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

""And338 THE CURE OF AR8.leased from the body so long worn down in the service ofhis Divine Master ? Euge, serve bone etfidelis ; intra ingaudium Domini tui, Courage, good and faithful servant ;enter into the joy of thy Lord and thy God.Meditate for a few moments, my brethren, on thesesweet and cheering words. They must be our hope andconsolation at this moment. I may add, that they contain a salutary warning, in the name of him who shallspeak to you no more, save by the example of his life,and probably also by the marvels of his tomb. Euge,courage, already does this first word, this single word,reanimate us. Courage, good and faithful servant ! JeanBaptiste Marie Vianney, our holy Cure of Ars, was aservant of God, who numbered seventy -four years of goodand loyalservice. He took service in the house of theLord from his very infancy.As a child, as a very littlechild, he served God as a ; young man, as an ecclesiastical student, he served God ;no repulse or discouragement could turn him aside from hissteadfast purpose toserve God in the highest and most perfect way possible,by devoting himself to the sacerdotal life. He desired tobe a priest most assuredly only to serve God. His lifehas given full proof of this. As priest, as vicaire, andas cur6, always and in all things, he served God.this service at last, as you all know, so entirety filled his life, that the indifferent actions whichwe consecrate to the service of God, by offering them toHim, and thus referring them indirectly to His honour,all these indifferent actions had, as it were, vanishedfrom the life of the holy cur6. He lived almost withoutfood or sleep. Two or three ounces of nourishment a day,one or two hours of sleep, sufficed him. And how didlieemploy the rest of his time ? Wholly in the service