Sept. 22, 2009: Peace Mass

Tomorrow, I will be flying out to France to attend International Priests' Retreat held in Ars, France, the final resting place of St. Jean Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. This week-long retreat will be preached by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, Austria. On this special Year for Priests, the small town of Ars is also celebrating the 150th anniversary of the death of St. Jean Vianney. Before arriving in Ars, I will be stopping by several significant pilgrimage sites related to Blessed Mother. I wanted to give you some history and significance of these places.

First of all, can you guess how many Marian shrines are there in France? 10, 20, 50? Try 113! It has one of the greatest number of Marian shrines in the world. Why are there so many? The Church of France, is sometimes called the "eldest daughter of the Church" owing to its early and unbroken communion (5th century) with the bishop of Rome. France can also be called the eldest daughter of Blessed Virgin Mary for its long history of honoring her and for historic Marian apparitions. According to long-standing tradition, Mary and Martha of Bethany and their brother Lazarus and some companions, who were expelled by persecutions from the Holy Land, traversed the Mediterranean in a boat and landed at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer near Arles. Provençal tradition names Lazarus as the first bishop of Marseille. The first written records of Christians in France date from the second century when St. Irenaeus detailed the deaths of ninety-year old bishop Pothinus of Lugdunum (what is now Lyon) and other martyrs of the 177 persecution in Lyon.

When did Catholicism became the country-wide religion? In 496 Archbishop Remigius baptized Clovis I, who was converted from paganism to Catholicism. Clovis I, considered the first king and founder of France, made himself the ally and protector of the papacy and his predominantly Catholic subjects. It's interesting that after his conversion King Clovis took the emblem of the Fleur-de-lis or the lily flower as part of the royal symbol; lily flower is an ancient Christian symbol for purity and the Blessed Virgin Mary. King Clovis was the beginning of a long line of Christian monarchs in France. In the 13th century, at the wish of King Louis XIII France was consecrated to Our Lady of the Assumption and Mary became one of the principal patrons of the country. It's interesting that France used on their national flag a design of fleur-de-lis until the year 1853 before the French Revolution. We in Louisiana are familiar with the symbol of Fleur-de-lis; even our football team, the Saints, use it as their logo.

With so much French history intertwined with the Catholic faith from its very beginnings, we should not be surprised to find large number of Marian shrines and also large number of canonized saints in France. For France 19th century was a great century of Marian apparitions including: In 1830, apparition to Catherine Laboure (Rue du Bac) where Mary expressed the wish to have a "miraculous medal" struck for the faithful. In 1846, 16 years later, in the French Alps for another time, a tearful Virgin appeared to two children. Then twelve years later, in Lourdes, Mary visited Bernadette Soubirous and confirmed the new dogma of her Immaculate Conception. In 1876, in Pellevoisin, region of Berry, under the name of Mother of Mercy, Mary appears to the young Estelle Faguette whom she cures and asks to spread the devotion of the scapular.

Of these, let me tell you about few of the saints whose lives were intimately connected with Blessed Mother. When I land in Paris on Thursday morning, I will be first visiting St. Catherine Laboure. We also call her the 'Miraculous Medal saint.' How many of you are wearing a Miraculous Medal right now? The best modern day champion or sales person for the Miraculous Medal was Mother Teresa. Wherever she went, whomever she met, she handed the person a Miraculous Medal. Why did she hand these medals out? She firmly believed what Blessed Mother told St. Catherine Laboure in 1830: "Have a medal struck as I have shown you. The persons who wear it will receive great graces; the graces will be inexhaustible for those who have confidence." Blessed Mother showed St. Catherine what the medal should look like. The image on the medal is that of Our Lady inside an oval frame, standing upon a globe, wearing many rings of different colors. Around the margin of the frame appeared the words 'O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. The other side showed a circle of twelve stars, a larger letter M surmounted by a cross, and the stylized Sacred Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns and Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword. This medal was originally known as the medal of Immaculate Conception. However, when these medals were first handed out, there were so many people healed miraculously that this medal was nicknamed "Miraculous Medal." Within ten years, millions of medals were distributed, and by the end of St. Catherine's life an astonishing one billion medals were distributed.

