The Canaanite woman in today’s gospel is a perfect icon
of the life of prayer that was the core of St John Vianney’s existence. For
this great contemplative whom we celebrate today, prayer was indeed the “land
of milk and honey,” producing amazing fruit. Like this
foreign woman, consumed with concern for the soul of another, the Curé of Ars embodied a faith that was at once deeply humble, tirelessly insistent, aggressively bold, and that, above all, clung for dear life to the person of Jesus. He saw no limits to what God
could do for him since his most ardent desire happened to coincide with God’s
own: namely, the salvation of souls. Let us, too, now turn to the Lord, and
humbly yet boldly beg him to inflame our sluggish hearts with the fire of his
charity, through the intercession of St John Mary Vianney.
Reflection by Father Simeon.
