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

""174 THE CURl OF ARS.withstanding" (might we not rather say because of?)"the sublime sanctity of the servant of God, sinners feltthemselves drawn to him, spite of themselves.It"might have been supposed that labours so absorbing and incessant would have prevented the Cure of Arsfrom giving his full attention to each soul in particular.Nothing could be farther from the truth. There was notone of his penitents who might not have believed himselfthe object of his special solicitude. Our saint had thatgreat art and great wisdom which enables a man to shuthimself up in the present moment. He did his work, likea good workman, in its own hour, leaving the past to themercy, and the future to the providence, of God. He thusavoided fruitless anxiety, precipitation, and confusion. Inthe midst of the overwhelming pressure of the multitudesaround him, he listened to the penitent at his feet as if hehad nothing else to do or to think of."Such, for thirty years, without change or relaxation.,was the life of the Cure of Ars. People tell said ame,"man of the world, of marvellous things which go on atArs. I doubt not the power of God ; it is as great in thisnineteenth century as in the first days of Christianity.I am convinced that the prayers of the holy priest, whommen go there to see, can obtain surprising and evenmiraculous cures ;but to recognise the presence of thesupernatural there, I have no need of all this. The greatmiracle of Ars is the laborious and penitential life of itscure. That a man can do what he does, and do iteveryday, without growing weary or sinking under it, is whatsurpasses my comprehension; this is to me the miracle ofmiracles."