Life of St John Vianney.pdf - the Catholic Kingdom!

148 THE CUKti OP ARS.This saint was a monk, that a missionary; there are man}others of different callings. St. John Francis Regis andSt.Vincent of Paul did not remain parish-priests to theend of their days. There are even more Bishops canonised,though their number is so small compared with that ofpriests. My friend, the ruin of priests is the habit of continually going to visit each other. Byall means let themgo occasionally to visit a brother for mutual edification, orfor confession. But to be always running about ! Alas !You are a subdeacon, my friend ; you are happy. Whenonce we are priests, we have nothing to do but to weepover our poor misery.That which prevents us priests frombecoming saints, is the want of reflection. We do notenter into ourselves; we do not know what we are doing.What we want is reflection, prayer, and union with God,Oh, how unhappyis a priest who is not interior ! But tobe interior, we need silence and retirement, my friend,retirement. It is in solitude that God speaks to us. I saysometimes to Mgr. Devie, * If you want to convert yourdiocese, you must make saints of allyour parish-priests.Oh, my friend, what a fearful thingit is to be a priest!Confession ! the Sacraments ! What a charge ! Oh, ifmen knew what it is to be a priest, they would fly, likethe Saints of old, into the desert to escape the burden.The wayto be a good priest would be to live always likea seminarist ;but this is not always possible. One of ourgreat misfortunes is, that our souls become callous. Atfirst we are deeply moved at the state of those who donot love God ; at last we come to say, These people dotheir duty well, so much the better ; these others keepaway from the Sacraments, so much the worse. Andwe do neither more nor less in consequence."He added, that the isolation of priests was another