What was Catherine's relationship with Blessed Mother? In 1806 Catherine was born into a large farming family. She was born on the feast day of the Finding of the True Cross and born exactly when the Angelus bell rang. From the very beginning, her life would be intertwined with both the Cross and Blessed Mother. When Catherine was nine years old, her saintly mother died. After the burial service, little Catherine retired to her room, stood on a chair, took our Lady's statue from the wall, kissed it, and said: "Now, dear Lady, you are to be my mother."

When she was a young woman she had a dream one day in which she saw an old priest say Mass. After Mass, the priest turned and beckoned her with his finger, but she drew backwards, keeping her eye on him. The vision moved to a sick room where she saw the same priest, who said: "My child, it is a good deed to look after the sick; you run away now, but one day you will be glad to come to me. God has designs on you - do not forget it." Later, she awoke, not knowing the significance of the dream.

Sometime later, while visiting a hospital of the Daughters of Charity, she noticed a priest's picture on the wall. She asked a sister who he might be, and was told: "Our Holy Founder Saint Vincent de Paul." This was the same priest Catherine had seen in the dream.

It is interesting that both women, St. Catherine Laboure and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta share something in common. Both dedicated their lives to serving the poor. I don't know if you are aware of this detail, but in the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal on Rue de Bac in Paris you have the incorrupt body of St. Catherine on the right side of the chapel and on the left side there lies the remains of St. Louise de Marilac. Who was she? She was the co-founder of the religious order, Daughters of Charity (remember the 'flying nun habit'?) along with St. Vincent de Paul. The mission of the Daughters of Charity follows St. Vincent de Paul's vision: “Let us seek out the poorest and most abandoned among us; and recognize before God that they are our lords and our masters, and that we are unworthy of rendering our little services to them.”

What is the significance of this Miraculous Medal given to a religious order whose mission was to serve the poor? If Blessed Mother told the wearers of this medal that they will receive great graces, it means that those who wear this medal is wearing it not for themselves only--for grace is never for our benefit only. We, the wearers of this medal, are receiving the grace to do what St. Vincent de Paul, St. Louise de Marillac, St. Catherine Laboure, and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta did. Miraculous Medal is not some magically powerful medal. The medal gives grace to overcome our fear, anxiety, to overcome our love for comfort and stinginess in serving another person. That's the real significance of the medal; it has St. Vincent de Paul's charism written all over it. The same could be said for the Brown Scapular of the Carmelites. It is not some magical backstage pass to get out of hell when we die. The real meaning of the Brown Scapular is to receive the graces from all the prayers and sacrifices of the Carmelites in order that we may be able to dedicate our hearts and minds to serve God like the Carmelite friars and nuns, while living outside of the cloister and monastery. If we are only seeking a life without pain and suffering, seeking a long-life without carrying a cross through wearing these Miraculous Medals and Brown Scapulars, we are missing the point. Blessed Mother gives us a gift, in order that we may become gift-givers.

Like St. Catherine Laboure whose life from the very beginning was intertwined with the Cross and Blessed Mother, St. Jean Vianney was the same. Like Catherine, he was born into a large, farming family in a city outside of Lyon. At age four, his mother gave him a statue of the Virgin Mary, which instantly became his prize possession. He would carry it with him always, and was often found kneeling before his statue in prayer. "Oh, how I loved that statue," he related nearly seventy years later; "neither by day nor by night would I be parted from it. I should not have slept had I not had it beside me in my little bed...the Blessed Virgin was the object of my earliest affections; I loved her before I knew her."

