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

"164 THE CUR^ OF ARS.thatmy supposed sacristan was a gentleman, who, havingbeen cured and converted by the Cure of Ars, had devotedhimself, out of gratitude and piety, to the painful andthankless office which he was so diligently fulfilling. Hehad volunteered to be the holy cure s assistant, by keepingorder in the church while he is hearing confessions. Witha cure who is thus employed for twenty hours out of thetwenty-four, this is no trifling labour. This discovery wasanother new light to me. It showed me how the Saints.who do impossibilities themselves, lead others also to attempt them ;and how, as well by what they do themselves,as by what they cause others to do, in a spirit of abnegation, absolute self-sacrifice, and boundless love of God andtheir neighbour, they are in truth the most active, themost influential, and the most beneficent of mankind.At six o clock the vicaire came to say his Mass, whilethe cure continued hearing the women s confessions. Atlast, about seven o clock, having been in hisconfessionalsince midnight, he came out with that air of tranquillitywhich was habitual with him, and went into the sacristyto vest for Mass. Still full of the desire to speak to himfor a moment, to ask his blessing, and then to proceed onmy way, I had made an effort, and had succeeded in slipas the vicaire reentered it.ping into the sacristy justStay here,* said he, and perhaps when M. le Cure comes,he will hear you before he goes up to the altar. I followedthis advice, but without success. The Cur of Ars, whojudges by a single glance of the state and needs of a soul,did not think it necessary to alter his course in order tosatisfy my impatience; he put me off till after Mass, andwas tobegan to vest. All that I gained by my attempt8ee him near, to feel his sweet and piercing glance fixedupon me, and to be allowed to assist him in vesting for