The Simplicity and Purity of Faith: Lessons from St. John Vianney
Summary of Headings
- Introduction: The Faith of St. John Vianney
- The Simplicity of Child-Like Faith
- Understanding and Conforming to God's Truths
- The Purpose of Our Existence
- The Marvel of God's Attention
- Deepening Our Faith
- Unity and Division in the Church
- Conclusion: Living in Service to God
Introduction: The Faith of St. John Vianney
When I was in seminary I was told the story of St. John Vianney, the Curia of Ars, the patron saint of all parish priests. One time he said that the person who was the priest, whose faith he most admired, he explained that he had had many opportunities to get to know many people, because actually they had to build a special train station in the town of Ars. There were so many people coming to Ars specifically to meet him, and to go to confession to him. So he got a chance to meet very many people from all parts, to be able to make this judgment. But he said the man whose faith most impressed him, was a simple man who would sit at the back of the church, and just stare at the tabernacle for long periods of time. So one day the Curia of Ars went up to him and said, what are you saying to him? And the man said nothing. I'm just looking at him, looking at me. Nothing else. And the Curia of Ars, a man of extraordinary holiness and sanctity, said that that was the simplest, purest, most perfect faith he had ever seen in his life.
The Simplicity of Child-Like Faith
This is something that we need to recall to ourselves very frequently. Our faith does not have to be thoroughly studied. It does not have to be, we do not have to be doctors in theology. We do not have to know all things. But what we have to have is our faith must be simple. As simple as that of a child. When we teach a child catechism, we can teach them about the great mysteries of God, the blessed trinity, three persons in one being. We can teach them about the mystery of the hypostatic union, two natures in one person. We can tell them about the blessed Eucharist, our Lord's body, blood, soul, and divinity contained in the little host, in every particle of the host, complete and entire. And they do not question or doubt. They accept absolutely, they believe perfectly, but they don't understand or comprehend.
Understanding and Conforming to God's Truths
And that is the problem with us so many times. We want answers. We want explanations. We want to understand. Now while this is a good thing in and of itself, curiosity, the will to learn, the desire to know more, to deepen our studies, this is a good thing in and of itself, but unfortunately it usually comes at the expense of the simplicity of our faith. Why? Because rather than trying to understand, to actually make ourselves conform to Him, and to sit in His presence, we in a certain sense want to pull Him to us. We want the truth to conform to our mind, rather than our mind conforming to the truths we learn.
The Purpose of Our Existence
We become so concerned with the outward aspect of faith, and the outward practice of the faith, and the outward prayers and everything else, and devotions, that we lose sight of the essence of what we are. The whole purpose of our existence is to live in contemplation of God, to submit ourselves to the truths that He teaches through His church. We forget to remind ourselves that He is God, and we are at His service. We listen to what He says, and we respond to what He says.
The Marvel of God's Attention
We base our lives upon the faith that He gives us. We influence ourselves by grace, which is His life within us. We live our lives to be able to accept the Blessed Sacrament, and all the sacraments. To live at the foot of the altar, to witness and participate in His sacrifice. It's not my Mass. It's not your Mass. It's His. It's not my Mass. It's not your Mass. It's not my sacrifice, nor yours. It's His. We are able to be participants in it, to different degrees. But it's all about Him. Why is that? Because He is God, and we are not.
Deepening Our Faith
So the marvel of the thing, the marvel of that beautiful statement by that man that the Curia of ours admired so much, was simply the fact that he understood that for some or other reason, for some miraculous reason, God was looking upon him. And his only response was to just gaze and wonder at the fact that God took note of him, a simple creature, an ignorant man. We have to have the same simplistic faith. We have to have the faith of a child. All of our studies, and of course we must continue to study. We must continue to know our faith better and deeper. But it's not to know more. And it's not to have dominion over our faith, have control over it, but rather to be able to submit more perfectly and more absolutely to it.
Unity and Division in the Church
A child believes before he understands. We need to have the same mentality all the time. To believe absolutely. We do not study these things to affirm our faith, but rather to deepen our faith. We don't stop catechism just when we receive our confirmation, as if that's it, game over. But rather we need to make sure that we continue to study, but we don't let our studies to be a distraction from the whole purpose of why they exist. Why we should continue to study the catechism. So that we can have a deeper, stronger faith.
Conclusion: Living in Service to God
Our Lord warns us, not everyone who saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. And this is a good reminder to us, that externals are not enough. To know a lot is not enough. To be doctors of the theology is not enough. To be, shall we say, materialistically perfect in the practice of our faith and in the recitation of our prayers, to multiply our devotions is not enough. Why do we do these things? Why do we study? Why do we pray? Why do we say our rosary every day? It is so that we can know, love, and serve God better. So that we can know Him more profoundly, more personally, more intimately. So that we can love Him more completely, to the point that we abandon ourselves entirely into His hands and let Him guide us. And to serve Him with our words, words, and actions. This is the whole purpose of our life. Each and every one of us. To know Him, love Him, and serve Him. And the way that we are going to do that is by deepening our faith. Not by spreading it out.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.