Feast Day: August 4
Patron Saint of: Parish Priests
Our saint of the month for August is St John Vianney, who was a humble parish priest in a small village in France called Ars. I chose him because of one of his quotes:
The Lord is more anxious to forgive our sins than a woman is to carry her baby out of a burning building.
He was known for spending half his days (and sometimes hours longer!) in the confessional, bringing people from his parish and those visiting from afar, so it is unsurprising that his quote should be about God’s forgiveness!
Let’s think about that quote for a second, though. Imagine if your house caught on fire (God forbid). What would be the first thing you would try to save? If you said that you would save your children, then I am relieved to hear it. I would say the same! But you would want them out of there and in safety immediately, right? And all because you love them so much. If we remember that that love is desiring the good of the other, as Aquinas says, it only makes sense that saving their life, giving them life, is what we desire as an absolute priority.
What does that tell us about the nature of sin and forgiveness? Living in a state of sin puts our souls in danger and God wants to save us from that immediately. As soon as possible! Like yesterday! I mentioned in a previous post how we are asked to go once a year by the Church, but more frequent attendance of reconciliation is better, and this is exactly why. God wants us safe and with Him, and we cannot be fully united to Him if we have sin on our souls.
I feel like in writing these posts, the Lord is calling me to go to reconciliation. Guess I’d better go figure out how soon I can do that!
Until next time, let’s pray for each other. And remember, we can do Mom things through Christ who strengthens us!
Mom Things Through Christ 