Thursday of 18th Week in Ordinary Time
JOHN MARY VIANNEY, Priest
Here we have a priest, a humble country man, with very limited abilities for book learning, yet a contemplative, open to the Spirit and things supernatural, a real man of God (1786-1859). He was made the parish priest in a God-forgotten little town, where he could do little wrong. And no wrong he did. After a few years, everyone knew where the little town of Ars was, and the learned and the great as well as the poor and the little one came to seek his counsel, absolution and help. When his ordination was discussed, he said: “If Samson could defeat and kill a thousand Philistines with a donkeys’ jawbone, who knows what the Lord could do with a whole donkey like me?”
First Reading – Jeremiah 31:31-34
“That’s right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. It won’t be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master.” God’s Decree. “This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They’ll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned!” God’s Decree.
Gospel – Matthew 16:13-23
When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I’m going to tell you who you are, reallyare. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out. “And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.” He swore the disciples to secrecy. He made them promise they would tell no one that he was the Messiah. Then Jesus made it clear to his disciples that it was now necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, submit to an ordeal of suffering at the hands of the religious leaders, be killed, and then on the third day be raised up alive. Peter took him in hand, protesting, “Impossible, Master! That can never be!” But Jesus didn’t swerve. “Peter, get out of my way. Satan, get lost. You have no idea how God works.”
Prayer
Lord our God,
thank you for giving us
St. John Mary Vianney
as the patron saint of parish priests.
Give to all priests the zeal,
the wisdom and the compassionate heart
of this humble, self-forgetting man.
Let them be great in goodness
and give them open arms for sinners.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.