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“Get behind mem Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).

Saint John Vianney is such an interesting Saint to me.  I often think about his life.  In my mind the good works that he managed to achieve rival those of other great Saints, like Saint Padre Pio or Saint Charbel Maklouf.  All of those men were religious and all of them lived lives of great sacrifice.

Saint John Vianney, for example, was a priest who spent a long time being unable to offer the Sacraments.  He was considered too ignorant to proceed to priesthood and he found the studies very difficult and struggled with the academic requirements of the preparation to priesthood.  Ironically this burden did not prevent him from being open to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and this wisdom (rather than purely academic knowledge) was the thing that allowed him to achieve great spiritual satisfaction in this world.

When Saint John Vianney was appointed as Cure of Ares, the village had a mere three-hundred and fifty inhabitants.  When he arrived, he prayed, “Lord, grant me the conversion of my parish; I am willing to suffer whatever You wish, for my entire life.”  And he certainly did suffer.  He was scorned and ridiculed and other priests and bishops tried to destroy his reputation.  But, despite all of this, he added his own personal ailments and mortifications.  For example, he refused to shoo an insect from his skin and instead offered up the irritation of that feeling of the insect walking on him as a penance.  He refused to smell the fragrance of a flower.  He would not eat fruit r drink water in the heat of the day during summer.  He ate one meal daily, just a little black bread and a couple of boiled potatoes. 

And I have been reflecting on that while considering Christ’s words to Saint Simon Peter…  “Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.’” (Matthew 16:13-23).

For Saint John Vianney was able to understand that what God wants is, “Get behind mem Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).

And if I could only work out how to keep that firmly in the front of my mind, perhaps I could have the chance of being someone who was able to follow the Lord without getting in the way!

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