The sheep hear His voice.

 

Friday, August 4, 2023


Psalm 80

2 Samuel 13:1-19

John 9:39-10:18


Observance: John Baptist Vianney, parish priest of Ars, France (d. 1859)


The sheep hear His voice.


When I was young, I used to read Commando comics voraciously. They were these little comic books, the size of your palm, and they contained stories of bravery and adventure in war. What was particularly seductive to this little boy’s mind was the idea of donning the blue suit with little wings on the shoulders, climbing into a Spitfire, hearing that Merlin engine roar, and flying off into the clouds.


There are all types of heroes – and I don’t mean the type that wear their underpants over the top of their Lycra body suits. We all have them, and they play no small part in inspiring men and women all over the world to follow in their steps. To see a captain of industry, or master architect, or daring explorer, or even the man who drives the big truck, can work something in our minds that seems to decide for us what we will do when we “grow up”.


For today’s saint, John Baptist Vianney, his hero was the parish priest. Growing up when he did, during the French Revolution and then drafted into Napoleon’s army (from which he deserted at the first chance he got), the persecuted, impoverished French priest ministering during the wave of atheistic revolution was, for him, a figure of inspiration. Vianney, the priests he looked up to, and all of us praying today, have a great hero who, above all else, we truly want to be like: the Lord Jesus Christ. We marvel at our Lord, and we do what He tells us; we hear His voice, and we follow Him.


There is no higher inspiration for us than when Jesus laid down His life for us. That He would love us that much when we were so spiritually damaged means that we cannot help but love Him in return. And to give Him honour is to love one another, just as He loved us.

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