Jean Vianney lived during the aftermath of the French Revolution which abolished Catholic faith, hunting down priests and nuns to exile them or execute them. As a child his family attended mass at secret locations such as barns and remote homes. In those days, Jean helped his family by tending family flocks. Out in the pasture, he would set up a little altar for his favorite statue and pray before his beloved Mary. One thing that Jean did not receive was a formal education. With the French Revolution, the rural education was dismal if non existent. He received what little education they offered until he was 13, then he had to return to the farm to support the family. He would turn 19 before he would enter seminary with reluctant blessing from his father. And how difficult the studies were for Jean! I thought seminary was difficult being out of college for more than three years, but for Jean Vianney, he had no rudimentary education to help him learn his most difficult subject, Latin. His seminary studies will be interrupted by being drafted into Napoleon Bonaparte's army; his mysterious illness which deblitated him would save him from going out to the battle fields. Upon returning to the seminary from military, he had his old nemesis, Latin, to contend with. With ordination only months away, he flunked his Latin exam. This would have barred him from being ordained, but his Latin teacher appealed to the Archbishop of Lyon. Known for his leniency, the Archbishop posed these questions to the Latin teacher: "Is Jean Vianney pious? Has he devotion to Our Lady? Does he know how to pray his rosary?" His teacher replied, "He is a model of piety." And the Archbishop answered, "Very well. I summon him to come up for ordination. The grace of God will do the rest." And so in 1815, Jean Vianney was ordained to priesthood at age 29. Two years later, he would be assigned to a little village of Ars as a pastor for 41 years and die there.

He arrived in Ars, a village of 230 souls, warned by his Bishop beforehand that there he would find religious practice in a sorry state: “There is little love of God in that parish; you will be the one to put it there”. As a result, he was deeply aware that he needed to go there to embody Christ’s presence and to bear witness to his saving mercy: “[Lord,] grant me the conversion of my parish; I am willing to suffer whatever you wish, for my entire life!”: with this prayer he entered upon his mission. He had his work cut out for him, as the people of the village were more apt to go to a dance at a local tavern than attend Mass on Sunday. The people of the area were not necessarily bad; they had simply lapsed in the practice of their faith, and chose to live more worldly lives.

From the pulpit Jean Vianney preached about the Blessed Mother whom he loved from his childhood: "The heart of this good Mother is nothing but love and mercy, all she wants is to see us happy. To be heard, it suffices to address oneself to her." He had a way of preaching about Mary that was profound yet easy to grasp. Regarding Blessed Mother's Assumption he said, " "Man was created for Heaven. The devil broke the ladder that led to it. Our Lord, with his Passion, made another.... The Virgin Most Holy stands at the top of the ladder and holds it steady with both hands." He had in his heart the Blessed Mother's tender affection for souls as he heard more than 12 hours of confession daily. He would remind all those who sought him, “after giving us all he could, Jesus Christ wishes in addition to bequeath us his most precious possession, his Blessed Mother”.

It is interesting that Pope Benedict XVI chose this year as the Year for Priests. This year which marks the 150th anniversary of St. Jean Vianney's death (1859) follows the 150th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady to St. Bernadette of Lourdes (1858). Shortly before St. Jean Vianney died, Blessed Mother appeared in another part of France to an innocent and humble girl, and entrusted to her a message of prayer and penance which bear fruits even now where over 6 million people visit Lourdes. I will be in Lourdes this Friday (9/25) celebrating mass; and I will offer all your intentions at the grotto where Blessed Mother appeared to Bernadette.

Let me conclude this talk on France and Blessed Mother with the following words from Pope Benedict XVI on his letter to priests proclaiming the Year for Priests. May his words be our prayers lifted up for all our priests:

"To the Most Holy Virgin I entrust this Year for Priests. I ask her to awaken in the heart of every priest a generous and renewed commitment to the ideal of complete self-oblation to Christ and the Church which inspired the thoughts and actions of the saintly Curé of Ars. It was his fervent prayer life and his impassioned love of Christ Crucified that enabled John Mary Vianney to grow daily in his total self-oblation to God and the Church."