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

"SERMON OP THE BISHOP OF BELLEY. 34lwe celebrate. But now, unconsciously, the words ofthe prayers brought continually before me the thoughtof the holy priest to whom I was hastening. St. Dominic was with me indeed, assisting my prayers ; butby his side appeared continually the good and holy Cureof Ars. Who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle, or who shallrest upon, Thy holy mountain ? He whose lifeis withoutstain, and who practises justice ; and again, Thou hast sethim a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him withglory and honour. These and a thousand other passagesseemed to bear so marked a relation to the servant ofGod. And some hours after his death, as I was saying Mass for him at the altar where he had so oftenstood, the same thoughts recurred to my mind, when Tread these words which follow the Epistle:Emitte lucemtuam, $c. Thy light and Thy truth have led me to Thyholy mountain, and toThy tabernacle. Why, then, art thousorrowful, my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me?And then in the Gospel Levate oculos : vestros, &c. Liftup your eyes, and behold the fields white for the harvest.These fields seemed to me to be those covered by ourholy cure with a rich and abounding harvest ; and myheart overflowed, it overflows still, with confidence andwith sweet and holy hope.Euge, serve bone. Courage, good and faithful servant ;enter into the joy of thy Lord. The hope whichthese words inspire, as applied to the holy cure of Ars,is in itself a consolation amid the mournful and solemncircumstances which surround us ;yet, byan attentivestudy of the sense of these sacred words, we shall discover a more direct and abundant source of encouragement under the severe sacrifice required of us by God.Great ir<Ued is this sacrifice 1 We have lost, we have