour of the world in his arms. The holy
Zachary was chosen to be the father of a child destined to be the ambassador of
the Eternal Father in announcing the coming of His Son into the world. What
wonderful graces does God not grant to those who make it their duty to come to
visit Him in His holy temple as much as they possibly can....
Taken from a Sermon of St. John Vianney
Photo taken from MorgueFile Photos
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